I sometimes get asked the same question more than once, and I think I should probably make a habit of trying to write more, so here’s as good a place to start as any.
With EAGxPhilippines, EAG Boston and EAGxVirtual coming up within the next month, here’s a:
Quick reminder about how to EAG
Identify what you want to get out of the conference
Write out 3-4 key questions you want to get answers about, and spend some time looking over the attendees to work out who would be the best people to talk to about those.
Do lots of 1-on-1s
Go to Swapcard[1], figure out which sessions you want to attend, block off those times, as well as any breaks/meals you want to take, and then book in 1-on-1s with all the folks you want to talk to.
Sneak in a 1-on-1 with a friend or colleague to take a break/decompress/talk about how awesome the food is.
Try and find yourself in serendipitous conversations
e.g. during meals, or at the end of the day at satellite events, to get a better flavour of what it would be like to work with EAs, long-termists, and folks thinking about animal welfare or existential risk all day.
Don’t be afraid to take the lead
Say you want to meet people who are interested in X but there isn’t already an event about it. Make it happen! E.g. you could drop a note on slack like “I’d love to talk about cruxes around AI Timelines, meet me at the table next to the horse statue at 6 this evening!” And it doesn’t even have to be serious, I know someone who organises a meet-up every EAG “for people named Jonathan”!
(Having just done this for Boston, it might work well to have Swapcard open on both your phone and your laptop, or on multiple screens. I know, I know.)
My quick take on how to EAG
I sometimes get asked the same question more than once, and I think I should probably make a habit of trying to write more, so here’s as good a place to start as any.
With EAGxPhilippines, EAG Boston and EAGxVirtual coming up within the next month, here’s a:
Quick reminder about how to EAG
Identify what you want to get out of the conference
Write out 3-4 key questions you want to get answers about, and spend some time looking over the attendees to work out who would be the best people to talk to about those.
Do lots of 1-on-1s
Go to Swapcard[1], figure out which sessions you want to attend, block off those times, as well as any breaks/meals you want to take, and then book in 1-on-1s with all the folks you want to talk to.
Sneak in a 1-on-1 with a friend or colleague to take a break/decompress/talk about how awesome the food is.
Try and find yourself in serendipitous conversations
e.g. during meals, or at the end of the day at satellite events, to get a better flavour of what it would be like to work with EAs, long-termists, and folks thinking about animal welfare or existential risk all day.
Don’t be afraid to take the lead
Say you want to meet people who are interested in X but there isn’t already an event about it. Make it happen! E.g. you could drop a note on slack like “I’d love to talk about cruxes around AI Timelines, meet me at the table next to the horse statue at 6 this evening!” And it doesn’t even have to be serious, I know someone who organises a meet-up every EAG “for people named Jonathan”!
Sounder advice elsewhere on the forum:
How to best Prepare for EAG
How to make your first EAG a success
(turns out, since this is my first post, and I have no karma, I can’t actually make a ‘quick takes’ post yet. Oh well!)
(Having just done this for Boston, it might work well to have Swapcard open on both your phone and your laptop, or on multiple screens. I know, I know.)