Thank you for writing this! I love how you’re sharing a lot of the unspoken parts about what starting an org is like, and the lessons are things anyone founding in AI Safety should be aware of before going down the path.
Mick
Karma: 70
EA Edinburgh September Cafe Social
EA Edinburgh September Pub Social
EA Edinburgh Coworking W36
EA Edinburgh Coworking W35
EA Edinburgh Coworking W34
EA Edinburgh Coworking W33
EA Edinburgh Coworking W32
EA Edinburgh Fringe Show Trip
[CANCELLED] EA Edinburgh Hill Trip
EA Edinburgh Coworking W31
EA Edinburgh Coworking W30
EA Edinburgh Coworking W29
EA Edinburgh Coworking W28
EA Edinburgh July Pub Social
Mick’s Quick takes
EA Edinburgh June Social Meetup
Thank you for writing this! I had been missing a resource I could point people towards who were interested in Research Manager roles, and this post fills that gap perfectly.
If someone would read this and think to themselves “I might be a good RM”, what’s the most important thing you’d want them to check about themselves to see if they’re a good fit for the role?
I’ve “only” been to 2 EAGs and 4 EAGx’s so take this with that as context
For previous EAGs I always booked my schedule full of 1-1′s to ask people about their experience, resolve uncertainties, and just generally network with people in similar roles. This EAG (NYC 2025) I didn’t find as many people on Swapcard that I wanted to talk to and received much less requests for 1-1s, so I also ended up having just 7 1-1s in total. This was a fun experiment. I found it much more relaxed, and I enjoyed being able to have spontaneous conversations with people I ran into, but I think overall I got less value out of this EAG than if I had booked more meetings: I have less actionable insights and met less people than during other EAG(x) conferences I have attended. However, I’m definitely in favour of less 1-1 cramming.
I do think if this was one of my first EAGs and I didn’t know anyone, I would’ve been quite lost without the structure of the 1-1′s and the explicit encouragement that it is normal to book a lot. I also feel weird about just joining a conversation in case it was people having a private 1-1. Having an improved spontaneous conversations area with bigger signs/cause area specific areas (or time slots?) sounds like a great solution for both of these problems.
Tangentially, my favourite meetups are also those where you just stand and mingle, ideally with specific areas in specific corners, rather than do forced speed meets or roundtable discussions. This makes it much easier to leave if you don’t like a conversation and move on to a different one until you find one you like.
If you’re (re)starting a local EA group or running a local EA event, consider reaching out to people nearby according to the people directory or an EAG Swapcard.
There will be people who do not know about a local group or event and otherwise wouldn’t hear about it, and it’s pretty painless on both ends! Obviously don’t spam them, so (probably) only do this when (re)starting. I did this for an EA Edinburgh event and immediately got some responses.
To make this easier: Put your (approximate) location on the people directory so people can tell you about nearby events and you get them suggested by the forum, especially if you’re not in a hub!