A reflection on EA Global London: 2025

By RobertHarling @ 2025-08-08T14:54 (+51)

This past June, we hosted EA Global: London 2025. This was my second EAG as Program Lead and one that ended up feeling like a real milestone for the project. I’ve been reflecting on why that was, and so I wanted to share a few thoughts on what stood out to me, what we’re proud of, and what we’re doing next. 

The best EAG yet (by the numbers)

This was our largest EAG to date, with 1,596 people in attendance. It was also our best-performing EAG based on two other important metrics: net cost-per-attendee and likelihood to recommend. To provide a few more details: 

• Attendance: We saw a 12% increase from last year’s EAG London! This was our largest EAG ever and (probably) the largest in-person gathering of EAs, ever.
• Net cost-per-attendee: The net cost-per-attendee was around $850 USD. This means EA Global: London 2025 was the most cost-effective EA Global we’ve run in the past several years.
• LTR: Based on 523 survey responses, EA Global: London 2025 received a likelihood to recommend score of 9.07, on a scale from 0–10. This is our highest-ever recorded LTR for an EAG.^[1]

It is really exciting to know that we can continue to grow the size of the conference and reduce costs while still maintaining the same attendee experience, or even improving it.^[2]

The vibes were very good

Standing in the back of the closing session on Sunday, listening to Will MacAskill and Fin Moorhouse talk about effective altruism’s relationship to AI safety and its broader importance, I just felt incredibly proud. The room was packed with more than 400 people, some standing along the walls because we ran out of seats. It was one of those rare moments when the scale and importance of EA really hit me.

The organising team and I really, really care about EA Global. And we are acutely aware that the most important part of EA Global is the attendees. Over that single weekend, it is likely that 10,000+ meetings happened. There were dozens of talks, workshops, office hours, lunch-time conversations, and spontaneous catch-ups. It’s impossible for me to know and appreciate everything that happens at our events, but I expect to continue hearing more stories over the coming months. And while my team might build the environment and handle logistics, this work only matters because of everyone who shows up. We’re very fortunate that, no matter how much time we put into EA Global, it is always eclipsed by the sheer number of hours attendees devote to travel, preparation, and deep engagement. So thank you to everyone who makes EA Global what it is. 

A few more things I was excited about

• Travel support: We’ve been working to improve our process so that support goes to people who truly wouldn’t be able to attend without it. In the past, only about 70–75% of the travel support we approved ended up being used. For EA Global: London 2025, that number was about 98%.
• Volunteers: We had our biggest-ever volunteer team, and I was consistently impressed with how helpful, thoughtful, and energised they were throughout the weekend.
• Content highlights: At this event, we were hoping to reflect both the roots of effective altruism and all the ways the movement is changing. We heard from familiar voices like Toby Ord, Will MacAskill, and Rachel Glennerster, alongside emerging leaders exploring new directions, including a panel on insect farming and its impact in animal welfare, or Arvo Munoz Moran discussing early results from the Digital Consciousness Model. You can watch all the talks we recorded from the event here.

What’s next?

We’re continuing to reflect on feedback from EA Global: London so that we can deliver events worth your time and energy to attend. The team is heads down for EA Global: New York City 2025 (taking place Oct 10–12), our first time ever heading to NYC! We are beyond excited and we hope to see you there. You can register for it now if you’ve already been accepted to an EA Global this year or apply by September 28th. You can also read more about why we chose NYC here. We're especially excited to be in the media capital of the world, close to policy professionals, and right in a philanthropic hub.

Thank you again to everyone who joined us at EA Global: London 2025, and an extra thank you to those who volunteered and spoke at the event. 

See you at the next one!

1. ^{^}

   The exact question we ask in the feedback survey is: how likely is it that you would recommend EA Global to a friend or colleague with similar interests to your own?

2. ^{^}

   Of course, we also want to understand the impact of the event and attendee feedback beyond the LTR. We'll continue to do this as part of our ongoing M&E work.