My quick take on how to EAG

By Sudhanshu Kasewa @ 2023-10-18T09:33 (+31)

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!)

1. ^{^}

   (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.)