My First EA Summit: Reflections and Next Steps

Last Saturday was the first time I attended an EA Summit after several attempts. I took the bold step of traveling to Abuja for the EA Nigeria Summit. The event began with a BlueDot Impact AI meetup, which I attended on Friday.

Then, the next day, being Saturday, the main event started. The summit was a one-day event. I must confess that it was impactful and worth my time.

My quick takeaways

The summit afforded me the opportunity to meet people who shared my views on specific topics. My network was enriched.

We identified fish welfare as one of the neglected areas that needs more attention.

Until that summit, I had never met any EA fellow from my city. I met two, and we plan to organize a meetup soon to discuss field-building work.

I realized that EA events are completely vegan. My opinion is this: give non-vegan attendees the option of choosing their food. We were required to eat vegan meals at the event.

There is a need for more field-building work to be done. In a country of over 120 million people, the attendance was fair, but when compared to the size of the youth population, we clearly need to do more.

What I hope my direction of action will be

1. Take more action in field-building activities within my region. I hope to strengthen EA activities within my university and local communities. I hope I find a way to do this. If you are interested, let me know.
2. Start a reading and activity group to promote Benjamin Todd’s book, 80,000 Hours, in universities and secondary schools. Career decision-making is a critical area that is lacking among many young people. If we are able to help them make better career choices early, I think that will be a good use of my time.

I am open to partnerships that will help strengthen field-building efforts among students in both universities and secondary schools. You can send me a DM or an email at [email protected].