| This is a Draft Amnesty Week draft. It may not be polished, up to my usual standards or fully thought through. This is a Forum post that I wouldn't have posted without the nudge of Draft Amnesty Week. If it were more than a draft, I would go deeper into making a case for small events and make an actual comparison with EAG(x) events. |
With EA Belgium, we've organized two summer retreats, both at the same location. Since the location was a volunteer’s house and garden, and they also had a large tent available, our only expense was food.
The 2023 edition ran from Saturday noon until Sunday noon, meaning 4 meals.
The 2024 edition ran from Friday evening until Sunday noon, so 6 meals.
Below, you'll find the cost breakdown and survey results from both events:
| 2023 | 2024 | |||
| Costs | €190.00 | €307.00 | ||
| Income | €271.00 | €310.00 | ||
| Profit | €81.00 | €3.00 | ||
| # Participants who contributed money | 13 | 12 | ||
| Average contribution | €20.85 | €25.83 | ||
| # Meals | 4 | 6 | ||
| Average cost per meal | €47.50 | €51.17 | ||
| Cost per participant/organizer | €10.56 | €18.06 | ||
| # Participants who filled out survey | 12 | 11 | ||
| # Organizers | 4 | 4 | ||
| Total # participants, including organizers | 18 | 17 | ||
| # Participants who didn't fill out survey | 2 | 2 | ||
| # Participants & organizers who also went the year before | N/A | 5 | ||
| How would you rate your experience? | 8 | 9 | (Average number) | |
| How many new connections did you make? | 4.41 | 5.27 | (Average number) | |
| I learned something new and important | 83.33% | 81.82% | ||
| I changed my mind about something | 33.33% | 54.55% | ||
| I have changed my career plans | 8.33% | 0.00% | ||
| Would you go to a similar event like this next year? | Yes | 75.00% | 81.82% | |
| Maybe | 25.00% | 18.18% | ||
| No | 0.00% | 0.00% | ||
Please note that we aren't exactly sure of some 2023 figures marked in italics, those are my best guess.
With a cost of just €11–18 per participant, these retreats were significantly more cost-effective than an EAG(x) at face value. But of course, if we want to organize a bigger event, costs would rise quickly due to venue costs. While this format isn’t easily scalable, I hope it inspires other local groups to organize similar small-scale events! I (Jeroen) personally think the EA Summits are exciting for this reason.
Our retreats were somewhere between an unconference and a traditional conference: there was only one activity at a time, and the schedule was mostly set in advance, but participants played a key role in selecting and giving workshops and talks.
Anecdotal evidence, but I would attribute at least part of the reason I ended up in an EA career to a 2 day event of ~12 people hosted by EA London.
That’s the one!
Weird that I remember it being half the size.