You can be very helpful to first-timers at EA events

Confidence level: timecapped at around one hour. Mostly based on my own experience, first as a new, curious attendee at EA events, and later as someone trying to be helpful to even newer attendees at these events.

Looking back on my first EA events, a handful of 1:1s and interactions have stood out as being outstandingly useful in guiding my EA path. I've noticed that these were 1:1s where the more experienced attendee was not just answering my questions, but structuring the meeting in order to help me progress.

I remark that these are not always followed, and some fairly experienced attendees treat 1:1s with newer attendees like their other 1:1s. I think that if they applied some of the practices I describe below, they could provide even more value to people who reach out to them.

Some tips I apply:

• (Re-)read the attendee's Swapcard profile for 1 minute, just before the 1:1 starts.
  • Gives you a vague idea of what they already know and what they're less likely to know.
• Try to think of what you were not aware of in the first six months where you were focusing on your area (and extrapolate, from that, what important element the newer attendee may not be aware of)
  • For me, in animal welfare, that could have been "most impact in animal welfare comes from a few specific interventions, esp corporate campaigns, that are now well-trodden; novel ways to help may have a higher bar to pass"^[1]. I think I was not alone there, and sharing this (with caveats) to attendees has seemed useful.
• Expect the best from the attendee (in terms of potential impact) but assume the worst (in terms of their knowledge / how much homework they've done).
  • Recommend everything, even the obvious: I've met animal advocates who hadn't heard of Hive, or who weren't aware that the consensus in farmed animal advocacy is that corporate welfare campaigns are currently more cost-effective than individual vegan outreach.
• Aim to give one action-guiding take on your area that other attendees are less likely to think of - even if it doesn't seem that big to you.
  • Eg. "I've seen people massively grow from skilled volunteering. In particular, many of my acquaintances who have full-time roles in animal advocacy started there and learnt almost as much as if they'd had a paid role." This recommendation is not one I hear a lot at EA events, so it's one I'm more likely to give.
• Around the end of the 1:1, suggest a small concrete next step.
  • This could be them reading an article that answers one of their questions in detail; them reaching out to a relevant person who's not at the conference; them making a post on a dedicated online space to get an answer to a complex question they have; them emailing an impactful org to see if they need a skilled volunteer...
• Network with others in mind^[2]/ be a mini-superconnector.
  • This shouldn't just be done between more experienced attendees! A 1:1 is rarely enough to significantly guide an attendee, but 2 or 3 thematically related 1:1s that complete each other can make a massive difference.
  • In my experience, I can always think of someone at the event that the attendee should talk to. I then suggest it with a brief justification: "They've built skills through volunteering in animal welfare, and they come from a humanities background, like you. They're also very friendly."
• Follow up with the most motivated people you meet.
  • I sometimes send a short email, a week later, ideally containing: my enthusiasm about the event; something I liked in my 1:1 with them; asking them what was the most useful thing they discovered there; what their main next steps are; and maybe following up on our next step if one was defined (eg sending a link to something I recommended during a 1:1).

Feel free to comment on advice you would add / remove from this! I spent under an hour on this but I could edit in the future to make it more useful.

1. ^{^}

   Many caveats apply, etc.

2. ^{^}

   Most useful post I've read about EA events.