What is the purpose of this post?

Building on past EAGx retrospectives (1)(2)(3), this short post is intended to serve as a general recap/update about the event from the organizers (independent contractors who do not speak for CEA). We also hope to build on this series on EA event practices by offering suggestions and asking for further comments about how we can improve EA conferences in the future.
 

A long-form retrospective, intended primarily as advice for future EAGx planners and feedback for the CEA events team from our EAGx organizing team, includes more specifics about our takeaways from the event planning process. 

Event Overview

We consider EAGxNYC, NYC’s first-ever EA conference, to be a definite success. The average number of connections per attendee, one of CEA’s primary metrics for conference value, was ~10.9, the highest reached at a US EAGx event. However, even with ~5,400 connections made, the total cost in dollars-per-connection was still high relative to most other EAGx events. This is almost entirely due to the expense of venue rental in NYC at a peak time of year, and on relatively short notice. 

Most respondents of the attendee survey indicated a high likelihood of recommending a similar event (8.94/10), and many complaints were for impossible-to-optimize variables (e.g. a roughly balanced number of respondents indicated that talks were “too general” vs “too niche”). While impact of the conference is hard to evaluate shortly after the event, several attendees have reported important career connections, high chances of new hires, donation pledges taken, and research collaborations that would not have occurred counterfactually.

High-level facts and figures

Dates: August 18-20, 2023

Location: Convene, near the Financial District of Manhattan

~655 Applications --> ~540 accepted applications and 75 direct invites --> ~510 registered attendees (of whom 50 were awesome volunteers!)

70 Speakers

89 Sessions of programming (talks, panels, speed friending, meetups, and office hours)

20 Orgs represented at the Career Fair

~5400 Estimated connections made based on feedback survey, ~10.9 per person (6,954 connections on Swapcard, ~13.4 per person)

1 Podcast recorded live

8 light-hearted awards bestowed (including “Most 1-1s held” and “Most 1-1s canceled”, to the same person!)

Things we think we did well: 

Active matchmaking: We tried to aid organic networking by offering a large number of unstructured meetups, with facilitators when possible, for both demographic groups and cause-area focus, as well as providing stewardship (connecting those whose applications indicated they may be particularly capable of mentoring with those who seemed best positioned to benefit from a mentor). The feedback on these efforts indicate they were among the best uses of our organizing time. 

Persistence: Both in getting the conference to happen in the first place, and in finding a suitable venue. Given the timing (one of the first conferences to be greenlit after the change in the funding landscape of late-2022), there were many points at which it seemed like EAGxNYC wouldn’t be able to happen. After hunting through well over one hundred potential venues, we were able to find and negotiate a high caliber venue in a convenient, central location in downtown Manhattan. Some attendees expressed surprise (and even concern) at the venue’s apparent luxuriousness. And while it was not inexpensive (little in Manhattan ever is), the conference location was actually the lowest cost-per-attendee venue available among the many options we found.

Things we hope others might learn from:

We found the advice in the Events in EA: Learnings & Critiques series invaluable, and want to direct more eyes towards it. Our own takeaways mostly supplement the information there.

Timing: The Learnings series advised us to start organizing early. We took that into consideration, and still came away wanting (cf. Hofstadter’s Law) to suggest that people start even earlier. This applies both to our own planning work but also to others involved in the process (e.g. presenters and applicants/attendees). Specifics of project management are included in the longform retrospective, but we think it is valuable to share anecdata here about the consequences of perceived EA-norms of short timelines^[1].

For example, our conference was advised to set the application deadline eighteen days before the conference. This was considered fairly early by EAGx standards, which often have applications open up to two weeks (or less!) before the conference. Accepted applicants are given the option to register up until the day of the conference and registrants are fully reimbursed for their ticket if they cancel at any time. These protocols are based on well-intentioned, impact-focused rationale (i.e. making the conferences available and convenient to more people and thereby maximizing the number of good candidates who can attend; many good candidates do not know they are available until shortly before the event). 

However, there are also significant costs as well. The largest is that it adversely affects organizers’ ability to calibrate the admissions bar. For example, without knowing the total number of applicants or their average fit for the conference, the admissions team may waitlist some candidates who deliberately applied early (e.g. in order to book travel or time off). By the time it becomes clear that these waitlisted applicants will clear the bar, they may no longer be able to come. In this case, the conscientious early-applier loses out to a norm that caters to those who don’t apply until just before the conference. Late applications/registrations also affect production elements like merchandise and name-tag printing, and can dramatically swing the cost of the event when the venue and/or catering charges by headcount^[2].

In the end, ~24% of applications were received in the last four days of the application window, less than three weeks before the event. We have significant anecdotal evidence that many of these were applicants who knew well in advance that they intended to come. Many applicants who applied early and were initially waitlisted before being accepted did not end up attending; some were likely in the category described above. Final registration numbers changed up until the day of the conference (both late registrants and late cancellations, some of which canceled each other out but still left a >5% swing in headcount in the last two days). This led to merch supply issues, budget uncertainty, and likely inflated venue/catering costs^[3].

Once it became clear that we were paying for more attendees than would show, we granted admission to some late applicants who had reasonable explanations for not applying on time. This choice was made based on the same “maximize marginal impact” rationale as the choice to leave applications and registrations open until shortly before the conference. We nonetheless regret contributing to the perception that deadlines are optional, and encourage future event organizers to consider this norm-setting element when considering late applicants.

We heard from many other organizers that these “last-minute” issues were not unique to our event. The organizing team has experience with non-EA events (academic, professional, and trade conferences) that indicate that short timelines and their attendant consequences are not essential to event planning. They are not unique to EA, but they are avoidable and we believe EA events could benefit from moving towards earlier confirmation by all parties involved. It’s not just that it’s recommended to cancel your EAGx ticket as early as possible if you can't attend, our takeaway is that it’s beneficial if applications, registrations and cancellations are all made as early as possible, as well as aiming as early as possible for all organizing elements, especially venue choice and speaker confirmations.  

Given CEA’s experience of experimenting with earlier deadlines (which were then extended to reach capacity), it is unlikely that this move can or will come solely from top-down changes. This advice is therefore a general nudge to the broader EA community to move towards earlier action. We included some of the specifics of our conference’s consequences and our understanding of why the deadlines are set so late to try to make the point that even if the deadline is shortly before the conference, you shouldn’t anchor on that date. You can help organizers and actually improve EA events by applying and registering (and canceling if necessary) as soon as you can. 

Working on an EAGx: The EAG/EAGx paradigm, where EAG’s are managed by CEA’s dedicated events team but EAGx’s are one-off teams, means that EAGx organizers will typically be operating under timescales where thorough vetting and team-building are difficult, and turnover is especially hard to manage. Our team came together in a very short time and in a fairly ad hoc manner, (possibly more so than other EAGx teams), so we aim to offer some suggestions to mitigate the difficulties of the process.  

We encourage those that run EAGx events to consider requiring an application round (even if you have a list of people ready and willing to contribute), and for those that apply to consider the pros and cons of a medium-term, project-based contract. We believe that events are more likely to go well, and the individuals involved to benefit professionally, if the uncertain job demands are considered in advance and it is understood that one’s ability to handle their given responsibilities could substantially impact, positively or negatively, their career in the EA ecosystem. While it is definitely possible to fill some organizing duties as a “side-hustle,” it is important to prepare for complications to arise from this. 

Executing an EAGx event is an unpredictable job, as it's likely that every event will be substantively different from other EAGx conferences. But in our experience, it can also be an opportunity for personally satisfying work, an important career step, and generate positive impact on the EA community and the world.

1. ^{^}

   Not those short timelines.

2. ^{^}

    Almost all catering charges by headcount, but when rented in full, most venues do not charge extra per person. The conference center booked for EAGxNYC charged per-person for both catering and venue occupancy as part of a “meeting package,” and therefore the financial uncertainty due to late confirmation was especially pronounced.

3. ^{^}

   Because of the above “meeting package” pricing, the consequence of underestimating total attendance and having more people show than were declared would be that CEA would be charged full price for every attendee, but that the venue could not guarantee sufficient portions for everyone. So without a firm headcount, we erred on the side of overestimating.