EA - What Has EAGxLatAm 2023 Taught Us: Retrospective and Thoughts on Measuring the Impact of EA Conferences by Hugo Ikta

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: What Has EAGxLatAm 2023 Taught Us: Retrospective & Thoughts on Measuring the Impact of EA Conferences, published by Hugo Ikta on March 3, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.Bottom Line Up Front: The first-ever EAGx in Latin America went well (97% satisfaction rate). Participants generated over 1000 new connections at a cost of USD 225 per connection.What is the purpose of this post?The purpose of this retrospective is to give a brief overview of what went well and what we could have done better at EAGxLatAm 2023. I also hope that the last section will open a conversation to help EA community builders and EAGx organizers to measure the impact of their work and to decide how to best use their resources.The first-ever EAGx in Latin AmericaIt's with great excitement that we announce the successful conclusion of the first EAGx LatAm conference, held in Mexico City from January 6th to 8th, 2023.The event drew a diverse crowd of over 200 participants from 30 different countries. Our goal was to generate new connections between EAs in Latin America and to connect the LatAm community with the broader international community.Video highlights of the event:The conference featured a wide range of content, including talks and panels on topics such as forecasting, artificial intelligence, animal welfare, global catastrophic risks, and EA community building. Notably, it was the first EAG event featuring content in Spanish and Portuguese.We're grateful to have had the opportunity to bring together such a talented and passionate group of individuals, and we hope to see even more attendees in the future. Special shoutout to the unofficial event reporter Elmerei Cuevas for his excellent coverage of the conference on Twitter, using the hashtag #EAGxLatAm.Key Stats223 participants (including 46 speakers)1079 new connections made. That’s 9.68 new connections per participant.Over 1000 one-on-one meetings, including the first recorded instance of a one-on-twelve61 talks, workshops and meetupsCost per connection: USD 225Likelihood to recommend: 9.08/10 with 75% of respondents giving a 9 or 10/10 rating and 3% of respondents rating it below 7/10. (Net promoter score: +72%).Some of the survey resultsGoalsOur main goal was to generate as many connections as possible for every dollar spent.We expected the number of connections per participant during EAGxLatAm 2023 to exceed that of any previous EAG(x) conference. While we generated significantly more connections per participant than the average EAG(x) conference, we didn’t break that record.Also, we expected the cost per connection (number of connections/total budget) to be significantly lower than previous EAGx conferences. We were a little too optimistic on that one. Our cost per connection could have been decreased significantly if we had more attendees (more info below).We aimed at achieving the following key resultsEvery participant will generate >10 new connections10% of participants will generate >20 new connectionsMake sure ~30% of participants are highly engaged EAWe also aimed at limiting unessential spending that would not drastically impact our main objective or our LTR (Likelihood To Recommend) score.Actual results77% of participants generated >10 new connections (below expectations)16% of participants generate >20 new connections (above expectations)~30% of participants were highly engaged EA (goal reached)SpendingWe spent a total of USD 242,732 to make this event happen (including travel grants but not our team’s wages). That’s USD 1089 per participant.DetailsTravel grants: USD 115,884Venue & Catering: USD 98,524Internet: USD 6,667Speakers’ Hotel: USD 9,837Hoodies: USD 5,536Photos & Videos: USD 5,532Other: USD 813What went well and why?We didn’t face any major issuesNothing went terribly...