For anyone experienced with meetups like that - what do you usually do or talk about during these meetups?
I'd love to organize a meetup like that, but I don't have experience with those, I'm terrible at small talk, and I suspect I might not be smart enough for really complex topics either)
Aside from the conversation starters, what else can I do or prepare to make it more likely that people have a good experience?
Honestly, the "who are you and why do you like this blog" round usually yields enough conversations for one meeting. We always vote for a topic beforehand, because people tend to take away more that way, but also that sometimes doesn't work out.
You could link to one recent article that seems like a good discussion topic and say "hey, if you want to have something to all about, some people are going to talk about this article".
Since you can reasonably assume most people going to an ACX Everywhere read ACX, it makes a good common ground. Suggestions:
- Talk about a recent ACX article you liked and ask what other people liked
- Talk about one of the books from the Book Review you liked
- Ask people what their biggest disagreement with something Scott's written is
- Ask people how long they've been reading ACX
- Ask people how they found the blog
If I may generalize a bit about the kind of person who reads ACX, you could also try:
- Asking what other people do for work
- Asking what other blogs people read
- Asking if they write anything, and if so ask about what they write
And then there's my personal favourite:
- Ask what they've been really interested or obsessed with lately
As for what else you can do to make it more likely people have a good experience, my main advice is
1. Be very easy to find. Think "red and blue striped hat" or "meter long sign that says 'ACX' on it."
2. Get some snacks. Chips and salsa, bowls of popcorn, veggies and dip, maybe a pizza order. Get a roll of nametags and a sharpie, then leave it next to the food. I can reimburse snacks and name tags.
3. If your meetup is bigger than 4~6 people, encourage splitting into small groups that people can join or leave. They'll usually do this automatically if you're in a park or apartment.
I don't know if this is permitted, but I am going to post an interest form here for a meetup in Ithaca, NY. The last time this happened was 2021, so maybe there are somehow very few ACX enjoyers here.
Approximately what percentage of people in that city do you expect read the blog? Fermi estimate that and multiply by the city's population. If the number is less than say, five, it's likely not worth having the meetup.
For what it's worth, some people love ACX meetups so much that they will drive a long ways to get to one. In the meetup in Denver, I met someone who had driven all the way from Cheyenne to get there -- 164 kilometers and one state away. Therefore even if your city is too small to meet the criterion above, if you're the only one serving and underserved region it could still be worth it.
I held one in a town of 1,500 population. The attendees were me, my wife, and a guy from 400 miles away. It was a good experience. Interest in this area is very low, so I haven't held one since.
The short answer is I don't know. Since the cost of hosting a meetup in a coffee shop and no one attending is the organizer sitting in a coffee shop for an hour reading a book, I usually suggest people try it and find out. (I uh, am also the Meetup Czar, and am unusually interested ACX meetups happening. Obvious motive is obvious.) I will say that I've been surprised a few times- off the top of my head, Cavendish Vermont (population ~1500) got ~10 attendees, which might be the highest attendee-per-capita I have data on.
> How close to another meet up in a bigger city is too close?
I usually try and merge any meetups within ~50 miles/45 minutes of transit. That's not a hard and fast rule, and it varies generally based on what local transit is like and whether there's geography or borders in the way.
Some people host and no one attends. Offhand, I think that happens to about 5% of meetups. My advice is bring a book, prop a piece of paper saying "ACX" up next to you, and hang out for an hour to see what happens. If it makes you feel better, I've run two meetups where zero people showed up, you won't be alone in spirit.
I've done I think three in Oklahoma City, and in two cases, it was just me. But I think the success of my meetups may be related to the caliber of artillery nearby, so I'm planning to host at the local military museum again.
That said, while nobody showing up isn't exactly fun, it's practically very low downside. (My not hosting for the last few cycles was mostly me being busy and forgetting to set something up.)
I'm very excited to be organizing meetups for this throughout South Florida! Is anyone else in the area?
I don't know what counts as South Florida, but Miami looks south on the map and they usually have one.
Yep, I'm one of the Miami ACX guys 😄
For anyone experienced with meetups like that - what do you usually do or talk about during these meetups?
I'd love to organize a meetup like that, but I don't have experience with those, I'm terrible at small talk, and I suspect I might not be smart enough for really complex topics either)
Aside from the conversation starters, what else can I do or prepare to make it more likely that people have a good experience?
Honestly, the "who are you and why do you like this blog" round usually yields enough conversations for one meeting. We always vote for a topic beforehand, because people tend to take away more that way, but also that sometimes doesn't work out.
You could link to one recent article that seems like a good discussion topic and say "hey, if you want to have something to all about, some people are going to talk about this article".
Since you can reasonably assume most people going to an ACX Everywhere read ACX, it makes a good common ground. Suggestions:
- Talk about a recent ACX article you liked and ask what other people liked
- Talk about one of the books from the Book Review you liked
- Ask people what their biggest disagreement with something Scott's written is
- Ask people how long they've been reading ACX
- Ask people how they found the blog
If I may generalize a bit about the kind of person who reads ACX, you could also try:
- Asking what other people do for work
- Asking what other blogs people read
- Asking if they write anything, and if so ask about what they write
And then there's my personal favourite:
- Ask what they've been really interested or obsessed with lately
As for what else you can do to make it more likely people have a good experience, my main advice is
1. Be very easy to find. Think "red and blue striped hat" or "meter long sign that says 'ACX' on it."
2. Get some snacks. Chips and salsa, bowls of popcorn, veggies and dip, maybe a pizza order. Get a roll of nametags and a sharpie, then leave it next to the food. I can reimburse snacks and name tags.
3. If your meetup is bigger than 4~6 people, encourage splitting into small groups that people can join or leave. They'll usually do this automatically if you're in a park or apartment.
You may be interested in https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LzwDpjkMqnmRrrWDa/running-a-basic-acx-everywhere-meetup.
Thank you for making a big deal about it.
> I have in the past and had a lot of fun, but this year I’ll probably only be able to make my local one in Berkeley.
hmm that year Buck and I (and several others!) did a big ol' road trip was actually pretty fun. Maybe we should do something like that again.
I did a tour of a bunch of European meetups in ~2023 and quite enjoyed it!
I don't know if this is permitted, but I am going to post an interest form here for a meetup in Ithaca, NY. The last time this happened was 2021, so maybe there are somehow very few ACX enjoyers here.
https://forms.gle/mpMx8833sVusjRU89
Scott, please delete this if forms are not to be posted in comments sections in this way.
How small a city is too small? How close to another meet up in a bigger city is too close?
(Asking in part out of concern of hosting a meet up an no one attending)
Approximately what percentage of people in that city do you expect read the blog? Fermi estimate that and multiply by the city's population. If the number is less than say, five, it's likely not worth having the meetup.
For what it's worth, some people love ACX meetups so much that they will drive a long ways to get to one. In the meetup in Denver, I met someone who had driven all the way from Cheyenne to get there -- 164 kilometers and one state away. Therefore even if your city is too small to meet the criterion above, if you're the only one serving and underserved region it could still be worth it.
"Just estimate the number of people who will show-up" isn't a satisfying or intelligent answer to this question. That's what he's asking!
I held one in a town of 1,500 population. The attendees were me, my wife, and a guy from 400 miles away. It was a good experience. Interest in this area is very low, so I haven't held one since.
> How small a city is too small?
The short answer is I don't know. Since the cost of hosting a meetup in a coffee shop and no one attending is the organizer sitting in a coffee shop for an hour reading a book, I usually suggest people try it and find out. (I uh, am also the Meetup Czar, and am unusually interested ACX meetups happening. Obvious motive is obvious.) I will say that I've been surprised a few times- off the top of my head, Cavendish Vermont (population ~1500) got ~10 attendees, which might be the highest attendee-per-capita I have data on.
> How close to another meet up in a bigger city is too close?
I usually try and merge any meetups within ~50 miles/45 minutes of transit. That's not a hard and fast rule, and it varies generally based on what local transit is like and whether there's geography or borders in the way.
Some people host and no one attends. Offhand, I think that happens to about 5% of meetups. My advice is bring a book, prop a piece of paper saying "ACX" up next to you, and hang out for an hour to see what happens. If it makes you feel better, I've run two meetups where zero people showed up, you won't be alone in spirit.
I've done I think three in Oklahoma City, and in two cases, it was just me. But I think the success of my meetups may be related to the caliber of artillery nearby, so I'm planning to host at the local military museum again.
That said, while nobody showing up isn't exactly fun, it's practically very low downside. (My not hosting for the last few cycles was mostly me being busy and forgetting to set something up.)
Why can't LLMs come up new physics theories given they have so much knowledge?
Has anyone tried running a meetup in a town/city of ~150k people? What other criteria should I be looking at to determine if it's worth running one?
(Proximity to other meetups, population demographics, etc)
Can you put a cap on attendees for your meetup or do you just have to guess whether you might be swamped/overwhelmed holding it at your house?