Collecting expressions of interest in a rationality conference in August
post by purplerabbits · 2013-05-25T10:58:40.175Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 22 commentsOn the principle of organising events that I want to attend myself, I would very much like to organise a rationality conference/convention in the UK. I organise events for a living; in addition, in my free time I've organised five ~200 person weekend conventions and several other events.
At the moment I am thinking of a one day event on a weekend or a Friday in August, at Stamford Bridge or somewhere else easy to get to around London. There would probably also be a pre-conference dinner, or private bar night with music.
Costs would be in the region of £50-£100 a head including lunch.
Can I get a show of hands to see if the idea is viable?
22 comments
Comments sorted by top scores.
comment by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2013-05-25T11:02:44.310Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'd definitely go :)
I've known purplerabbits for over two decades; we lived together for one of those decades and I've organised events with her and been to other events she's organised, and I can testify that any event that she runs will be very well run indeed. I hope this happens so that I get to go to it!
comment by coffeespoons · 2013-05-25T11:58:27.145Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
That would be great - let me know if you need any help with organising etc.
ETA: If you would like my help (this is palmer1984 BTW) I'm unlikely to be available the weekend of 17th/18th August.
comment by EALE · 2013-05-26T22:30:56.586Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'd probably go, especially if people I know are going (went to my first LW meetup in London recently and couldn't shake the feeling that no one wanted to talk to me...)
I might go to the Fringe on Sunday 18th Aug and I'm busy Friday 23rd August, but otherwise free!
Replies from: philh, sixes_and_sevens↑ comment by philh · 2013-05-27T15:52:21.098Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
went to my first LW meetup in London recently and couldn't shake the feeling that no one wanted to talk to me...
I'm sorry we gave that impression. I'm pretty confident it wasn't deliberate, but I can sort of see how we might come across that way.
As a group we're making an effort to be more welcoming, so hopefully we will stop alienating new people soon. :-)
↑ comment by sixes_and_sevens · 2013-05-28T16:07:56.498Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Seconding Phil, sorry about that, and also thanks for pointing it out. We're trying out some new formats for the London meetups to make discussion a bit more egalitarian. If you're available, we'd love for you to come back, and hopefully you can get more out of it.
(Upcoming meetups in June are then 9th, which is our first practical-emphasis meetup, and the 27th, which is purely social.)
comment by Richard_Kennaway · 2013-05-26T13:37:35.972Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I am interested. My availability in August will be either totally flexible (because I typically take a few weeks holiday then without necessarily going anywhere) or somewhat unpredictable (because it's likely to be my final month with my current employer).
What sort of event are you envisaging?
comment by Ben Pace (Benito) · 2013-05-25T19:05:09.686Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'd love to come, although I'm based in Manchester and busy a lot.
Edit: I'd obvs make a special effort to get there.
comment by sixes_and_sevens · 2013-05-25T17:47:14.585Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Assuming it doesn't clash with prior plans, I'd go.
comment by elharo · 2013-05-25T16:11:08.802Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Depending on the program, I might hop across the pond for this. I've been meaning to take a trip to the UK for a while now. I would be more inclined to go to a longer, more aggressively planned conference as opposed to a more casual event. Two months seems short to prepare for this.
comment by Ramana Kumar (ramana-kumar) · 2013-05-25T15:40:58.682Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'd go, presuming no other important commitments on the dates.
comment by Morendil · 2013-05-26T11:16:18.838Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'd come all the way from Paris, but probably not in August, which is all booked up as far as I'm concerned.
(Tip to event organizers: whatever date you currently think of as "comfortably far off" will come much sooner than you anticipated, and is probably too early for a non-trivial portion of your target market.)
Replies from: purplerabbits↑ comment by purplerabbits · 2013-05-26T14:23:43.981Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I totally agree about timing! The reason for August is that there's a good deal on the venue, but if that's not viable I'm happy to go later. And if it is viable and successful I will likely be doing a similar event again.
comment by Benya (Benja) · 2013-05-25T12:15:03.525Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I would love to go, but it would be difficult for me to afford, and I'll be busy Aug 3-9 and 11-16. So alas, all I can say is that if you set up a financial aid fund and the event was outside those date ranges, I would apply :-)
Replies from: purplerabbits↑ comment by purplerabbits · 2013-05-26T14:25:55.285Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Thanks, there's most likely to be some kind of concession price if I can make the numbers add up.
Replies from: Benja↑ comment by Benya (Benja) · 2013-05-27T19:30:19.212Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Thanks!
comment by oliverbeatson · 2013-05-28T13:29:50.569Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Really good idea. Would attend.
comment by kerspoon · 2013-05-28T11:36:16.522Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'd definitely go, unless it was on the weekend of the 9th Aug.
I would probably be happy to let some people stay at my house if they were traveling from outside of London. I would have to agree this part with my housemate.
It might also be worth adding to this thread on the LessWrongLondon group https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/lesswronglondon/sLdnshaeHHg (I would certainly appreciate it as I don't check LessWrrong.com very often)
comment by KnaveOfAllTrades · 2013-05-27T03:16:59.407Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
/me raises hand
Free throughout the summer.