CFAR workshop, June 15th, Salt Lake City UT

post by Julia_Galef · 2013-06-06T16:47:42.749Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 7 comments

Contents

  Workshop Details
  Application Details
None
7 comments

CFAR is experimenting with a mobile workshop, so we can bring our material to people who can't make it to Berkeley.  So, next week, we're running a one-and-a-half day workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah!

 

Workshop Details

On Saturday June 15th, CFAR will be running a workshop in the Salt Lake City area. We’ll be presenting selected material from our four-day workshop and giving you the chance to consult with our instructors on how you can put these skills to work.

You’ll arrive for class at 10am on Saturday, and you and eleven other participants will spend the day learning highlights from our applied rationality curriculum: how to recognize and defuse a fight-or-flight response when it doesn't do you any good (you can’t outrun data you don’t like!), how to make sure your desire to complete a long-term project (say, writing a book) trickles down to motivate all the picayune steps along the way (doing a read-through to pick off unnecessary adjectives), and how to make the most of your intuitive judgments. Classes wrap up at 7pm, and then we’ll all go out for dinner, where you’ll have a chance to decompress and digest the day (along with your meal).

After dinner, if you’ve registered for the optional half-day, you’ll sleep over on site with the CFAR staff and play some fun, brain-teasing games. The evening is a time for unstructured conversation and collaboration. What are your pet projects and ambitions? Get feedback from classmates and instructors and start figuring out ways to make the most of your newfound skills.

The next morning, you’ll choose which of the previous day’s skills you really want to practice intensively. Catch any misunderstandings or sticking points while you’re still around to troubleshoot them with a CFAR instructor. At our four-day workshops, many participants report that our final-day review sessions are the point where they were finally able to internalize the material and start to use it instinctively.

After a half-day of review and reinforcement, we send you back out into the world, better prepared to make the most of your brain.

 

Application Details

The cost of the workshop will be $90 for the first day of instruction + $50 if you plan to stick around for the overnight and the second day of practice.

Registration is first come, first serve. Space is limited to 12. To sign-up, fill out this two minute form.

7 comments

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comment by Error · 2013-06-06T20:38:22.015Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I am somewhat curious about the dramatic difference in price between this and the full workshop. It's more than an order of magnitude, unless I'm either reading something very wrong or somebody slipped a zero somewhere. $140 for two days compared to $3900 for four?

Nevertheless I'm glad to see this. Hopefully it will come to Atlanta someday; if it does, I'll sign up.

Replies from: palladias, None
comment by palladias · 2013-06-06T20:53:30.323Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Our prices are lower, because we haven't run this workshop before. When we're alpha or beta testing, we don't charge as much as for our polished, more refined material. Also, our normal workshops include six weeks of one-on-one followup with an instructor, and this session will not.

Replies from: Error
comment by Error · 2013-06-06T21:00:10.270Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you for the concise response.

comment by [deleted] · 2013-06-06T20:52:38.627Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Experimental workshops are cheaper.

comment by Vaniver · 2013-06-06T20:08:30.077Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I've been to two CFAR workshops, and found both worthwhile. If you're in Utah, this is probably the best way for you to spend June 15th.

Past workshop advertisements have mentioned who's going to be teaching, and I suspect that helps make them more attractive. Who will be there in Utah?

I hope this goes well, and am curious to hear how it goes; keep us posted!

comment by DanPeverley · 2013-06-10T03:05:57.206Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I would really like to sign up for this. It's in my area, at a price I could afford, and it seems like one of the better ways to spend my time due to the combination of instruction and expected networking. However, due to family matters I would not be able to show up until around noon. Would it be too disruptive to show up late? How many of the twelve positions have been filled? I wouldn't want to take one from someone who could be there the whole time.

If the aforementioned problems aren't issues, I plan to sign up and attend.

Edit: Never mind. I have removed the obstacle and am signing up right now.

comment by shminux · 2013-06-06T20:47:23.205Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Hopefully a workshop like that will happen somewhere around Seattle some day.