These kinds of talks are one of the primary ways people are introduced to Effective Altruism—it seems very useful to spend some time crafting them to produce the most effective talk we can. So it would be great if people could critique this talk. I’m sure Toby wouldn’t mind. To get the ball rolling, here are some of my thoughts:
Beginning with a personal story is good
The answers to some of the questions aren’t very good: especially the responses on E2G vs other work, and local vs LEDC giving. A bit waffly. They get asked so often that we could presumably come up with a standard answer.
Is explaining QALYs going to turn people off? Perhaps its appropriate to this audience
The presentation could be more engaging—less on each slide, more colorful
QALYs are a major component of this talk. You could make another talk without QALYs, but a lot of pieces of this one, like demonstrating the huge range of effectiveness in health interventions, depend on them.
“The presentation could be more engaging—less on each slide, more colorful”
I didn’t get the sense that people in the room were tuning out or would have paid more attention with flashier slides. But this probably varies based on where you are.
“Thank you for transcribing this!”
I actually only cleaned up the transcription. The initial transcription was made by someone else because one of the people who wanted to watch the talk is deaf.
These kinds of talks are one of the primary ways people are introduced to Effective Altruism—it seems very useful to spend some time crafting them to produce the most effective talk we can. So it would be great if people could critique this talk. I’m sure Toby wouldn’t mind. To get the ball rolling, here are some of my thoughts:
Beginning with a personal story is good
The answers to some of the questions aren’t very good: especially the responses on E2G vs other work, and local vs LEDC giving. A bit waffly. They get asked so often that we could presumably come up with a standard answer.
Is explaining QALYs going to turn people off? Perhaps its appropriate to this audience
The presentation could be more engaging—less on each slide, more colorful
The conclusion is strong
ps. Thank you for transcribing this!
“Is explaining QALYs going to turn people off?”
QALYs are a major component of this talk. You could make another talk without QALYs, but a lot of pieces of this one, like demonstrating the huge range of effectiveness in health interventions, depend on them.
“The presentation could be more engaging—less on each slide, more colorful”
I didn’t get the sense that people in the room were tuning out or would have paid more attention with flashier slides. But this probably varies based on where you are.
“Thank you for transcribing this!”
I actually only cleaned up the transcription. The initial transcription was made by someone else because one of the people who wanted to watch the talk is deaf.