The Events team at the Centre for Effective Altruism

The Events team at the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is the division responsible for organizing conferences and events that bring together people working on the world's most pressing problems. The team is led by Amy Willey Labenz, who has been producing events at CEA since 2015 and serves as Director of Events. Lauren Reid serves as Chief of Staff for the Events team. The team operates across three primary program areas, each with its own program lead: EA Global (led by Robert Harling), EAGx (led by Niki Kesseler), and AI Events (led by Ollie Rodriguez). EA Global conferences are the flagship events, typically held in major cities like San Francisco, London, and New York, and are designed for individuals with solid understanding of effective altruism who are actively applying its ideas professionally. EAGx conferences are organized by local teams with support from CEA and serve a broader audience. In addition, the team runs specialized retreats, AI-focused events, and the newer EA Summit format launched in 2024. CEA first began running EA Global in 2015, building on earlier EA Summits that date back to 2013. The 2015 EA Global at the Google campus in Mountain View featured speakers including Elon Musk and Stuart Russell. Since then, the events program has grown substantially. In 2024, the team hosted three EA Global conferences with 2,870 attendees and supported 11 EAGx events, generating approximately 27,000 connections. The gross cost-per-attendee for EA Global was reduced from approximately $2,000 in 2023 to approximately $1,600 in 2024, and EAGx net cost-per-attendee dropped from approximately $845 to $580. For 2025, the team set goals of 3,500 in-person EA Global attendees (a 22% increase) and 5,000 EAGx and EA Summit attendees across 13 to 25 total events, expanding EA Summits from 3 to 9 locations. The February 2026 progress report confirmed that the team hosted the biggest EA Global ever in 2025 with the highest satisfaction scores and lowest cost-per-attendee in four years. In 2026, scheduled events include EA Global London (May 29-31), EA Global New York City (October 16-18), and multiple EAGx and EA Summit events in locations including Mexico City, Stockholm, Washington DC, Nairobi, and Jakarta. CEA is currently part of Effective Ventures but has been planning to spin out as an independent organization. In July 2025, CEA merged with EA Funds within Effective Ventures, with the combined entity expected to complete its spinout in early to mid 2026. The events program receives the majority of CEA's overall budget, with 2023 events spending totaling $15.4 million across EA Global ($9.5M), EAGx ($3.0M), partner events ($1.9M), and cross-events ($1.0M). CEA achieved significant cost reductions in 2024, cutting overall spending by $5.9 million (24%), with the majority of savings coming from lower events spending.

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