Aims for Talking About EA

How to Talk About EA

We have a few resources we recommend about communicating EA ideas:

• Read up on the Guiding Principles of EA. This document outlines attitudes at the core of the community.

• Read about the importance of high-fidelity communication. The ideas of EA are complex. Mass outreach often results in oversimplification and misunderstanding.

Here are some general tips about approaching your EA communications.

• Talk about EA accurately and appealingly. EA topics can be complicated, sensitive, and require nuance to express accurately. Poor communication can give our audience a narrow or imprecise picture of EA that’s hard to correct. However, group or event advertisements are too small to represent the complexity of EA. Instead, advertisements should aim to:

  • Encourage sympathetic viewers to participate in group activities. Once they’re engaged, they can experience a more in-depth explanation of EA ideas.

  • Avoid creating a bad impression of EA for people who aren’t interested. To do this, avoid controversial statements or images, even if you believe this would get more views.

  • Be welcoming and inclusive, as these are core values of the community.

• Consider how images, videos, and links might be interpreted. If your advertising relates to global health and poverty issues, follow these guidelines for depicting poverty.

• Avoid jargon. Consider your audience’s level of familiarity with EA terminology. If you do use technical terms, do so correctly and explain what the words mean. Check out these suggestions and the glossary of terms.

• Avoid controversy. Sometimes, EA events have sparked controversy, usually with negative consequences. Julia Wise wrote a guide to handle controversies to help you if they do arise.

• Use tidy and consistent design across your platforms. The graphics section of the EA Resource Hub has logos and images you can modify and use.

• Stay updated. EA covers a wide range of causes, ideas and values which evolve continuously. To promote EA most effectively it helps to stay updated with the ideas being discussed in the broader community. Ways to keep up to date include signing up for the EA newsletter, using the EA Forum, or keeping tabs on EA Facebook pages.