LessOnline 2026

LessOnline host handbook

The LessOnline
Session Guide

Ben Pace
Ben Pace
Lead Organizer

The standard mistake of big events is to spend all your time bored in the back of talks, when you could be meeting strange and interesting people. The best part of LessOnline is reliably the people: the bloggers, commenters, lurkers, and new friends you talk with all weekend.

And yet, every year, I give people access to a schedule, and somehow you put on over 100 sessions. Gosh darn it, some of them are excellent. So, reluctantly, we have decided to allow you to keep putting things on the schedule.

This little guide will hopefully help inspire you to bring something excellent: a conversation, workshop, game, performance, debate, ritual, lecture, experiment, or otherwise make something worth gathering for.

So, here are some things I'd love to see in your sessions at LessOnline...

1. Help people grow stronger as writers!

Nathan Young
Nathan Young,
LessOnline MC

Many of the greatest writers on the internet are gathered here this weekend, along with many others who aspire to surpass them. I hope you can help one another grow stronger together as writers.

What do you know about writing? Is there something you can help people practice, or explain unusually well?

A speaker sits cross-legged in a courtyard gesturing toward a whiteboard listing science-fiction sources.
Alexander Wales gestures at a screen showing an AI-generated landscape painting of a stone portal.
Four hosts seated at long tables on stage with laptops in front of an audience.

Past sessions that helped writers

  1. “What is inquisitive writing?” was a talk by philosopher Agnes Callard about what she's even trying to do with her writing - what counts as success and failure.
  2. “You will write Glowfic here and now” was an activity by Alicorn where people paired up and wrote collaborative fiction in a niche format called “glowfic”.
  3. “How to edit like an Asterisk editor” was an activity by Clara Collier where she explained some principles of editing, handed out a piece of writing for people to read and critique, then went through it as a group.
  4. “Solving Writer's Block (and general Executive Function)” was a workshop by Daystar Eld - who has shipped a chapter of his Pokemon fanfic every month for twelve years on top of a day job - sharing what his psych research into executive function says about how to keep going.

2. Give people something worth writing about!

A LessOnline speaker gives a talk to an outdoor audience.

Show us what you're obsessed with

What are you spending all your free time thinking about? Alternatively, what subject could you write the wikipedia page for?

  • “Superbabies: Paths, Dangers, Strategies” by Gene Smith
  • “Reversible cryopreservation - technical feasibility & practical considerations” by Laura Deming
  • “How Does DC National Security Culture Work, Anyways?” by Dave Kasten
  • “What You Need to Know About Surgery and Anesthesia” by Tommy Crow
Two people seated across from each other in rattan chairs on the lawn, each holding a microphone.

Engage in intellectual combat

You can stake out a controversial position solo, or properly debate someone else.

  • “Courtly Debates” by Nathan Young - jesters' hats, assigned positions, judged by a king
  • “The Standard Analogy” by Zack Davis - a dialogue performed with John Wentworth
  • Nate Soares vs. Emmett Shear on AI alignment – exactly what it sounds like
  • Argue about AI takeoff and timelines with Ryan Greenblatt
Attendees sit in a room wearing glowing headbands during a game-like session.

Run a live experiment

Use the session to test predictions, memory, taste, calibration, perception, or social dynamics with the room.

  • “The Attention Hunger Games” by Aella and Duncan Haldane - headbands you could change the color of to signal how interesting you found what someone was saying
  • Slime Mold Time Mold's live replications like testing whether food coloring tricks people into mistaking white wine for red

3. Start with a question you don't know how to answer!

Misha Glouberman
Misha Glouberman
Event Designer

It's okay to start with a question and no answer. You don't have to arrive as the expert; you can host a session because you're trying to figure something out and want to gather the other people who care about it too.

Is there something intellectually puzzling you? A challenge you're trying to overcome in your writing, your work, or your life? Make that the session. You may attract people who have answers, people a few steps ahead, and people in the same place who can trade experiences.

This is a space to bring problems, not just solutions. A great session can be: “I'm confused about this. Who else wants to think it through with me?”

Laura Deming presents beside a daybed while attendees sit nearby.
Suggested session flow

Pose the question (5 min): State the question, why it is important to you, why/how you have not figured it out.

Small groups (20 min): Get in groups of three. Each group discusses:

Why is this question/puzzle important for you? What is unsolved and why?

What answers or solutions have you tried/considered?

Whole group (20 min): People share what came up in their small groups and discuss with each other.

Closing (10 min):

In pairs, quickly share (3 min) “Biggest aha or most valuable takeaway from this session?”

Then go share with the whole group. Organizer offer a closing thought and thanks. Invite people to hang out somewhere and talk more.

4. Bring surprisingly good and weird experiences!

Close-up of someone painting a hand-drawn Argument FOR chart onto the mouse mural.

Make things together

A performer in a blue-and-gold gown reads into a microphone with a guitarist behind her.

Put on a performance

Two players at an outdoor wooden table with chess and Bananagrams.

Host a game or game show

A speaker stands barefoot on a chair pedestal demonstrating posture.

Teach a weird practical skill

A person sits quietly behind a shaded wooden counter with drinks and plants nearby.

Help people decompress

Three attendees laughing in a kitchen while looking at phones together.

Help people meet people

Words from the LessOnline team

Nathan Young, smiling.
Nathan Young
MC

I'm one of the MCs at LessOnline, and I believe that within most of us is a great session, burrowing with insectile legs towards the surface.

So please spend a minute considering what you're obsessed with, what you know about writing, what skills you have. And ask the AI to give you some more ideas.

And if none seem excellent, get in touch with me! Personally I'm excited about workshops on your topics of expertise, weird ways for people to meet each other and silly one-of-a-kind performances.

I also have the power to promote sessions to Rat Park, Cantor and Exobrain, so if yours is getting a lot of interest, get in touch.

Skyler Crossman
Skyler Crossman
Volunteer Coordinator

The volunteers and I are here to make sure you have everything you need for whatever maniacal mad science, Shakespearean soliloquy, or other activity you've got in mind.

Is there an object your session needs? Let us know. We can get paper printouts, microphones to amplify your voice, more chairs or an empty room. If you really need a metal bowl for fire or the sword of Scott Alexander, tell us - you might be surprised! All of that gets easier the earlier you say something.

P.S. We'll also help make sure your sessions don't run overtime. That's why we have water spritzers!

What can I do now?

I.

Put your session on the schedule

Ready enough is ready. Add a title, a short description, and the kind of people you hope will show up.

Open the schedule →
II.

Float a session and see who's interested

On the schedule page, click New Session, then select 'Gauge Interest' instead of 'Schedule'. It will appear as a session people can register interest on - if folks turn up, you can lock in a time and place later.

Open the schedule →
III.

Talk in the chat room about what people want

Ask what people want to attend, offer half-formed ideas, or find collaborators for something bigger.

Coming soon
IV.

Ask the LessOnline team a question

Need help, have feedback, or just want to tell someone something? DM one of us directly.

Nathan Young
Nathan Young
MC
Robert Miles
Robert Miles
MC
Skyler Crossman
Skyler Crossman
Volunteer Coordinator
Ben Pace
Ben Pace
Lead Organizer
Ruby
Ruby
Waypoint App Creator
- a handbook for would-be hosts at less.online -