Hey Tom, we have that second step because we often deliver free workshops to people at their universities. Just this week I was emailing people who told us they are at universities in London to let them know about date we will be available to meet them personally.
If you just click anywhere else on the page, the popup will close and you can get back to reading the page! :)
I understand pop-ups are annoying, but without them I don't think 80,000 Hours' model would be sustainable (we couldn't show much impact and so donors wouldn't fund us).