We have the nicest and best commenters on the internet, so it stands to reason that we’d be pretty cool to hang out with, too. Anyone can decide to host a gathering. You don’t need to check with me or get input from anyone else.
What I suggest:
- Pick a day and time that works for you.
- Pick a location that is public, easily to reach, and not too elaborate or expensive or requiring of reservations. Boston met at an ice cream shop and hung out there and outside on nearby benches. Chicago is about to do a similar jam. Seattle is putting together a happy hour.
- Do a little research on accessibility – Are there bathrooms? Is it wheelchair friendly? Will there be places to sit?
- Is there a way people can contact you – blog address, email, Twitter handle or hashtag – and a way people will be able to identify the group once they get there?
- Send me an email with the announcement and I’ll post it. That post will be the thread for everyone who wants to talk about the meetup and hash out details and figure out how to stay in touch afterward.
- Don’t fall prey to the Geek Social Fallacy that everything must work for everyone or stress yourself out with elaborate schemes. Herding a bunch of strangers together is hard, so do what works for you. Other people can plan stuff that works for them next time.
- Have a good time and let me know how it went!
- NO CREEPING.
If the whole thing gets ungainly at some point and we have to buy a Meetup membership, that will be a good problem. For now this should work.
Special note for Chicago people: Sweet Machine, Commander Logic and I live here. Which is lucky, because we get to meet local folks! But you don’t have to ask our permission or wait for us to do “official” things or even find out when we’re free. Please feel free to throw something together if you want to, and as stated above, do what works for you.
Eventually my secret evil plan is to throw some kind of larger weekend-long Awkward Con, with tables for people who want to play board games or just color quietly together, karaoke, readings of awkward tales, music, pitches of creative projects for possible collaboration, a film and/or story festival, maybe sessions with self-defense or assertiveness training or other guest speakers, speed-friending, etc. In my mind’s eye I see a kissing booth to take care of all the Never-Been-Kissed folks, a Peanuts-style advice booth, and also two circles drawn on the floor where people can stand and give each other Jedi Hugs and compliments from a few feet away. I need to think on it more, and it definitely won’t happen before 2013. We need a wealthy benefactor, obviously!
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Boosting this! The Seattle meetup is tomorrow, 6:30, Wayward Coffeehouse in the Roosevelt neighborhood. We will be the large table with a stuffed Beholder on it and I’ll probably be knitting fingerless gloves in dark blue yarn.
Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this, but with the submission box closed I couldn’t think of anything else:
I’ve got London Meetup #2 all booked up and ready to go, and I’d like to give people as much notice as possible so they can plan. Is there somewhere I can submit it?
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I’m mostly a lurker, but I was thinking about arranging a New York City meetup. It says I shouldn’t email right now, however, and since this is a large place I wanted to be sure no one else had already started the process.
Why don’t you post the details here (or, it’s okay to email) and I’ll post a thread. Don’t know of anything else in the works, so it’s all you.
*waves*
*waits patiently for Meetup directions to self-destruct in five seconds*
I would be interested!
Did this ever happen?
Hi,
I’d quite like to organise a Bristol UK meetup, but I’ve no idea how many people we would get (possibly none, if London only had 15), so is there any way you could put up a post saying “Possibly Bristol meetup on the cards, would anyone be interested?”. If we get two responses, I can organise something. Numbers would also be great for working out whether I needed to book, etc.
Thanks, and no worries if you’d prefer not to clag up your blog with that kinda thing.
I won’t post a poll, so plan something and see who shows up. Bring a book in case: No one.
Not that you’re crazy for wanting this, but multiply this request by all the cities where people “might” want to do a meetup and it’s an administrative issue for me.
Would you mind if I created a Facebook group for Perth (and/or Australian) Awkwardeers?
Not at all.
Dublin, Ireland Awkward Army meetup.
Hi all!
I’m Aoife, a mostly-lurker here at CA, and I’ve decided that despite the fact that party-planning makes me panic, Awkward Army members are so undeniably great that I should try to meet more of them, and am reasonably confident that Interestingly Weird Conversations will happen. And those are some of my favourite conversations! So, meet up!
It will be on Saturday April 13th from three to five. (Not that we’ll be kicked out at five; the cafe is open until nine so if people are having fun and have no other plans sticking around is an option.)
The venue will be Lemon Jelly Cafe. (http://www.lemonjellycafe.ie) It’s on Millennium Walkway, Dublin 1 (sometimes known as the Italian Quarter) which runs perpendicular to the Liffey between Liffey Street and Jervis Street. Lemon Jelly is an accessible, roomy cafe. You can get sustenance ranging from a cuppa and a slice of cake to a bagel or savoury crepe or omelette, but it doesn’t do full large meals. It does do a lovely range of fancypants teas as well as the normal stuff.
I will be sitting at a table with a mutant purple teddy bear-octopus Thing That Should Not Be. I am a short brunette with glasses and I will probably be wearing a top hat.
Please feel free to bring your knitting/crochet/colouring books/other easily transported things that can be done while meeting people.
If you have any questions, you can email me at aoife DOT ni DOT chonchubhair AT gmail DOT com.
You may want to ask if the Captain can post this to the main blog, as I’m not sure how many people will see it here.
Have fun!