I'm from a giant, basically urban group with many well-attended activities. Here's what I've noticed: The same people attend the same events all the time. I go to the things where I know my pals will be. And since I have so many choices, I'm not often inclined to gamble on an event I've never attended before--why take a chance that I'll get stuck listening to a boor when I could go to a "sure thing?" Why go to something where I'm not sure people will like me?
Tripling the number of new members—all strangers—won't increase the number of friends I know will be at an event. But increasing the number of people at one of the huge events, like an RG, which I would go to anyway, will potentially increase the number of "cool" people I know. This, in turn, would make me more likely to go to an event I've never been to, but which I know has at least one of my friends in attendance. (Actually, that is the reality I find myself in nowadays—I know and like someone at just about every activity on our calendar. Part of that is because when I was LocSec, I made an effort to go to many events all over the area and part of it is simply that being LocSec and editor exposed me to a higher percentage of our members than I might have otherwise encountered.)
It takes guts to show up at an event when you don't know anyone. It takes real inner strength to show up a second time if you encountered an unpleasant person the first time. I'm not shy, not at all. But if I think this way, imagine how the majority of members who are introverts feel.
1 comment:
"It takes guts to show up at an event when you don't know anyone. It takes real inner strength to show up a second time if you encountered an unpleasant person the first time."
Amen to that. I was cornered by a minor weirdo at the first event I attended. I didn't go to another for two months. Imagine if I'd never gone back!
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