Where to meet a geek
Meeting likeminded people isn’t always easy. Sure, you have the internet, but the people you can meet online aren’t necessarily the people living close to you, or the people who would be interested in an offline meet-up. But geekdom does not have to be lonely. Sure, you might have to get a little creative when you’re not living in a big town, but there are lots of ways to meet with other geeks. Here are some ideas.
1. Hang out at your local comic/boardgame store
Or even better: get a job there! Most comic stores and boardgame stores feature as a hangout for local geeks and enthousiasts who are more than willing to have a discussion about whether Hydra Cap is a good thing. Do you find it difficult to strike up a random conversation with a stranger, look out for people picking up a book, game or item that you have read/played: saying ‘That’s a really good choice’ is a great opener for any conversation and not that awkward to do.
2. Participate in a gamenight or tournament (or start your own)
If you’re into boardgames/tabletop/cardgames/videogames, see if there are gamenights, tournaments or rpg-groups around. Local gamestores often host gamenights and if not, they might know about gaming groups in the area. Of course, you could also start a group yourself. Put up a poster in the local gamestore, library, community centre or school – I bet there are a lot of other closeted geeks living near by that will react! Of course if there are local communities on the internet and social media, they might be a great place to find fellow gamers too.
3. Visit a convention
In general, conventions are a great way to meet and talk to new people too. There is no big difference between big and small conventions; we’ve had great conversations with random people at the incredibly large San Diego Comic-Con just as easy. Easier, maybe, even, than on smaller cons, just because waiting in line together for your favourite writer/tv-show/actor lets you bond quite naturally. Cons that are mostly just a retail floor are less useful for striking up conversations, mainly because everybody is moving around all the time.
4. Host your own geeknight
If you’re a tv/moviefreak and you have a large tv screen at home, hosting a themed get-together can be a fun thing to do too. What about a monthly anime-night, for instance? Or a horror-marathon? If you have friends that are less geeky, tv-series or movies can be the way to bond over shared interests, because, be honest, everybody watches Game of Thrones anyway. Ask your friends to each bring a new friend (that you don’t know) and expand your group of geek-inclined friends. If you have a local movie theatre or community hall, why not pay them a visit and ask if they’re interested in you hosting something like this, officially? Many smaller theatres depend on volunteers organising fun events – a great way to share your interests and grow some experience in organising as well (something to put on your resume). If you’re even more socially outgoing, hosting a geek pubquiz or giving lectures on specific geek-subjects might be the thing for you.
5. Adorn yourself with geekyness (in style)
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and talk to others. I am pretty sure there are a lot of people in your neighborhood with the same interests, that you might not know of, mainly because you’re all too shy to speak up. We can’t all be the cosplaying-type, but wearing a geek-related outfit every now and then could help you get noticed. And choose something stylish that’ll make you look good to non-geeks too; no ill-fitting shirts with large prints, please. There are so many great geek-inspired outfits on the market nowadays, for both women and men, that there is no excuse. We love the qwertee.com shirts, for instance, and you can go even more subtle – I have a great Avengers-bracelet, for instance, which I love wearing with any sort of outfit.
6. Show your inner geek
Not into geeky outfits? Try to use other merchandise instead. If you’re shy about coming out as a geek, start small. If you’re working in a large office-space, for instance, why not put a small Star-Wars toy on your desk? Others have plants or a family picture, so you could have your own geek item. Most people won’t even notice but if there’s that one colleague who goes ‘Oh wow, a 1980’s rocket-firing Boba Fett, where did you get that?!’ you know you’ve got a new friend for life.
-Julia