Merriam Webster Dictionary defines Phenomenon as "An event that can be observed and that typically is unusual or difficult to understand or explain fully."

How does the word Phenomenon pertain to us? Well, we are members of a group that partakes in events that are meant to meet people, have interesting conversations, make connections, and to have fun. The end result of these social events, hopefully, is an experience that satisfies one of two human primal instincts. One is the human instinct to be loved and accepted. The other primal instinct would be fear of rejection.

You finally make some time to go out and meet new people. You find a cool event going on that sounds like fun. And so the process begins: you feel excited at first, thinking of the possibilities. Maybe this time, you’ll actually come home having made a new friend. Maybe you meet someone who can be an asset to your business. Maybe you meet your other half. Maybe you finally meet a fun group who laughs at the same things you do, gets your goofy references to obscure movies no one really knows and breaks through the façade and walls you have up to maintain a good first impression.

In Aziz Ansari’s hilarious and insightful book Modern Romance, he makes the case that “too many people spend way too much time doing the online part of online dating, not the dating part,” and that “ultimately meeting in person is the only way to know whether something is going to work.” (If you haven’t read the book, it’s a great read, and even better in the audio version with Aziz reading the book to you. But I digress . . .) 

Hi guys,

I want to do a quick note to start a conversation about our group, pertaining to meeting people and having fun during the process. Actually, this is a prologue to another message called "Creating a Phenomenon" that I plan to blog in the next couple weeks.

As many of our members know, ones that have been to at least one of our events, we are not your typical social group. People are amazed, intrigued, pleasantly surprised at how social and fun our group is. Even the most social person, I included, have butterflies meeting new people. The initial fear, however, is quickly supplanted by ease as people soon realized everyone is friendly. Soon enough, you'll be talking, smiling, laughing.

Ever have a conversation with someone just to find out that you both weren't the same wavelength? In other words, you just didn’t ‘click’ together? Granted, sometimes you need more than just a first conversation to tell if you will get along with someone, but moving somewhere new and meeting new people can be rough in this aspect. You might go through many trials and error processes just like the one above in order to make a new friend. Why is making a new friend out of college or your hometown so damned difficult?