Meet my online friends in person

How I did it: My boyfriend and I have the same group of friends online. < nerd alert >We 'run' a fictional Ghostbusters franchise known as Ghostbusters:Nightsquad, which started out as a group that used to write fan fiction, but now we host a fowl-mouthed, in-crowd web show with the local group (3-4 of us).< / nerd alert >

For a while, we had tossed around the idea of having a get together, seeing as how we are sort of the 'group leaders'. Last year we began to organize a meet up centered around this year's comic convention in Pittsburgh. We invited a lot of people, over a dozen online friends, some we had already met before. As time went on many could not attend for their own reasons, but we were left with the 'core' group of people. 8 people in all including myself and bf. All of Nightsquad would be together for the first time, so even though we couldn't get everyone we invited to come, it still was going to be a special weekend. We provided information regarding hotels and convention information, as well as a loose itinerary of activities we could do. As travel arrangements were made, everyone let us know when and how they would be arriving. Aside from some minor mix ups the weekend was a spectacular hit! We all got to meet face to face, and since we were in costume all the convention goers were interested in talking with us and getting photos taken. We are going to try to do this next year, too.

Lessons & tips: Get to know people for a year or two before arranging a meeting. We have actually known many of our friends for almost 10 years now. Provide information to them or ask for some yourself in regards to airports/bus or train stations/hotels/local attractions/etc. Center the meeting around an event of common interest, this way, you and your friends can be engaged in something other than sitting around bored in someone's home.

Resources: http://nightsquad.net

Nov 13, 05:14AM PST | 0 comments