If you don’t attend the event, there’s no chance of serendipity. An unexpected insight, from a talk you might have avoided or a conversation in the hallway, where a new approach to a long running problem presents itself.
Why go to a Ruby or Rails conference? - Andy Croll
Few DMs later, I was sitting on a tram to a pub and met two guys, had some beers, laughed a lot and had a generally very good time. At the end of the night we parted ways and didn’t talk after that.
Fast-forward back to today. I moved to Berlin on Wednesday and figured I’d like to meet some new people. What a better way to make new friends than join the local board game groups on the very next day, Thursday. And I did. I signed up for a game of AuZtralia (which now has an unfortunate name but awesome gameplay and Cthulhu theme) and showed up to the place.
Appendix A to Developer’s Guide to Communities : Juha-Matti Santala
Most of the best thing in my life has happened by accident. Or at least they have started by a serendipitous happenstance: meeting someone in an event and ending up chatting; working together with someone on an event or project and building a great relationship; being open to opportunities and putting myself to a position to be lucky.