A Sunday afternoon Steem meet-up that almost didn't happen
Covered in a big scarf and my umbrella held above my head I walked towards the carefully chosen venue... Nice and spacey and a wide variety of items on the menu both food and drink wise, so everyone could have something of their liking. Also: very close to the train station for those who had to travel far and had to catch a train back home at night.
The tram driver told me to get out one stop before the stop I needed to be because of maintenance. So I had to walk, through the rain, through the wind... Knowing I would be just a few minutes late which I didn't like. I had planned to be there a few minutes beforehand so I could welcome the Steemians attending.
I told myself it was okay: if they were inside already I would just be able to pick them out of the crowd as they surely would probably be keeping an eye on the entrance door to see if they would recognize me?
I turned a corner, totally expecting to have to push open the door to the venue... Only to see there were no lights on and all chairs were put upside-down on the tables.
Nooooo!
I was late, I saw no-one waiting in front of the door, and the venue was closed!
What now?
In that moment my hope was no-one had arrived at the venue yet - as they would surely believe my whole Steem meet-up was a joke! I decided to leave a comment quickly on my meet-up post to share a new location - and then walk towards that venue while trying to message some people I knew would come on Discord.
Would all work out and would people be able to find me?
Of course it did. I sat down at the 'new' Café and it took only a few mintutes before I saw someone looking around, clearly searching for 'people'. I waved and asked if he was looking for Steemians - which he did. It was @alfonzo, driving quite a distance to Rotterdam, he totally believed he was being catfished when he found the venue was closed! I'm glad he found my updated blog post before he turned home again, maybe only a few minutes have made the difference between him still finding us and getting back to his car only to find out at home a meet-up did take place anyway.
Ofcourse @pundito arrived shortly after, he's turning out to be the most loyal of all Steemians to join the meet-ups, and when the three of us were busy chatting about Steem witnesses and the changes after HF21/2, @pacolimited and his non-Steemian companion joined us for a beer as well :D
We had a blast chatting and drinking, even after we had to change venues again because this one closed super early. It was a shame our dear @verhp11 wasn't able to join at the last minute because his son had to be checked in the hospital after a blow to the head which turned out to be a mild concussion - all the best wishes for your son and see you next time, Peter!
All in all I am super excited that two new people showed up at the Rotterdam meet-up, and I heard both @alfonzo and @pacolimited say they were interested to join us again another time!
Thanks for showing up and sharing your stories - to me these little meet-ups are very meaningful, getting to know faces behind the profile pictures, getting to know motivations behind being on Steem (@alfonzo more investment oriented, @pacolimited very much @steemmonsters oriented for example :D), and through talks opening up opportunities to work together or educate each other or just spread a little bit of our enthusiasm for this weird en sometimes puzzling place called Steem.
So fun that you all are getting together!
It really was fun! <3 Thanks for stopping by :-)
That was indeed a spontaneous change of location. The message reached me on the train to Rotterdam because I was late again. Of course, it wasn't my intention to be late but public transport can be tricky ;)
And the best thing about being late was: I did not need to walk some hundred meters through the windy and rainy Rotterdam streets but only needed to cross one road to get to the new location :)
The bad thing was: I managed to hit a deep puddle on this 20-meter run :)
I really like these smaller meetups. Not several groups talking over several different things and you always have the idea that you are missing something. Here we can talk about all the topics brought up by the participants in nice discussions.
Thanks also from my side to @alfonzo and @pacolimited for participating and bringing up some interesting ideas and thoughts.
And special thanks to @soyrosa for setting up the #steemmeetuprotterdam again.
CU all soon again and
STEEM ON!!!
Hahaha - yes, the rain was nasty and those puddles are never where you want them to be! :D
And I agree - we got a really nice chance to really chat with each other, super nice to have a small table and some great smiles and talks present :-)
I'm sure I'll see you at the next meet-up again @pundito! :D Steem ON ;-)
Nice to hear you pulled that meetup off despite a closed venue! Small or big meetups, they're always special :)
YES! I was also so excited to see the first Finnish meet-up together - how about us planning a Central Europe (so many can join) one coming spring? :P
It was really nice and interesting to be part of Steem “for real”.
Thanks to @soyrosa for the valuable knowledge, organization and the quick action to make the meet up happen.
@pacolimited & @pundito, thanks for the all the ideas you brought to my attention.
See you all next time!
Posted using Partiko iOS
:-) I was really happy you were there and we got to know you! Now we've connected on Discord you can ask me any questions you have and I'll gladly point you out the right places to be :-) Cheers and until the next time! :-)
Glad you found a way to get together still. I'm imaging all of the right people showed up :)
That truly was the case @kimberlylane! Glad all worked out and I didn't 'lose' Steemians in the rain and the change of location :')))
Such a shame I couldn't make it.... Good to hear you guys had fun.
Next time, maybe ...
I have only ever met one steemian in real life. So jealous. So many Dutchies on Steem!!
Posted using Partiko Android