It can be difficult to make friends as an adult. That's something Zach Bohner, GM of
@summitcitybrew, and his wife realized as they aged.
“The older I have gotten, the more difficult I have found it to find lasting platonic relationships. It's difficult to find new friends as work and home responsibilities grow, or you move to a new city, or current friends move away."
These realizations have inspired Bohner and his team at Summit City Brewerks to start a new type of socializing event in Fort Wayne: speed friending.
If the name reminds you of speed dating, you’re not far off. Much like a typical speed dating setup, the event is designed for participants to meet with one another for 5-10 minutes. Every round, participants will be given different breakout questions and will write down how each interaction went on a notecard. At the end of the night, participants will turn in their notecards and mutual matches will be given each other's contact information.
“Speed Friending is an event designed to help people find friendship in an inviting, low pressure environment,” says Bohner. “It will give individuals an opportunity to spend a short amount of time with a lot of different people without feeling the pressure of having to start a conversation with a stranger.”
The inaugural Speed Friend event takes place at Summit City Brewerks on February 16, from 8-10 p.m. There’s a $10 registration fee, which serves as a $10 voucher for food and drinks the night of the event.
Bohner says there’s been a good buzz about the event on social media, so he’s hopeful for a good turnout. If it does go well, he says he has ideas for different iterations of speed friending in the future, including a couples speed friending event.
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