How do YOU meet new people?

[Antares]

I would recommend: MEETin

It's a great (and free) site you can use to meet people in your local area. People basically post a variety of events which you can go to...or post your own event (once you've been a member for a while). I'm not active anymore but was a few years back. I met some great people who I am still friends with and then basically moved on. The cool thing about it is that everyone who joins and participates basically does so to meet people. It's not pretentious and not a dating site. At any given event, there was always a lot of new people as well as a bunch of regulars.

Other than the above. I tend to meet people through friends. Friends of friends and that kind of thing.

 

[macwall]

If you see a person or a group of people that you want to talk to, just walk up and start talking to them. It might seem weird at first, but you can actually make a lot of friends this way. Also if you become good at making friends with strangers, it will help you a lot if you're looking for someone to date.

 

[motulist]

It's pretty simple, all you have to do is walk near a stranger and make a topical comment about something in the environment around you. If they respond back with more than a word or two it means they're interested in having a conversation.

Let's say you're at the grocery store in the dairy isle, just turn your head slightly to them and say "gosh, can you believe the price of milk these days?" and then if they're interested in having a conversation they'll respond with something like "yeah, it's crazy. The other day I was thinking about making myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast but I actually hesitated because the price of milk is so high." If they aren't interested in having a conversation they'll give you an answer that's just two or three words like "yeah, it's crazy."

So when someone responds with a sentence or two, you say a sentence or two back. Keep doing that for a while and then bring up something that you enjoy doing that they might enjoy doing too, and if it turns out you have a similar interest, like playing poker, then just tell them "hey we should play poker one day, why don't you give me your email address." Then you make arrangements to player poker one day soon, and before you know it you've got a friend.