I've been browsing some meets on meetup.com and intend on going to a few. Many people have reassured me that whilst I'm the introverted type and events like this make me somewhat anxious... a lot of people are the same. I'd say that in the tech/dev world, more people have some kind of social awkwardness than not. The people that immeditately gel and befriend everyone aren't common. Maybe I'm wrong. shrug
I've been making friends on interpals.net - I originally signed up looking to do a bit of a language exchange, but ended up talking to a bunch of people.
After that, I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll and it's just a case of continuing. It's quite refreshing to know I can make friends, it's almost becoming enjoyable. :)
- What's the worst that could happen?
- Take an interest in other people, ask them what they're working on, etc.
- You won't be the most introverted person at x event.
Good luck. :)