Is it just sex....or more?????

[NikB]

Separated - you're welcome! Glad it helped you, too. Look for ones with high star ratings... you can also go to your area and pick "newest and largest" to get an idea of which ones are most active. For your first event I recommend going to one with quite a few "yes" RSVPs (at least 5.. 10 is better)... unless it's something you might do by yourself anyway. Only because it's a little scary going to your first one as it is, and worse to show up and be the only one (which has actually never happened to me, but I think it'd kinda sour you on meetups if it did).

CW - I forgot to mention that locally we also have elifeadventure.org. That's similar to meetup but more regulated - the "organizers" for it actually go through some training and the events are more structured - you have a sign in sheet etc. Personally I like the informal-ness of the meetups better, but the eLife events can be good if you're a little tentative on the whole "meet strangers off the internet" thing at first. They have monthly welcome dinners for new members where they talk more about how it works. I've gone to a couple actually (once when I was new and once to coax other newbies into going..) and there were always at LEAST 20 people, usually more.

Pick 3.. keep us posted, as Trixi said..