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Posted by Julian Chadwick

Meetin Celebration Video
September 07, 2008

This week, people are coming from all over the US and world for the annual Meetin Celebration party. They pick a new city every year, and this time it will be in Portland. Meetin is a website where people find link-minded others to attend (& create) events together. I've been to many of these and met good people and had good times.

They have events going on all week and you can see a full list of events currently posted for that weekend here: meetin.org but the main event will be Friday night at the Fez Ballroom. This event will be large as over 1500 people have already looked at the event and 200 have RSVPed. If you want to meet some of the local Meetin people, there will also be the monthly Mingler this Tuesday @ Thirsty Lion (info after the break). I've been to a few of these and they are always well attended.

Message from Cassy about the Celebration after the break…

*** MEETin.org Celebration ***

Each year, people from different MEETin.org city groups meet up for a packed weekend of events, and this year it's our turn to host.  We have members coming from all over the country, and even some from Europe (MEETinDUESSELDORF will be in the house!!!)

Friday night's event will be the center-piece of this whole weekend, so come along!

This is your time to come out, meet people from meetin groups all over the country, and have a great night out. Chatting, drinking, meeting, greeting. Oh, and dancing, of course. Everyone who's anyone will be there :)

The venue will be the fabulous Fez Ballroom, who are opening early just for us! This is one of MiPL's favorite dance venues, and oh so very Portland. Barfly Magazine describes it thus: 'Imagine Casablanca set-designed by Bobby Trendy. Scheherezade's Architectural Digest spread….. a massive ballroom of floor-spanning ottomans and potted palms and dimly-lit Arabian wet dreams…. Two floors of old movie decadence, an excellent sound system and absurdly-reasonable (allowing for stiffness) cocktails deserve constant attention.' Quite right!

We have the place entirely to ourselves until doors open to the public at 9:00 p.m. – but the Fez really doesn't get busy at all until around 10:30 p.m. So we'll have plenty of time to meet, and indeed greet – and there may well be a few entertainments in store for you ;)

An option for those who want to do it: at last year's Celebration in Philadelphia, the Welcome HH was also a Graffiti T-Shirt Party. Lots of people had great fun with this – so if you want a unique souvenir from this Celebration, please wear a white or light-colored t-shirt, bring a marker pen, and get graffiti-ed to your heart's content! Needless to say, because it's optional, please make sure the people you're writing on want to be written on! MEETinPORTLAND's certainly had a lot of fun with Sharpies in the past (although there weren't any t-shirts involved on that occasion…).

Friday night is the Fez Ballroom's regular 'Shut Up and Dance' night, hosted by DJ Gregarious – so feel free to stay and dance the night away! When the MiDC crew visited Portland in 2006, we brought them to 'Shut Up and Dance', and had an absolute blast. The music is mostly 80's & 90's new wave & alt rock tunes – there is a request list and most of the requests get played. So make sure to bring some ideas with you – 'cos if you don't like the music he's playing it's because you didn't ask for anything good! :)

Related: Portland Events: August 2009

Tuesday's mingler information (event listing on Meetin here)…

UPDATE: We now have a location! We'll be at the Thirsty Lion Pub & Grill downtown (1 block south and 1 block west of the Skidmore Fountain MAX stop in “Fareless Square”). They are reserving the “Lion's Den” for us, which is the tiny little piece of patio in the back, as well as the north side of the bar (aka the right side of the bar as you walk in).

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Every month MiPL has a “Mingler” evening which is simply for hanging out at a bar, meeting new members and other MiPL friends. This is very relaxed, friendly and informal – so just come along for a drink or two and meet new people!

This month's Mingler is extra special! So that we can share with all the folks coming to Portland for the PDX09 Meetin Celebration, we're holding this a little earlier in the month and having it on a Tuesday, rather than our usual Thursday night.

If you're visiting Portland for the Celebration, we'd love to have you join us for this event! If you are staying downtown or near the Convention Center/Lloyd Center area, you will not need a car to get to this event.

If this is your first MiPL event, feel free to come and look for me or any of the Welcome Wagon members when you arrive. We'll be looking out for new faces too.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Thirsty Lion
August 11, 7PM, Free

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Incidentally – admittedly “Mingler” may sound a bit like it's a singles' mixer – but it most assuredly is not! This and all other events are for meeting people and making friends, so whether you're single, coupled, married – you're very, very welcome.