What happens at a Conscious Connection matched dinner?
Making friends as an adult is tricky. Without the parameters of work and school, making new friendships requires effort and courage. I’ve seen a few different social clubs that run dinners with strangers, and decided to try Conscious Connection’s Communal Dining Experience.
Strangers meeting at Conscious Connection’s Matched Dinner at Flour Child
For anyone wondering what it’s like to attend a Conscious Connection matched dinner, here’s my review of the Flour Child dinner in Melbourne - read on if you want to find out what happens and if I actually made new friends.
One of the reasons I wanted to go to the Conscious Connection matched dinner was because I’ve always wanted to go to Flour Child - my friends aren’t big foodies whereas I am always excited to try new restaurants. I also liked the Conscious Connection matches people to a table, which I felt could mean I could meet other foodies around my age. Once I purchased my ticket I filled out a questionaire that covered off my life stage, my interests and what types of friends I am looking for.
A warm and friendly welcome as the mingling and socializing begins.
From the moment I walked in, a Conscious Connection host was there to greet guests with warmth and good energy. I am handed a welcome drink and directed to create a name tag for myself with a drawing of something I love to talk about. Deciding what to draw turned out to be the hardest part of the evening. However, it did get the conversation started between a few of us who arrived at the same time as we tried to guess each other’s drawing. It was actually a fantastic way to start a conversation and I forgot all about being nervous!
Once everyone’s made their name tags and grabbed their welcome drink, the host opens with a welcome speach, explains the meaning behind Consciouc Connection, how the evening will work and instructs us to find our table.
It was incredible hour well our table vibed… you would think we’d known each other for years - not just a few hours!
Good Food, Better Company
Each table has 6 - 8 seats and allocated seats. It takes me a while to find my seat as there’s quite a lot of people doing the same - I would guess at least 100 people. I find my seat and the table is full of new faces that I hadn’t met while mingling with our welcome drinks. We jump into introducing ourselves and take note of the personalised conversation starters that are written on the back of our pace cards! The Conscious Connection team have really thought of everything - it makes us wonder how long it took to put this all together.
Throughout the night, delicious food was served in courses and in share plates. They came around to ensure the dietary needs have been met, and then it felt like the food was never ending! We had a drink included with the option to purchase additional drinks from the bar.
Time flew so quickly but it proved the saying “time flies when you’re having fun”. We had gone around the table introducing ourselves, covered off where everyone lived, what they do for work, if they’ve moved or previously lived overseas, and what brought them to the event. But with every conversation we found ourselves spiraling into tangents, telling stories, finding out niche hobbies, discussing everyones level of sarcasm and humour and sometimes going into deep topics you would never expect from a group of strangers.
When the host came around again, she handed us a peice of paper that explained why our table was matched to sit together. Again - so much thought went into personalising the experience for everyone who attended. I could really tell that Conscious Connection cared about creating real connections and friendships that would last beyond this dinner.
Did I Make Any New Friends?
After we finished our dinner, and the plates were cleared the host announced that we would get the opportunity to mix the tables up again. Each table would have a topic of interest and we could pick a table and meet a bunch of brand new faces. They also reminded us to share contact details with our table so we passed our phones around to add to Instagram and created a Whatsapp group. We had bonded over exploring wineries around the Mornington Penninsular so our Whatsapp group was titled “Sommeliers-in-training”.
New friend tally: 7
When deciding which table I would move to, there were plenty of options to choose from including; fitness and outdoors, travel, personal development, arts and craft, and foodies (obviously, me). By now, we were so comfortable with chatting to strangers and everyone was able to jump straight into a topic they were passionate about. At this table I found four people like me who had a list of restaurants and bars in their notes app that they were making their way through - and we made plans to go to Old Palm Liquor in two weeks time!
New friend tally: 11
When the event came to an end, the hosts told us if we wanted to kick on they had booked a table at a bar a short walk down the road. Almost everyone we keen to go for another drink. When we got to the bar, I realised there were still so many people I hadn’t met yet. The people I had met at my first table introduced me to the new people they met, and next minute I’m getting invited to Kareoke next week and a hike at the 1000 steps with another group.
New friend tally: ~20 - I lost count!
3 hours flew by and by the end of the night I was confidently chatting to anyone I thought would match my vibe and would be fun to hang out with after tonight.
It wasn’t just another dinner. It was clear that Sherry and the Conscious Connection team had really thought of ways to make sure we came away with genuine friendships based on a number of different factors, and at the very least, plenty of social activities booked in.
Looking for friends as an adult shouldn’t carry a stigma - it’s only natural that as we grow older, friendship dynamics change and seeking social connections that align to us is imporant for belonging and emotional support. This event was a reminder that people are craving real connection, and real life experiences.
Whether you’re new to the city or just looking to expand your social circle, these events are designed to help you find your people. I hope this review gives you the confidence to come along to the next dinner, games night, wine tasting or picnic. You never know who you’ll meet.
If you’re looking to make new friends in Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast or Brisbane be sure to check out the full list of Conscious Connection events here.
