The Bay's Newest Social Scene Isn't a Bar or an App

Conference's Paul Spinrad hosts a discussion of the new July/August calendar at a Conference venue in SF. Photo by Brian DeSimone

If you're looking for a new way to step outside your personal bubble and connect with others face-to-face, Conference Calendar creates space for meaningful peer-to-peer discussions. Conference Calendar was born out of the desire to reconnect people through meaningful discussions centered around shared interests. It features topic-driven conversations where people across The Bay gather at local venues and have a conversation with no speaker, no lecture, no tickets required: you just show up and connect.

Conference Calendar operates much like the historical salons of the 18th century where people would gather together to discuss politics, literature and more as a way to connect on topics of interest. Of course, the topics at Conference Calendar are a bit more modern such as AI for Art Businesses or Slang and Vernacular and plenty of other interesting themes such as talking about what makes you happiest and a night of tackling puzzles together. I spoke with organizer Paul Spinrad about what makes Conference Calendar different from other event series and why he believes it's an important way for people to connect:

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“If people are interested in some topic and want to talk about it, there are plenty of lectures and presentations put on by schools, museums, bookstores, clubs, etc., including big-name places like the Commonwealth Club or City Arts and Lectures. But with those, everyone consumes one expert's view before they get to discuss the topic with each other. Sometimes they have to buy tickets. But for lots of good topics, interested folks have valid, informed, and unpredictable things to say, and it's fun to learn and share perspectives peer-to-peer. That's what Conference does.”

Creating Positive Connections

Conference Calendar fills a gap that has been missing for a long time: a space for peer-to-peer discussions where we can learn from one another and explore the ideas that matter most to us. In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and online echo chambers, it offers a rare opportunity to engage in thoughtful, face-to-face conversations with people outside our usual circles who share similar interests.

The July/August issue of the Conference Calendar

When I was talking to Spinrad, I wondered how these events would remain intentionally free, unstructured, and open to non-experts. I asked what he had learned about people when barriers to participation are removed:

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“Before the first calendar in February, someone warned me that one difficult attendee could ruin a whole discussion, and I worried whether the events might draw bores who can't listen, or know-it-alls who resent expertise. But that never happened. The folks who came all turned out to be nice, interested, open-minded people. With Public Banking, two attendees clearly knew far more than the rest of us, but it was still a great discussion that we all added to and enjoyed.”

These gatherings give us the opportunity to learn from one another rather than from a single point of view. During one discussion, "Procrastinators Anonymous," an attendee finally submitted a license application thanks to the encouragement of a stranger they had been paired with, almost like a real-life, in-person accountability buddy. Connections like these strengthen communities and remind us of the power of meaningful conversations.

Strengthening Local Communities One Conversation at a Time

Spinrad hopes the project's greatest legacy won't be the discussions themselves, but the stronger communities they help create. “I hope it helps increase those engagements,” said Spinrad “and lower the social barriers to substantive and collaborative conversations and local community action. I've certainly had fun at Trivia Nights at various bars, but it's funny that that's such a popular framework for social mixing. It seems like a wasted opportunity-- what about non-trivia night?

uly/August Conference Calendars in a Little Free Library in Berkeley

While so much of Conference Calendar is centered around common interests, I can see how it will help open up different types of connections as well. Just last week, I was talking with someone whose political views differed greatly from my own, and I told him that it's important for us to keep these conversations open. We live in a world where algorithms and AI increasingly shape what we see, making it harder to understand the full picture and hear perspectives beyond our own. Conference Calendar helps create collaborative conversations that break down barriers and bring people together to work together or better understand each other’s perspective.

How to Participate, Join In or Host

One of the most distinctive aspects of Conference Calendar is that it exists as a printed newspaper, not just a website. That physical format is intentional. Like the old movie-house calendars that inspired the project or picking up SF Weekly (RIP) to discover what’s happening locally, the newspaper encourages discovery in a non-digital and more tactile way. You can flip through it and discover a topic that interests you without the algorithm that limits what you see.

You can pick up a free newspaper copy: