The Urban Advantage: Slews of Niche Events

I was thinking about this post the other day and realized you could replicate some of it even if you’re not a college student. Better yet, you’re nigh guaranteed to have something interesting to do nearly every freaking day of the week if you live in or near a city. That’s right: today we’re talking about the events that take place in a city near you!! Career-focused events, personal interest events, whatever you want is there for the taking!

If you’re anything like the average person, you actually attend at least a couple of events each year in your closest city. Between concerts, festivals, and other must-see happenings, you’ve definitely carved out time and money to go be part of this event you want in on. But why would you only do these events when there’s SO MANY MORE you can take part in?

Most of the events I go to around Boston have anywhere between 20 and 200 people in attendance, though the average likely hovers around 50 people per event. Some events have strict RSVP requirements and limited headcounts, others are open to anyone who shows up. It’s an awesome way to help you with several things: practice networking, make new friends/professional connections, have something interesting/fun to do, and even EAT FOR FREE.

Yes, several events will offer refreshments – even full-out buffets – as an extra lure to boost attendance ratings. Worried you don’t have time to attend events? That’s bullshit. No matter what your schedule looks like, I guarantee there’s a city event that fits it. Even if you’re only free during alternate Tuesdays during a solar eclipse, there’s still an event you can attend at that exact time.

Here’s the top types of events I like attending:

Career-Focused Events

There are tons of Meetups and organizations out there eagerly planning events for your own betterment. If you’re interested in a particular career track, going to one of these is the perfect call. Let’s say you’re currently a student and you’re considering a career in project management. If you head to Google and type in “project management meetups” with whatever city you live in, you’ll get hits on some top organizations offering events to attend. Alternatively, you can also join organizations that align with your career interests on Meetup and get informed of events that way.

But career-focused events don’t have to be solely about your job title. You can adapt this advice to any event that could help you in your career track. This might mean attending company-sponsored events who are in your industry or who you’d like to work for. I’ve made my career in marketing, which can see some overlap with other tracks like PR, sales, advertising, and graphic design. Knowing this it’s nice to go to career-focused events that aren’t all about marketing. I do learn about new things I can implement in my own career, and the people I meet like that I took an interest in what they do.

Alternatively, it could be an event that just plain sounds fascinating. I’ve attended a ton of startup-focused events discussing things like funding rounds, innovation drivers, and how to develop your niche. Since I’m not a startup founder these weren’t relevant to me per se, but they still provided valuable information and inspired ideas I used for my own advancement.

Personal Interest Events

As a shock to absolutely no one, I like learning about finance. There are some FANTASTIC finance- and investment-related events around Boston that I go to because I got excited about attending. One of the greatest ones was attending an event by Boston Wealth Builders discussing investing in Boston real estate. Have I ever planned to invest in Boston real estate? No. Did this event change my mind on that? No. But did it give me a fun evening where I learned useful and applicable information while vibing with other great people? YOU BET YOUR ASS IT DID.

There are so many excellent events going on EVERY DAY that you’d be surprised catches your interest. If you’re in Boston it’s extra-special because all of the academics around here will hold talks and other events on the most out-there topics. Want to hear about dream precognition and its historical implications? Sure. Want to hear about how a local baker came up with her delicious recipes? Sign me up. Want to hear a panel discussing Sesame Street in refugee camps? YES, that sounds AMAZING!!

All of the above are actual examples of events I’ve attended throughout the years, and there’s so many popping up I can’t possibly go to them all. I guarantee you’ll find events that align with your interests. There’s trivia get-togethers, artist receptions, tasting events, fitness classes, crafts nights, open workshops, film screenings, and a shitload more. By the way, everything in the previous sentence are things happening TODAY in Boston according to the Boston Calendar.

FREE Events

Since this is a finance blog, we’re obviously going to discuss the finances of the these events. You can definitely budget out a bucket for going to events; say, $10 a week for one event. That’s a line item in your budget of less than $45 a month… ASSUMING YOU PAY A PRICE AT ALL!

So many amazing places to go and things to do. Don’t bother with anything more expensive, there’s already so much else you could be doing FOR ABSOLUTELY FREE. I’m a little spoiled being in Boston because the Calendar has filter options, one of which is there to show me only the events that come with free admission. With free events, the only costs you’ll need to worry about are transportation, aka how you’ll even get there. But for me, the cost of biking there or paying $2.25 for a train ride is well worth the relatively-small amount. I can say this with certainty because every single event example in this post was offered for free, including the career-focused events.

So expand your horizons. Go out and exploit your urban advantage. There’s nothing more awesome than going to fun events.

When’s the last time you attended an event in the city? What are some other hidden perks to living in an urban area?