Experience of attending gatherings with forum members

[chiu_peow]

Well said WL…

I’m an old geezer now and I’ve seen my fair share of different types of people in social gatherings.

In any gatherings, in attendance are people in the “high-class” while some are not.
Some people only THINK they are “high-class” but actually are not.
There are also some people who like to be with the “high-class” group so that they get a chance to act like one.
Some people are influenced to be “high-class” when actually they don’t fit in but don’t realise.
There are some who are actually “high-class” but behave like they’re not.

So it takes all kinds to make this world.

But this forum is not about “class”…it’s about passion & interest in the horology world.

GTGs are organized so that we can interact with one another, at least put a face to your nick.

Cheers!

Well said ten10...

However, in my dictionary, "class" is not differentiated by one's wealth, but one's behaviour.

So, there can be low-class rich man who acts like gangster, or high-class human who may not be wealthy but live with dignity and behaviour that demand respect.

Magic word "HUMILITY" and all will be well !!!

I feel so sorry for pagasi. Everytime he took the effort to create or start a good topic for sharing it always end up without accomplishing its intent. Educate or not, rich or not so rich, I think some might have loss their way in the spirit of being a collector or hobbist. Please can we all show some respect to the thread staterer and stick to its intend. For those who have other tot or agenda it would be wise and respectful if you would start your on thread. This incident remind me of my 2 boys who come and tell me it is not him who started it but the other brothers. I'm sharing out of the goodness of my heart and I hope most will appreciate it. I can't convince all but hopefully some.

[triton]

thanks for suggestion.

True, some people could be reluctant to move once they settled down and/or are engaged in interesting discussion. If so they shouldn't be forced to.

Unlikely those social gatherings which your boss or your mother ask you to attend, you join a forum gathering out of your own wish. Hence I believe it would help for the organizer to set the scene to make a gtg more interactive. I could be wrong though, which is why I also ask to share one's pupose of joining the gtg.

Maybe some join the gtg to look for boyfriend and so only stick to his target...

[triton]

in a forum like this, someone organize a gtg where all members can attend. response end up with 50 people attending the event. maybe out of these 50 only 1-5 never met any of the members attending. but the rest have probably met but organizer does not realize, cannot expect organizer to bring each of the say 40 odd people to introduce right? maybe for future large group gtg, members must indicate if they know any other members on the list of attending?

i agree with Oceanklassik that members must be proactive by being participative. there is one thing i realize after so many gtg, the more gtg i attend, the less i know about horology. there is so much to learn.

recently i what's app a member seeking opinion about a particular movement. never did i realize that this member shared his knowledge with me which i am grateful. i was only expecting maybe a surface opinion as it was a long day for me and i was not in a mood to know in depth. after the conversation, i was intrigue and i google more to find out. so thank you to this member.

Maybe I am old-school, but I do feel that the organizer of such gtg has the responsibility to see that everyone is introduced to everyone (except for those who already known each other, of course), and take care of the first-timers. When the group is very large and everyone arrives at different timing, this becomes a challenge, but the organizer could encourage people to move around or change seat in order to interact with more people.

errr.. which "leg" .. don't anyhow pull

I share the same sentiments as Mr pegasi here. When I started to meet people from here, I was shy, afraid, uncertain, etc. I always have this mindset that these people I would meet were rich and snobbish people who just liked to brag about their watches, their fanciful and expensive automobiles, their rich lifestyles, etc. But it wasn't this case. Or at least, most of the time, I did not get these vibes. And hence, I started 'opening up' and got myself engaged with people. I can't say I'm always able to engage everyone in a large group but at least some, if not most.

I have to agree that there should be a 'leader', someone (preferrably the organiser(s)) who would take the lead to get everyone warmed up and not leave it to individual members to mingle among themselves because not all are outgoing. There should at least be a 'starting point' of sort. It is not easy, especially when we are all strangers to one another. And sometimes, it gets worse when we remembered who we might have bickered/quarrelled/argued with online.

I think this all boils down to individual personalities. One can be 'outgoing' and 'outspoken' online but the opposite in real person, and vice versa. And we have to recognise that not everyone would 'click' the same. You can't be 'best friend' with everyone in your class right? I think this also explains why you see some members continue to meet regularly, some 'dropped out' along the way, while some would attend (gatherings) selectively. It is not easy to manage everyone's expectations.

Best I can advise for members, especially new ones, who wish to attend such gatherings to come with an open-mind, open-heart. Be participative as much as you can and don't be shy.

[pegasi]

We just treat each others friends, as such we are call group of friends.
It does not matter to me if you dont call it a group, individual preference.

I do not want to drag on with this topic but for the sake of clarification...

I did not mean I don't treat yours as a group. What I meant was that you guys, and not I, started calling yourselves a group. Because hiroki implied that I complicated thing by talking about "group".

[triton]

I like your style - neutral and independent. members are free to join any gtg. please do not feel pressured/obliged to attend any gtg.

I think I should clarify that I don't belong to any group.

I have watches of brand that belong to the Swatch Group, Richemont Group, and LVMH Group, but I would like to remain independent and neutral on the forum.

[pegasi]

This forum has some 70 thousands members.

Ever wonder why the gtgs, the anniversary dinner inclusive, attracted less than 50 people? Have the forum owners managed to "reach out" to forum members in the official sg-roc gtgs?

Ever wonder why they are so few senior members in those gtgs? Have those members left the forum? Some yes, but many are still hovering around the forum but choose to avoid those gtgs (and for some, the discussion threads as well) and only buy/sell. Are these people too busy? I know for a fact that some senior members meet up regularly among themselves.

[pegasi]

For those who attended the gtgs, are your main purpose to talk cock and gossip? Aren't we already talking so much cock on this forum on a daily basis?

For those who says they go to gtgs to make friends, are you geninuely interested in knowing strangers and opening up yourselves to others? Or just seeking attention like you do on the forum?

[ac_wong75]

I Strongly believe this is a open forum and people can have the choice of how best to make use of this be it make friends , sell watch , talk cock, put nonsense.. All forms of expression which drive this forum.. You sound like you are trying to question intent of people here... So was wondering are you working for MDA or a minister? hahha LOL... We got a lot such questioning on websites of late in the news...

[pegasi]

I Strongly believe this is a open forum and people can have the choice of how best to make use of this be it make friends , sell watch , talk cock, put nonsense.. All forms of expression which drive this forum.. You sound like you are trying to question intent of people here... So was wondering are you working for MDA or a minister? hahha LOL... We got a lot such questioning on websites of late in the news...

How members should use this forum is not for me to decide, but just sharing my thoughts and trying to trigger some thinking.

And yes, it is very clear that I am questioning. For the purpose of triggering thoughts and discussions.

[pegasi]

I Strongly believe this is a open forum and people can have the choice of how best to make use of this be it make friends , sell watch , talk cock, put nonsense.. All forms of expression which drive this forum.. You sound like you are trying to question intent of people here... So was wondering are you working for MDA or a minister? hahha LOL... We got a lot such questioning on websites of late in the news...

By the way, I am a bit confused...I was talking about specifically gatherings, why are you referring to the usage of the forum

[TanWL]

So now you re-learn No.4 & 5.

4. One gains respect from what he does and not what he says, yet one could lose respect simply from the words one uses.
5. People rush to answer every question or comment on everything not to share knowledge, but to show that they have knowledge. Just like that annoying kid in the classroom.

By the way, I am a bit confused...I was talking about specifically gatherings, why are you referring to the usage of the forum

[ac_wong75]

I do humbly apologise for a confusion cause as I was specifcally reading this statement below and answering as such....
Hope it helps in the interpretation... Cheers

This forum has some 70 thousands members.

Ever wonder why the gtgs, the anniversary dinner inclusive, attracted less than 50 people? Have the forum owners managed to "reach out" to forum members in the official sg-roc gtgs?

Ever wonder why they are so few senior members in those gtgs? Have those members left the forum? Some yes, but many are still hovering around the forum but choose to avoid those gtgs (and for some, the discussion threads as well) and only buy/sell. Are these people too busy? I know for a fact that some senior members meet up regularly among themselves.

[gasmancc]

Interesting topic you started here bro pegasi.

For me, I try to attend GTG's mostly because I personally only have a handful of friends who share the same passion for watches as I do. By going to these meet-ups I get to have real physical conversations with "horological" people which I don't get to do often so I grab the opportunity to attend whenever I can. The experience in general is so far a positive one. Of course not all you can get along with, but I try to make the most of it (I even made a few friends along the way) Some may be hesitant or find it intimidating to join such events but my advise is to just go and have some fun. It's not important if you're wearing a Rolex or a Seiko (comparison of high class or not) but what matters is you're there enjoying a gathering about what we love most -- watches

[pegasi]

Interesting topic you started here bro pegasi.

For me, I try to attend GTG's mostly because I personally only have a handful of friends who share the same passion for watches as I do. By going to these meet-ups I get to have real physical conversations with "horological" people which I don't get to do often so I grab the opportunity to attend whenever I can. The experience in general is so far a positive one. Of course not all you can get along with, but I try to make the most of it (I even made a few friends along the way) Some may be hesitant or find it intimidating to join such events but my advise is to just go and have some fun. It's not important if you're wearing a Rolex or a Seiko (comparison of high class or not) but what matters is you're there enjoying a gathering about what we love most -- watches

Long time no see, young man.

"Only have a handful of friends who share the same passion for watches" is already quite fortunate

[shou.biao.kuang]

Anyone that wish to join this group can PM me or SMS or whatsapp me at 912 63 511.
If you want buy watch also can look for me too.

Ya man, hope to be able to join you the next time and hear your jokes ;-)

Wa, soliciting business here at the same time! clever move!