Expat blog gatherings in Belo Horizonte

Julien,

I'm with you.  It would be awesome to get something organised. My parents have a beautiful farm 60kms from BH and I am more than happy to host a Brazilian BBQ or just a meet and greet event.

Let me know if you want to catch up and we can put some thoughts together .

Cheers

l

I've just joined this blog but would be keen to meet new people!

I moved to BH from Canada on June 1st and am very excited to be in this beautiful country!  I love traveling and adventure, food, music, films, reading and running.  I'm not currently working but am looking into teaching English.  My primary work experience is in project management focusing on governance and democracy-building.

I live with my Brazilian boyfriend but want the opportunity to make some friends of my own here in BH.

I have been here for years, but am happy to meet up if time and place allow.   Many ex-pats here go to Bar do John, are associated with Minas International, or otherwise meet up from time to time.  A lot of this stated with the gringoes.com site too.  There are many foreigners in BH, but nowhere near the number one finds in Rio, Sao Paulo or Salvador. 

If someone wanted to try to organize a big get-together, I suggest in BH so everyone can get here, probably on a Thursday night.  A post should also be put on Minas Intl. Facebook page, as well as the gringoes.com site for BH.

I am too busy to set this up, but would show up!

Cheers, Douglas

Hello,
is anybody interesting in meeting up thursday as it is holiday?
Thomas

I am defo up for meeting up on Thursday if there's a big crowd up for it!!!

how about a meeting in Chopp Pop & Kid, on the corner of Rio de Janeiro street with Tamoios street around 8pm?
Let me know

Oops, I missed this...didn't see it until now.  Anyone up for another gathering?

Cheers, Douglas

Hello all,

In a country as vast as Brazil you can imagine that it is impossible for one person to organize meet-ups and events... there are just too many cities, too many members and distances prevent most members from attending any kind of centrealized Expat-blog functions so even that wouldn't work too well.

As the Brazil Animator, there is nothing that I would like more than to meet in person every one of our members that I possibly can. But, heck I'm just a volunteer and far from being wealthy enough to travel a lot.

I have been toying with the idea of trying to organize a get together at least once in the coming year in Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo since I can combine that with other unrelated activities and therefore justify the travel cost to my lovely Brazilian wife.

I'm bouncing some ideas around with my friend Douglas Trent and as soon as I come up with a plan I will post an announcement well in advance of the proposed event. It will of necessity be an RSVP type of things since I will be coming from Macaé - RJ, so those who would be interested keep watching this topic for further news. I'm hoping to get something going in the first half of 2013.

In the meantime if any of you local members want to organize some smaller meet-ups please feel free to use this space to do so.

Some tips for organizing meet-ups

1. Announce the details of your event at least three weeks in advance in order to give members time to see the announcement, reply and make plans to attend. The more advanced notice the greater the chance your meet-up will be a success.

2. Choose a location that's central to everybody, not just yourself. People likely won't want to attend something in Buritis if for example they live in Planalto. Somewhere in the center of the city is usually a safe bet to draw more members. Also it should be accessible by public transport in case a member doesn't have a car or authorization to drive in Brazil.

3. Like Ray Kroc (founder of McDonald's) always said about everything K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid! Nothing too elaborate and nothing too expensive. Everybody works hard for a living and sure we like to go out and enjoy ourselves, but within a budget. So you're going to stand a better chance of a get together for a beer and some boteca type side dish than trying to organize a sit down meal. Also a simpler event will be less of a headache to organize.

4. If you do organize an event and announce it here make it an R.S.V.P. to you before a certain date, so you'll know how many are going to attend in advance and can make reservations or change them in time. Go one step farther too, if you want to make sure of maximum coverage for an event PM me well in advance with details and text for your message. I will pass it along to Expat-blog headquarters in Mauritius and they will send out a PM to all the members in your city. (Remember that copy & paste messages in PMs will get your mailbox locked out by the anti-spam system so please don't try to send out invitations to individual members that way)

5. If your event is a success don't forget to mention that in a forum post. If you want you can PM me and we can even arrange for photos you've taken to be posted as well.

I'm looking forward to some significant changes in the Brazil Forum during the coming year and hopefully all of our members will become much more excited about the blog and participating in Expat events.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Well done James!

Douglas

[Moderated: Please post an ad in Classifieds (Activities) section]

Hi mcclelm,



On behalf of the entire Expat-blog Team, welcome on board. I hope your experience with the blog will be both enjoyable and informative.

A special thank-you for the heads-up on the Minas International Holiday Party. It is much appreciated.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team