I Showed Up to the Wrong Event a Week Early and Met Great People

When a plan breaks, pick the next good option instead of going home, and you may gain more than you lost.

“Well, I'm already outside.”

The author registered for July 4th but convinced himself the event was on June 27th, and arrived a week early.

Instead of going home, he found another local tech event nearby and decided to attend.

The evening led to good conversations and an invitation for coffee to keep talking about engineering.

Last Saturday, I accidentally showed up to an event… a week early.

I walked in expecting a tech meetup, but instead found myself in the middle of a fashion history class in German.

At first, I thought I had simply arrived late or that the organizers had changed the room. It took me a few minutes (and another look at the event page) to realize that nothing had changed.

I had registered for July 4th, but somehow convinced myself the event was happening on June 27th.

For a moment, I considered going back home. But then I thought, “Well, I’m already outside.”

I grabbed a coffee and started looking for another tech event nearby. After digging through a few local communities, I found one and decided to give it a try.

It turned out to be a great evening. I met some interesting people, had a few great conversations, and one of them invited me for coffee this week to continue talking about engineering.

Definitely not how I expected my Saturday to go.

What’s the best thing that happened to you because of a mistake?