Connect Bern
A physical and digital space to connect in Bern
About Connect Bern
A space in Bern dedicated to genuine human connection, where meeting and talking to new people isn't awkward, it's the point.
Connect Bern is for people looking to meet new people and expand their friend circle.
Most events in society nowadays are concentrated on the actual topic, missing a very important aspect - meeting new people. Most people go to events together with their friends, but what if you want to meet new people - why is it not socially normal and why does it feel so awkward?
Especially in Switzerland, in Europe and in general in western society it is more difficult to meet new people and to make new friends.
We are aware that there are many good reasons why this is difficult - but we don't want to give up, let's tackle this together!
How We Achieve This:
🏠 Physical Space: Our space is open during the day for anyone to come, meet people, and socialize. A place with no pressure, just to be present and make genuine connections.
🗺️ Digital Space: Our digital map is an online initiative to bring people together in Bern. Even if it starts online, people can meet physically later on!
👥 Community Groups: We gather and curate topic-specific groups - both our own and existing ones - and highlight the more active and social ones that are really about connecting. We want more people to discover these communities.
🎉 Events: A place to find events that are truly about meeting people - not just general events. We organize some ourselves and gather others we know about. If you know of an event, please share it with us!
☕ Social Places: A small list of truly social places - not too commercial, focused on community, with lots of events. Places where you can just sit without having to consume anything. We're showing what exists!
💡 Other Things: A little help here and there - for example Swiss tips and other useful information - so people can find the nice things that exist.
Things that are important to us:
Safe Space
Safe space for minority groups - we want families, the older generation, LGBTQ+, foreigners and women to feel safe in the spaces that we have and the events that we organize. We actively work on trying to achieve that and we are more than happy for suggestions on how to improve.
Stay Positive
We strive to create a positive and welcoming environment for making genuine connections! While we warmly welcome people looking to expand their social circle, we want to be transparent that we're not equipped to provide mental health support. If you're dealing with serious loneliness or depression, we encourage seeking professional help - we can be part of your support network, but not a replacement for professional care.
Personal Space
Don't get too physically close to people, respect their personal space, try to be more aware if how close you are makes them feel uncomfortable - be it because they just don't like being so close to people physically or perhaps because of some odor, whether we just ate some garlic, we had to run to the bus and now we sweat, or because we smoke. Let's try to raise awareness for that!
Respect Boundaries
This is a place to meet people and the line between chatting, being an extrovert, trying to keep up a conversation and being pushy is very fine. Let's all try to be aware of that, try not to judge each other and learn together how to continue to the next person gently. Remember, finding people you really connect with is no easy task and you might need to come a few times until you finally find your peeps.
Not a Dating Scene
This is not a place to pick up girls. Unfortunately, in spaces open to the public, where there is less social accountability, a lot of guys attempt this, but we do not tolerate this at all. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, please bring up the topic if you're comfortable doing so - we will support you. This includes sending private messages or any kind of inappropriate behavior. Focusing on dating really ruins it for the girls, women are already getting hit on everywhere else in life, let's keep this a safe space for them.
Active & Evolving
Trying to achieve this goal is extremely challenging. We are constantly struggling with how to align expectations between different types of people, we are making mistakes, learning and growing. But we don't want to give up! We are looking for help, be it financially or just volunteering your time. Please reach out to us, to give us advice, your opinion, we are interested in getting better! We also have a women only groups if you're interested in joining that and sharing there :)