[ChuckMcM]

This will be a success. One of the things our church has done is something called 'dinner for 7' which is a system whereby people opt in that they are interested in meeting new people, and the church sets up a group of 7 who then agree to meet and have some dinners together (nominally hosted from house to house). It really helps you meet folks, interact and engage with them. It 'forces' what would otherwise have to be a very random event (you found yourself in a group they were in at some social event).

[ohashi]

Why 7? I hate odd numbers of peoples in groups, most people tend to pair off in their conversation sitting at a table in my experience. If you're the odd man/woman out... it's awkward.

[ChuckMcM]

Well you have to understand that this was something the church was doing and Christians have a thing for numbers, 7 being one of them.

That being said, I always assumed that it was because it would create conversational tension, that it encouraged people to keep engaging in conversations. It seemed to work well in that regard in my experience.

I'll ping the organizer and see if there was any deep significance here or if it was just "I don't know, how about 7?" kind of thing.

[snprbob86]

I've found that odd numbers tend to keep the conversation going. If the odd person is remotely assertive, they will interject to avoid being left out. This keeps the conversation moving from topic to topic without getting stuck with two people talking past each other.

[revorad]

I've found that, regardless of odd or even numbers, I am often the only one not talking to anyone at the table. I'm not awkward or too shy, but I guess sometimes I'm not assertive enough or I just like listening in to other conversations more.

[dspillett]

I used to think the same. But watch everyone else: aside from the really confident/pushy/needy types there are times for everyone when they are "out of the loop" a bit too. You just don't notice so much as you are either in a conversation (or actively listening to one) at the time. Also you may mistake someone else listening in attentively as someone being an actively interested party in the dynamic where they are in fact listening in because it is the best way at the time not to be out of all conversations.

The old adage "you are not as lonely as you think you are" (replace lonely with ignored/unhappy/bored/whatever) tends to be wrong (IMO), but "other people are just as out of it as you are" is generally true. The world would be more content in general if more people realised this: a lot of depression and anger tends to be magnified by the feeling that everyone else is having a better time of it when that often is not the case.