[thomaslangston]

I would posit that Meetup.com and other public social networking sites are also a significant factor in the recent board game boom. Finding and playing games with 3 to 6 adults is much easier when you can quickly find multiple free events each week in any major U.S. metro area.

[VLM]

That is insightful and correct, also advise hitting google to keep track of "fellow travelers" like the paper/dice RPG crowd and of course local cons. Most cons have a boardgamer presence even if they're supposedly for RPG folks or card gamers. Somebody who plays Pathfinder Society probably is up for a board (or card) game, and unless you're truly in the hinterland there's probably a PFS group "nearby".

From observation, it seems most cons, not just gaming cons, have some kind of board / card / rp gamer meetup.