Networking8 min
How to build a seating plan that sparks conversation
Round tables of ten look elegant and kill conversation. Here is the seating logic that keeps every guest in a conversation.
Read
The affina blog
Getting people to truly meet, in practice
The science and the playbooks behind events where people leave with real connections. Written for event agencies, offsite organizers and community builders.
Team building8 min
Cheap team building ideas that actually work
Escape rooms and paintball cost a lot and build little. What builds trust is structured conversation, and it is nearly free.
Read
Networking9 min
How to run a networking event that actually works
Free-form mingling produces the same three conversations every time. A structured first 30 minutes changes the whole evening.
Read
Outils9 min
What is the best tool to create groups at an event?
Random generators split names. Matching tools split profiles. Here is how the options compare on setup time, conversation quality and cost.
Read
Communauté9 min
How to build a community that lasts
Communities survive on the ties between members, not on the tie between members and you. Here is how to create those ties, at what cadence, and what to measure.
Read
Science7 min
4 to 6 people: why it's the right group size for meeting people
A circle of 10 people never makes one conversation: it makes three. The limit is cognitive, measured, and it should dictate the size of your tables.
Read
Science8 min
How many hours does it take to make a friend? What the research says
40 to 60 hours for a casual friend, over 200 for a close one: research has put numbers on friendship. But the study's real finding is elsewhere, and it changes how you design a meetup.
Read
Science8 min
Self-disclosure builds trust: what 40 years of studies show
We like people who confide in us, we confide in people we like, and we grow fonder of those we have confided in. Three effects measured across dozens of studies, with one condition everyone forgets.
Read
Science9 min
Why shared emotions bond a group: what the science says
The same square of chocolate tastes better when someone else is tasting it at the same moment. Behind this lab oddity lies a fundamental mechanism: shared emotion is an amplifier, and a social glue.
Read
Science9 min
The "36 questions to fall in love": what the study actually says
45 minutes of increasingly personal questions, and two strangers feel closer than many long-time friends. The study is real, but it doesn't say what the press made it say.
Read
Science11 min
The 2E model: the science behind encounters that last
Two types of experiences build a relationship: what you live through together and what you tell each other. The 2E model puts both into one equation, and fifty years of social psychology back it up.
Read
Put the science to work at your next event
affina builds compatible groups from a short questionnaire and gives every table its conversation questions. Ready in ten minutes.