According to Wikipedia:

Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers, or will tend to associate with like-minded people.

We at the Chicago Nerd Social Club think a little bit differently.  We believe that nerds — by their very nature are social beings.  Think about it, all of the collaborative tools we use today were all developed by nerds.  This goes back to the days of the BBS — Nerds creating environments where they could meet new people, share ideas and socialize.  We’ve decided to take this social nature into the real world, in a non threatening and fun environment.

The Chicago Nerd Social Club will host a number of regular events.  Some of these events will be of a purely social nature for example, a casual get together at a bar, a trip to the movies or a gaming night.  Other events will be of a more informational nature like a trip to a local museum, introductions to new technologies, or a comic book swap night.

Most events will be free or very inexpensive – there is no annual membership fee.

Organizers

Jeff Smith

Jeff is the co-founder of the Chicago Nerd Social Club and currently serves as the group’s president. Jeff counts comic books, role-playing games, programming and photography among his nerd badges. Jeff is also the host of the CNSC Podcast. When he’s not running CNSC events you can find him on Twitter as @DarkAndNerdy. If the stars align, you may even see an occasional post at AllThingsDork.com.

Anne Peterson

Anne runs the Chicago Nerds book club, the longest-running regularly-scheduled CNSC event, along with Paul Callan. She has served as president for both her college’s SF/F association and Pumping Station: One, Chicago’s largest hackerspace. In her spare time, she enjoys taking photos, reading, making things, backing Kickstarters and other crowdsourced endeavors, and nerding out over Star Trek, Doctor Who, Community, Buffy, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Vikings, Denmark and the Danish language, geology, museums, open source/culture and copyleft, intersectionality, gadgets and old-school pen-and-paper RPGs (in no particular order).

Paul Callan

Paul Callan was born and raised in Chicago and loves everything the city has to offer, in the daytime he fixes computers and takes photographs.  When he is not busy teaching his son the ways of the Force or why Batman is so awesome he co-moderates the CNSC Book Club with Anne Peterson. Paul can be found on twitter @zero1 where shares his love of movies, tv and comics and coffee.

Gordon Dymowski

As a professional, Gordon Dymowski consults with nonprofits and small businesses on building their communities through social media; by night, however, maintains his nerdy interests through organizing Net2Chi and the Chicago Doctor Who Meetup Group, and also serves as staff for November’s Chicago TARDIS Convention. He is also a writer/blogger, focusing on comics and popular culture on his blog Blog This, Pal!, Comic Related,  Chicago Now, and  The Baker Street Blog. Gordon also co-hosts the weekly Zone 4 podcast, which focuses on a variety of comic, television, and other nerdy interests. You can find him on Twitter @gordondym

Jamie Sanchez

Jamie is a graphic designer and web developer obsessed with community building. She established AnimeChicago in 2006, a journalism project promoting local events and organizations, which has since evolved into an anime club for the city at large. Jamie is also an avid craft beer nerd, long-time X-Phile, and a self-proclaimed WordPress theme guru. When not participating in design or anime-related endeavors, she can be found in the indie video game scene admiring their craft. Follow @spacedragon for rants on all the nerdy things.

Michi Trota

Michi Trota is a firespinning geek fiend who was raised on a steady diet of 80s cartoons, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy literature and soundtracks. She has a Simpsons quote for every occasion, always bags and boards her comics, and refuses to acknowledge the existence of a fourth Indiana Jones movie. Discussions about geek culture, feminism and intersectionality are guaranteed to get her talking for hours – she’s organized two panels at C2E2 and is a semi-regular guest on Loot the Room. She’s an organizer for the Chicago Full Moon Jams, performs with the Raks Geek showcase, and blogs about geekery, food, fire and anything else that catches her fancy at www.geekmelange.com. You can follow her on Twitter @GeekMelange.