There are Amazon warehouses all across the USA and Canada that you can tour now (for free) to see some behind-the-scenes logistics of how they handle Prime package shipping.
This catalog is by Corning. Randomly, they have an absolutely incredible museum called The Corning Museum of Glass https://home.cmog.org/ located about 5 hours drive from New York City.
I attended a presentation by Cloudflare last week about how they helped X (formerly Twitter) improve their reliability and network performance.
To my knowledge, you will not find this information anywhere else online.
It was presented by Alex Krivit (PM), David Huber (Director, Product Management), and Sachin Fernandes (Engineering Manager) at the Cloudflare Connect 2025 partner and customer summit.
Here are my detailed notes from the session for anyone who might find it helpful.
X deployed several Cloudflare products as part of their infrastructure modernization:
* CDN and content delivery as the primary focus
* Argo for dynamic performance optimization and congestion solutions (with custom tuning)
* PNI and CNI (Private Network Interconnect and Cloudflare Network Interconnect) for direct connectivity
* Extensive peering work to improve global connectivity
* Security tools though these were mentioned as being outside the scope of this particular presentation and possibly under NDA
The engagement discussed in the presentation focused heavily on both network-level products and CDN delivery optimization.
My general thesis is that you have to do cool stuff to make new friends. Do interesting things to meet interesting people.
But it doesn’t have to be hard! The unlock or LPT I’ve found is that hosting a super simple small party- becoming the “organizer of people”- is the fastest, easiest way to become interesting to others.
After hosting hundreds of these small parties myself, I figured out a formula to make them effective, interesting, and ultimately successful. It is a method that can work for almost any person in any town.
First: the good news. ANYONE can learn how to make new friends. There are lots of people out there like you who are reading this HN thread or sitting in your town thinking, “Damn. I’m getting older, I have less friends, I wish I had more friends.”
But: the bad news. The macro trends on partying are down, and reports of loneliness are way up. Do a search for "loneliness epidemic" or "friendship recession," two phrases that I track with Google News Alerts, to see constant press pieces with supporting data showing people have way less friends and social interactions today than they did 10 years ago.
Here are the pro-tips if you want to host a well-run party or event or whatever:
- 15 to 20 attendees. You need 15 people, minimum, to show up to your party. Any less than that and the room never reaches a critical mass or energy level and excitement. It feels a little flat. I've found that 15 people needs to be your minimum, which means you'll need to invite more than 15 to actually get 15 to attend. Over 20 attendees and things get hectic and stressful for a new host.
- Collect RSVPs. PLEASE collect RSVPs. Use a free tool online. GenZ loves Partiful, I suggest and use Mixily, you can even use Paperless Post. Please don't use Evite because they have a thousand ads and JavaScript pop-up crap and they'll spam your guests.
Why should you collect RSVPs? Well, the biggest success indicator of a party- for a new host, at least- is whether they can fill the room. People come to parties for the PEOPLE, not for the drinks, not for the food, not for the music... they come for the people.
Here's what I know works. It all revolves around adding the slightest bit of structure to your gathering.
- Decide you’re going to host a party and commit to it.
- Pick a date for your party three weeks from now, ideally on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night.
- Keep the length of your party to two hours.
- Invite your friends, colleagues, and neighbors.
- Ask everyone to RSVP and confirm their attendance.
- Space out three reminder messages leading up to your party.
At the party, do these four things:
1. Use name tags with first names only. I will die on the hill of why this is important.
2. Facilitate three quick icebreakers. They won't be cringe, I promise.
3. Take a group photo, you'll use this to help invite more people to your next party.
4. End the party on time. My book has a whole chapter on this or if you search for "How to end your party" I believe one of my articles will come up.
Follow those guidelines and you’ll have a gathering better than most. People appreciate the structure.
I wrote a step-by-step guidebook that seems to be generally well-liked enough that it has helped hundreds of people learn how to host their own events to make new friends and meet their neighbors.
The name of my book is The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings and you can find it anywhere books are sold plus Audible. Happy to give any HN readers a satisfaction guarantee if you don’t think it is packed with actionable, helpful advice.
Howdy, just saying Thank You for giving my book a shoutout! Tell me if you accept the challenge at the end of Chapter 1 and I'll personally help you out. I think you'll do great. This will be fun.
In this comment: I'll tell you why you should never host a dinner party, how to make new friends, why "cocktail parties" are better than dinner parties (even if you don't drink alcohol), and discuss the macro trends in parties and relationships.
Hi! I wrote a book called "The 2-Hour Cocktail Party" that people seem to really like on Amazon and Audible.
I've hosted hundreds of parties myself and personally coached 175 people* over the past year on how to host a simple, effective party or gathering to help them make new friends and build relationships.
Here's what I've learned as it relates to your questions:
(1) YES the macro trends on partying are down, and reports of loneliness are way up. Do a search for "loneliness epidemic" or "friendship recession," two phrases that I track with Google News Alerts, to see constant press pieces with supporting data showing people have way less friends and social interactions today than they did 10 years ago.
I'm less interested in the reasoning for this trend and more interested in how to fix it, which- spoiler alert- I think anyone can learn how to host a great little gathering or happy hour, even if you don't drink alcohol (I don't but my friends do).
(2) Your hypothesis about COVID knocking out a lot of house parties seems to be directionally correct, based on my own experience and that reported to me by my book readers. I hear again and again something like: "We used to host an annual summer party," or "We hosted dinner parties every Friday night before COVID."
Why I say "directionally correct" is that I don't believe parties aren't happening due to COVID concerns, largely, and instead because COVID washed out the momentum that many long-time hosts had. Whether it was the regularity of hosting that built muscle memory for them, or even the geographical displacement we saw of some people during COVID- something major happened and I've never seen anyone specifically write about this. When you have a long-time host who annually throws a Christmas or New Year's bash, and they miss that for two years straight, it becomes REALLY hard for them to pick it back up.
^^ that's anecdotal, and I don't have the data to back it up, but I just feel it from conversations that I've had and heard about: that long-time party hosts have changed their habits post-COVID, not out of fear of infection today, but because they lost momentum or dropped the habit and haven't since picked it back up.
(2a) The habit of hosting, by the way, is huge. I've seen people get the BIGGEST benefits in new friendships and new relationships when they can make hosting a habit. When you can learn to throw a monthly or quarterly event, you start to go through life "collecting" people to invite to your parties. It really is a "life unlock" or "life hack" or whatever you want to say. I did it, first when I moved to NYC, and then later when I moved to Texas. And the relationships I built from hosting those parties helped me launch a multi-million dollar business (Museum Hack), which I say not to brag but to just hint that there are benefits beyond your personal life that come from hosting parties.
(3) If you want to get better at hosting a party, you can! This is a skill that literally anyone can learn. As much as the vibe-shakra people are going to hate me saying this, I've found that success for a new party host largely comes down to pre-planning, logistics, and filling the room.
Here are the key things that will help you host a great gathering:
- DO NOT host a dinner party. They're too complicated and too stressful for a new host. They take too much work, too much time, and WAY too much moderation.
Instead, host a cocktail party or happy hour. After hosting dozens of dinner parties and hundreds of cocktail parties, I found that I could get 80% of the benefits of hosting a dinner party — with 20% of the work in a cocktail party.
Cocktail parties helped me cast a wider net, too, and connect with more people.
A note about the phrase cocktail party: I personally don't drink alcohol. And there isn't a single drink recipe in my book The 2-Hour Cocktail Party. But we use that phrase "cocktail party" because it represents a simple social construct: an easy, casual, lightweight gathering where you'll have a lot of little conversations. It is low-commitment and generally low-stress.
This is the longest comment I'll ever write on HN and I'm worried I'm talking too much, so apologies if this sounds like spam! I'm honestly like MLM-passionate about convincing people why they should learn to host parties because it changed my life SO MUCH.
and an executive summary of my book about exactly how to host your first party with a little bit of structure:
https://party.pro/how/
I will wrap this up. Here are the pro-tips:
- 15 to 20 people. You need 15 people, minimum, to show up to your party. Any less than that and the room never reaches a critical mass or energy level and excitement. It feels… a little flat. So I've found that 15 people needs to be your minimum, which means you'll need to invite more than 15 to actually get 15 to attend. Over 20 and things get hectic.
- Collect RSVPs. For the love of God, PLEASE collect RSVPs. Use a free tool online. GenZ loves Partiful, I suggest and use Mixily, you can even use Paperless Post. Please don't use Evite because they have a thousand ads and JavaScript pop-up crap and they'll spam your guests.
Why do we collect RSVPs? Well, the biggest success indicator of a party- for a new host, at least- is whether they can fill the room. People come to parties for the PEOPLE, not for the drinks, not for the food, not for the music… they come for the people.
You have to collect RSVPs to create a social contract to get your friends to actually show up. People who read my book The 2-Hour Cocktail Party report over a 93% attendance rate of those who say they're going to come (people who RSVP) and those who actually show up.
Compare that to the days of Facebook Events, when I'd do the "spray and pray" method of mass-inviting people and be lucky to get a 50% attendance rate.
- Send 3 reminder messages. I like to do: 1 week before, 3-4 days before, and morning of. These are important: they will boost your attendance rate and increase excitement. They also help show that you're a host who actually cares, which is rare in the age of "Let's just show up and hang out!" parties.
- Add a small amount of structure. This helps shy people and introverts, and encourages a lot of new conversations (which in my mind is the whole point of a party: to meet new people). The structure that I like and preach is always using name tags (I will die on this hill), and one or two rounds of icebreakers (please withhold your burns about icebreakers: you're probably doing them wrong, and I've done thousands of them, I will teach you how to do it right).
Anyhow. Sorry this is going so long.
If anyone is serious about wanting to learn how to host a party, you can call or text me at +1-917-635-9967 or email hello@nickgray.net and I will talk your ear off about this. If you want to make new friends and you are interested in party hosting, but you can't afford my book, reach out and I can probably mail you a free copy of the paperback.
I do believe that the loneliness epidemic is real, but I also believe that a simple happy hour- with your friends or neighbors- can help you and your friends meet new people. Nobody really teaches adults how to make new friends, which is crazy, but I think I figured this part out.
Thank you for reading!! This is my longest comment ever on HN!! I love parties and helping people learn how to make new friends.
I hope I have earned the permission to link my book, which I will do here:
The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings
on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, Kobo, etc https://amzn.to/39rfb2V
I actually just took Nick up on the offer to call or text, and we just got off the phone. We chatted about how we can find people to meet even though we just moved to a new city.
Great article. I have hosted hundreds of happy hours, dinner parties, cocktail parties etc. Here are a few things I'd add:
- Name tags. Please, please use name tags. They might seem "formal" or "corporate" but they're also inclusive (no cliques!). I'd rather feel awkward asking someone to wear a name tag than feel awkward forgetting their name.
- Consider hosting on what I call "non red-level days," aka days that are NOT socially competitive. Socially competitive days or "red-level days" in America tend to be Thurs, Fri, and Sat nights. Also holidays and long weekends. People schedule big stuff on these nights. Make your party easy to attend: host it on a Monday, Tues, or Wed night.
- Set a start AND an end time, and mention both when you collect RSVPs and send reminder messages. End times help get people to show up on time. They also give people an easy out to leave.
- 2 hours is the best length of time for an event like this. I like 6-8P or 7-9P.
- Get a group photo! You'll be proud of your event. And you can use the photo when you invite people to your next party.
- Don't forget to send reminder messages to everyone who RSVP'd leading up to your event. I like sending my reminder messages 1 week prior, 4 days before, and then on the morning of.
Good luck!! I think more people should host parties and happy hours. It changed my life and helped me build a network and relationships to launch my last company, Museum Hack (sold 2019).
I recently self-published a book of every little tip and trick from hosting events to teach you how to host your first party. The book is called 'The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings' and it has 230+ reviews on Amazon and Audible here-- https://amzn.to/39rfb2V Happy to give a satisfaction guarantee for any HN readers. You can Venmo request me @nickgray and email your receipt to nick@party.pro if you don't think my book is filled with actionable, tactical, extremely practical advice for hosting events. You can read the first few chapters on my site here https://party.pro/book-readnow/
OK good luck!! You should host a party!! Your event will be awesome!! We could all use some new friends these days.
Eh, I've tried organizing events. I don't have the real estate to host, so that means locking in 6-8 attendees for a restaurant reservation two weeks in advance. That means interacting with the same 3-4 people and their partners. I quit after about ten attempts, and have not been invited to anything myself since. I don't think anyone actually enjoyed those brunches.
> - Don't forget to send reminder messages to everyone who RSVP'd leading up to your event. I like sending my reminder messages 1 week prior, 4 days before, and then on the morning of.
I'd perceive that as too many. Leave out the one 4 days before and it'd be fine IMO.
with all due respect: no I disagree and here's why.
The number 1 fear of a new or first-time event host is that nobody will show up to their party. People are TERRIFIED to host, they often DO NOT host, because of this. Or, worse, they worry that only 3 or 4 people will show up, and their event or party will be awkward.
What I've found is that the best way to get people to ACTUALLY show up (besides obviously throwing a great event with great people) is to remain top of mind. Does that feel a little spammy? Maybe. But each of the reminder messages helps to show that you take your event seriously. It shows that you're going to put on a thoughtful event.
I also include little "Guest Bios" in this message 4 days before. Guest Bios are like my Secret Weapon to getting great attendance. I wrote about them here: https://party.pro/guestbios/
I've hosted hundreds of events and sent thousands of reminder messages. I have never once been told, "You spammed me with too many reminder messages for a free party!" Instead I've seen around a 95% attendance rate, from the number of RSVPs to the actual number of attendees at the event.
Often times the advice about hosting a party seems obvious or counter-intuitive. And I think your response of "That's too many!" is, like, I think a lot of people feel that way? But I believe keeping an event top of mind is important if you're serious about having good attendance. Hope this didn't come across as an attack! I just want people to have a great event- and a lot of that simply boils down to good attendance. Open to pushback if you still feel strongly against it.
I think it is a fine number. In my experience people need a ton of reminders. More than you think. I would contact people multiple times and always someone would forget. If you are not top of their memory stack, they don't remember.
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