The informal talk series Nerd Nite Ann Arbor hit its 100th-event milestone in July, but nobody threw a party for it.

“We talked about whether we wanted to celebrate it or not, and we decided every Nerd Nite is a neat Nerd Nite,” said Ann Arbor District Library's Emily Murphy, who co-hosts the event with AADL colleague Jacob Gorski.

“And yes, we hit 100, but we’re gonna keep going. We acknowledged it when we were there and said, ‘Here we are—wow, 100 times,’ but I feel confident that we’re gonna just keep going, and people [will] keep coming to it.”

Murphy and Gorski are hosting the 103rd edition of Nerd Nite Ann Arbor on October 9. The two-hour event, held on the second Thursday of every month at LIVE, features three speakers giving informative talks in a bar setting for 15-20 minutes on topics of their choice.

Topics often cover science, technology, health, history, and pop culture. The October 9 event features speakers Kim Williams-Guillén on the bats of Wayne County, Chuwen (Cullen) Zhong on the impacts of loneliness and social isolation on people’s health, and Jim Ottaviani on identifying and tracking asteroids in our solar system.

Speakers also use visuals—whether they’re physical objects or PowerPoint slides—to bring their topics to life for an audience. Their presentations last for about 15 minutes and include an additional five minutes for Q&A.

“I’ve learned a lot about co-hosting Nerd Nite, but I think the biggest takeaway is the topics don’t matter all that much,” said Gorski, a library technician with AADL’s Adult and Senior Services, who’s been co-hosting Nerd Nite with Murphy for over a year.

“I know nothing about space. I know nothing about science, math, or history. The presenters always do such a good job making the thing that they’re nerdy about accessible to the whole audience, which is also how I’ve ended up with a thorough understanding of Soviet-era wristwatch design. Nerd Nite is full of pleasant surprises. ”

Each two-hour event opens with Gorski or Murphy doing a Nerd Nite Minute, a short talk on a random topic to warm up the audience. One of Murphy’s past Nerd Nite Minutes focused on how jalapeños have become less spicy.

“It’s actually two to four minutes long, but Jacob or I come up with some idea that we don’t have enough knowledge on to expand into a full Nerd Nite talk,” said Murphy, an AADL librarian. “We also don’t have the time to do a full Nerd Nite talk—both in our time to develop it, but also the time of the evening. You don’t want your first speaker to come up to a cold room.”

While Nerd Nite bolsters knowledge for its hosts and attendees, it also brings a strong sense of community for everyone involved. About 100 people attend the event each month.

“What I love about Nerd Nite is the sense of community you feel each month,” Gorski said. “Life can feel a bit dark nowadays, so it is truly therapeutic to learn and laugh with others. Also, each Nerd Nite is its own singular and uniquely engaging evening, and that is very cool, too.”

Nerd Nite Ann Arbor’s sense of community first emerged in 2012 and grew when AADL started organizing it a few years later. It’s part of the global Nerd Nite family, which was founded in 2003 by then-graduate student Chris Balakrishan in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. 

Balakrishan, an evolutionary biologist and National Science Foundation program director, traveled to Cameroon and observed the indigobird and its destructive egg-laying habits in other birds’ nests.

He returned from his trip, went to his favorite local bar, and spoke to his friends about the indigobird. Balakrishan kept inviting different friends to share his story, and the same bartender kept hearing it over and over.

The bartender encouraged Balakrishan to invite all of his friends so he could tell the story one last time at the bar. The event was a success and resulted in the birth of Nerd Nite.

“In those years, since the mid-2000s, it’s expanded across the country and the world. There are Nerd Nites all over the place, perhaps not as many as there were pre-pandemic,” Murphy said.

“Here in Ann Arbor, there was a group, they were grad students. They had a venue, they charged cover fees, and people came. It was going really well. They invited AADL to come one night to do a library card drive, and because AADL does not charge for events, we paid Nerd Nite a set fee for the evening, and did it without cover.”

As more Nerd Nite Ann Arbor hosts graduated or relocated, they started asking AADL to host the event on a more permanent basis at venues like York and LIVE.

AADL soon took the helm and partnered with RELATE, a science communication and public engagement program at the University of Michigan.

“RELATE works to help students in the sciences learn to communicate about science to an audience of non-scientists,” Murphy said.

“It’s the perfect fit for Nerd Nite. Every year, they have a summer workshop for students, and we tell them about it. And Nerd Nite is one of the capstone projects they can do to earn a certificate.”

Nerd Nite speakers also come through other avenues. Some include AADL staffers and people who submit a request through the Nerd Nite Ann Arbor website.

Others come from people who regularly attend Nerd Nite events.

“I get a lot of people at Nerd Nite who come for a while, and they have their idea and they build it up,” Murphy said.

“Oftentimes, they will give the test balloon to me and say, ‘Hey, does this sound like something that would be interesting?’ And the answer—almost always—is yes. And people come to see their friends and then start thinking, ‘Oh, actually, maybe I do have this talk in me.’”

A supportive and casual audience makes speaking at Nerd Nite an enjoyable experience, especially for presenters who might get nervous about public speaking. Most audience members come to listen and learn from speakers while having drinks with their friends.

“Our Nerd Nite audience, what a good audience to have,” Murphy said. “They are there, and they are interested in learning, and they want you to succeed. It’s a really warm public-speaking environment; it’s not competitive, and it’s a nice chance for people to share what they are interested in.”

As Murphy and Gorski prepare for the next Nerd Nite event, they want to leave a lasting impression on everyone who continues to join and support the community.

“I hope attendees walk out of Nerd Nite with a smile on their faces, new info in their brains, and if they so choose, a healthy buzz,” Gorski said. “Most of all, I hope that they leave feeling connected with their community. That’s the real magic of Nerd Nite.”

Lori Stratton is a library technician, writer for Pulp, and writer and editor of strattonsetlist.com.

Nerd Nite Ann Arbor is Thursday, October 9, at LIVE, 102 South First Street, Ann Arbor. The free event is open to adults and runs from 7 pm to 9 pm. It will also be livestreamed and available to view on the AADL event page. For information, visit the Nerd Nite Ann Arbor website. You can view past Nerd Nite Ann Arbor events on AADL’s YouTube channel.