How do you find a keyholder when you're really shy?

Reading these boards, everyone seems to just walk into munches and start chatting. I freeze up. The idea of introducing myself in person makes me want to close the laptop.

But I do genuinely want to find a keyholder and build something real. Is there a route into this for people who are quiet and slow to warm up? Text feels far safer to me than talking out loud. Am I setting myself up to fail if in-person events are not my thing, or are there other ways in?