I actually like Meetup. In my home town, I've been able to meet a lot of people in tech (including Civic Tech), government, and data science that I wouldn't ha

I actually like Meetup. In my home town, I've been able to meet a lot of people in tech (including Civic Tech), government, and data science that I wouldn't have met as easily otherwise since I mostly work from home. Most of the AI/Machine Learning meetups here are 100% full with long waiting lists. And I ended up having a relationship with someone I met at one of the meetups.