I help run a ruby user group. Getting speakers for our monthly meetup was often painful and somewhat stressful. Then two things changed: 1. A friend offered to

I help run a ruby user group. Getting speakers for our monthly meetup was often painful and somewhat stressful. Then two things changed: 1. A friend offered to help run it jointly. My (silly) default position when someone offers help is to say no. That time I said yes and I'm extremely thankful to them for offering. Running a meetup with one or two others is far better than on your lonesome. 2. We were still struggling to get people to give talks. I suggested a high risk strategy of using a doodle poll and trying to get a years worth of people signing up to give a single talk. If people wouldn't commit we'd shut the group down. We had a years worth of talks offered within the week. We've employed the same strategy of booking in people at the start of the year for 3 years now, it's working really well. Good luck to anyone running a meetup!