Having run something similar ~5y ago, an added benefit is that you end up with former 'students' at companies throughout the industry. Specifically, a pattern

Having run something similar ~5y ago, an added benefit is that you end up with former 'students' at companies throughout the industry. Specifically, a pattern I saw 5-10 times is: 1. Someone shows up at the meetings, about 3mo after being hired 2. After 2-3 sessions (to see if their serious) I invite them to lunch 1-on-1. I find out that they are really interested in my topic, and do it as maybe 10% of their role, so their manager suggested they check out my group 3. After 6mo, they invite /me/ to lunch to tell me their applying to transfer to join the team I'm on, which does is focused on the topic. 4. After 1wk, my manager tells me that they were rejected. Understandably, the reasons have to stay in the room. 5. After 2mo, they join an equivalent team at another company 6. After 1-3y, in ~50% of cases, they are senior on that team and check to see if I'm interested in a job.