Has anyone had luck approaching strangers at Meetup.com meetups, as the TFA recommends? My experience has been that people mostly go to meetups with friends, to

Has anyone had luck approaching strangers at Meetup.com meetups, as the TFA recommends? My experience has been that people mostly go to meetups with friends, to talk to their friends, and are generally averse to talking to complete strangers without some strong pre-existing connection (former classmate, colleague of spouse, etc.). I went to a few dozen tech meetups in South Bay with nothing really to show for it.