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> I do believe that it should be a mandate for the municipality to provide meeting space for local non-profit and special interest groups. I never realized thi

> I do believe that it should be a mandate for the municipality to provide meeting space for local non-profit and special interest groups. I never realized this was something that was needed so bad, but yeah. In my city we have a bunch of privately owned venues that you can rent, but the cost ranges from reasonable to very not reasonable. To be fair, a lot of my local technical meetups just hang out at one of the quieter restaurant/bars in the area and it seems to work ok for them. The downside is you don't have any way to present anything. Another group I regularly go to is a local DefCon chapter that rents out space above a "barcade" (arcade + bar) and aside from being a bit hot in the summer, the vibes are great and the community doubly so.

bonestamp2 2y ago
I know some groups meet at a city library (many of them have meeting rooms that can be booked for free or for a small fee). We had this same problem and ended up starting a (non-profit) makerspace where we now host several meetups. It's win/win really. We are all about building community and bringing people together with similar interests is a great way to do that. It has also helped us get more paying members.
- BanazirGalbasi 2y ago
  Most of my local libraries close fairly early these days, I think the latest any of them are open is 8:00 pm. Because of that, the 7-8 pm time slot is popular and rooms get filled up pretty fast. I recently found out that there's a local group for the 2600 Hacker Quarterly magazine that meets at the same Barnes and Noble cafe that my book club meets at monthly. They're open until 9:00 pm, which (in the case of the book club) gives ample time to talk about the books we just read, vote on upcoming books, and catch up on events in the area. If everyone has something to contribute, we can easily fill 2 hours of time.
senderista 2y ago
I have been to meetups at bars/restaurants and it was impossible for me to follow conversations due to moderate hearing loss. Please take this into account when selecting a meetup location.

bonestamp2 2y ago

I know some groups meet at a city library (many of them have meeting rooms that can be booked for free or for a small fee). We had this same problem and ended up starting a (non-profit) makerspace where we now host several meetups. It's win/win really. We are all about building community and bringing people together with similar interests is a great way to do that. It has also helped us get more paying members.

BanazirGalbasi 2y ago
Most of my local libraries close fairly early these days, I think the latest any of them are open is 8:00 pm. Because of that, the 7-8 pm time slot is popular and rooms get filled up pretty fast. I recently found out that there's a local group for the 2600 Hacker Quarterly magazine that meets at the same Barnes and Noble cafe that my book club meets at monthly. They're open until 9:00 pm, which (in the case of the book club) gives ample time to talk about the books we just read, vote on upcoming books, and catch up on events in the area. If everyone has something to contribute, we can easily fill 2 hours of time.

senderista 2y ago

I have been to meetups at bars/restaurants and it was impossible for me to follow conversations due to moderate hearing loss. Please take this into account when selecting a meetup location.