I have helped run a linux users group for years, and been involved in other various groups. Here's the sort of approach I would take: First, start with a regu

I have helped run a linux users group for years, and been involved in other various groups. Here's the sort of approach I would take: First, start with a regular, weekly or monthly meeting. You can call it a technologists group or linux group or whatever, but given the size of your community you don't want to limit it to a single topic. I advise calling it a "Futurist Society" or "Optimist Club" or something along those lines. Remember that the kind of people you want are less likely to think in terms of the words "startup" or "entrepreneur" or "hacker" or such in a rural area. They will describe themselves as "inventors" or "tinkerers" or say "try lots of small business schemes" or not recognize themselves as a group deserving a special label at all. The meeting has to be scheduled and held at the same place very regularly, and that place has to be free. At first people will come infrequently and on the spur of the moment, and people will not join a mailing list to get announcements on the next meeting, so it has to be something like "Thursdays 7pm back room at Joe's". If appropriate, you can use your own house for a while, but that will eventually get old. It's good to have pre-scheduled presentations and topics, but you don't have to, and you should allow walk-in topics of any sort. Start by giving tutorials on things you know, such as installing linux or programming or whatever it is. Solicit short show-and-tell presentations from whomever you can. One idea I would like to try, but I would need to write some scripts to dig the patent database and find them, is to find people in your area who have been awarded any sort of patent, and call them up and ask them to give a talk on the device, or the process of getting a patent. Another good idea is to find someone who has had something manufactured via e-machineshop.com or mfgquote.com or something similar, and ask them to talk about the experience. Keep a web page or blog and update it with a few notes about each meeting. Once this has gone on for a while, and you have developed enough connections with good people locally, try having a barcamp style event on a particular technology or just starting businesses in general.