I'd consider the demographics of people who regularly visit HN. Not to put a slight on anyone but I think a good chunk of people on here probably don't enjoy in-person meetups.

Again, IME it's not the size of the meetup but the responsibility.

Even in my example, the average attendance is maybe 10-20 people. Sometimes as low as five people.

And some areas only have 5 or fewer regularly.

We can't even get lead devs on camera.

In my opinion (as some who recently moved out of a big city) it would be very valuable to have an easy way to meet local HN’rs. Either for group sessions or 1-1 or something in between.

I think you’re drawing premature conclusions from the dropoff in signups.

All users are probably in the “now what?” Stage. And if more people knew your site was a way to connect with nearby HNers (ie the value prop was higher and better known), you’d have a lot of interest. So classic chicken egg problem I believe. But there are many successful sites that have broken through this phase. In my opinion you should keep it up.

Hmm if I wanted to meet up with one person from HN, I would just contact them using the details in their profile. If there were no contact details, I wouldn't meet with them. I don't quite see the value for 1:1 meetups I guess.

How would you know this person is located in your area or in the area you might visit some time?

I guess you would have to dig, right?

Well, with meet.hn:

1. You don't have to dig

2. People are more willing to meet on average than a random person on the internet

3. You can also check other locations and other people super fast

For in person with unknown people I think large gatherings can break down the fear wall as people can assess before commiting.

For most hn users offering something virtual would be more more inline with expectations and removes those local barriers.

What might work better is an HN forum with regional or city subforums (structured based on HN member density). First get HNers living close to each other to communicate, then they will meet up by themselves.

Of course, there’s the moderation issue.

Kill two birds with one stone:

1) Add functionality to auto-setup digital meetups and invite people within 200mi or something. 2) Let people meet in groups digitally, and maybe that spurs them to meet in person.