[testtuber]

No. They're all networking events. They all use different tactics to get people in the door. In every case, the organizer's goal is to get people to network.

Edit: See jpfr's comment. He organizes the meetups to "build a strong and connected ML community". That sounds like networking to me.

[endorphone]

jpfr's comment is an anecdote and deals with a very small community. It doesn't proves an absolute claim that every organizer's goal is to get people to network, even if a valued side-effect.

Many are built around the core principal of providing interesting enough of content to draw people. Because meeting other people in a given field is ridiculously easy. But if you say "let's all meet at XYZ and socialize", generally the turnout will be abysmal because most people are not there to just to socialize, and actually need some prescribed value to justify their time. So most are built around some premise of providing a value. It's the disconnect between the promise and the actual that causes issue.