[gangstead]

What kind of meetup would you go to?

I organize a meetup and I'm always struggling with how to increase attendance of people like me (and you) - not in 20's, have a house/spouse/kids and a commute home to the suburbs.

In general I'm having problems connecting with anyone my age outside of work. They all seem to have very little capacity or interest to do anything other than go home from work and see their family.

[cf]

Consider having in during lunch hours. Especially if there is a topic relevant to work, managers will be super supportive of people going to them.

[gangstead]

That's a good idea. Travel time may be an issue (I'm looking to network with developers outside my company). Also I feel that the type of people who won't take a detour on the way home from work will also eat lunch at their desk so that they can leave a few minutes sooner.

[cf]

People with kids have very particular timetables they have to hit. Usually their lunch time would not be so regimented. Truthfully, though the best thing is to try it out and see the kind of people you get. I made it a point to engage with every attendee I did not immediately recognize and find why were they there and if this was their first meetup what got them there.

[tvanantwerp]

I would absolutely go to lunch events. (It's quite common for the non-programmers where I work within their fields.)