[Larrikin]

It depends on the group. Tech events tend to be undercover head hunting events so they are usually sponsored so they waive the fee.

The smaller groups have to pay a fee too which gets put on the members. Usually it's very small and I'm happy to pay two dollars a year to goto a language exchange if it helps keep the group alive.

[ChuckMcM]

This. Apparently all of the things I'm interested in like SDR and Robotics and what not the groups don't pony up the cash to make things visible to non-paying members.