Sorry to hear that, but I understand. I host a meetup currently, and #1 is very true. I see myself as competing vs. staying at home, so I want to make sure each event I host is memorable. I re-started hosting in December '21, so I'll say that there is a subset of people that WFH that do crave social interaction and will make the special trip. I get 20-25 folks show up every month, so I know there are people out there.
#3 is hard, and I can relate. It took a lot of activation energy to start hosting and attending dinner parties with friends again, specially after just having Zoom meetups for a long time.
I second this. Coworking spaces or maker spaces are great if you are doing a show + tell metup. The one I host is more of a social one, so we can get away with meeting at pubs.
Personally, I wouldn't get on a car or the train for a slice of pizza, but I would to catch up with friends and talk shop :)
I wonder what individual-led meetups look like in your area. I host in person in a sprawly Southeast US city and get 20-25 folks showing up consistently. I find that if you offer value, people will show up.
I've been hosting meetups online and in person since 2014 and launched a new one that meets monthly in the Southeast US in 2021. It's grown from 5 people to 45. We usually get 20-25 people per meetup nowadays. In person.
I suggest you check out Eventbrite. Events with up to 25 tickets are free to publish. If you want to offer more tickets for an event, you can pay a one-time fee or sign up for the monthly subscription.
If you are just testing the waters for your meetup you could run it for free with less than 25 tickets and see if there is interest without putting any money down.
You would still need to promote the event where people you are targeting hang out. Social media, forums, town subreddits, etc
https://youtu.be/cLOh9byyl1k?feature=shared