What does the ideal IH meetup look like for you?

Here's what has worked well for us:

• Meetup attendees go around and tell the group what they're working on, what they can help with, and what they want feedback/help with.
• Time at the end for people to show off their projects

(Quick note, I'm a member of David's awesome Seattle IH group.)

• Having a Slack channel has been great. I can't always make the meetups, so it is a great way to meet people and see what people are working on.
• The regular meetings, with time to show our work, has been a great way to help keep my honest on getting work done. I'll use those meetups as a deadline to get some part of my project done to show off. Accountability on side/bootstrapped projects is tough, so that little bit is a great help.

David and Darren, I like the things you listed! Are there any things you tried but that you felt didn't work?

Some other thoughts/questions:

• Have you ever tried any activities focused on discussing projects by people not in the group? For example, having people present case studies about their favorite projects by others?
• Ever tried doing a book group?
• This kind of fits into David's first bullet point, but I heard about an activity where people tell the group about problems they're having and the group collectively tries to help them find a solution. How do the discussions about what people "want feedback/help with" go in your group?
• Have you ever done activities that have nothing to do with indie hacking? A couple meetup groups I've been part of sometimes do activities that have nothing to do with their main focuses purely as an opportunity for a sort of casual bonding which the focus of typical discussion-centered meetups don't really provide.