Following some Mom Test advice
I just bought The Mom Test and I think it's pretty brilliant. I'm the usual hide-in-a-corner-programming type, so it's good to read something that urges me to break out of that loop.
In the spirit of actually doing something rather than just reading it and saying "Huh, now back to programming" I've started a Meetup group. Funnily enough, Rob says in the book that no one ever does this despite being what he thinks is a good idea.
I guess we'll see! I'm not super extroverted, so it makes a bit anxious, but I think it's worth a shot. I'll report back on whether it was good or a disaster.
Hope it goes well!
Just remember that, depending on the city/industry/etc, a new meetup group can sometimes take a while to get going. If you're able to encourage a few people by hand to show up (like, say, the first 6 people), it ensures that anyone else who arrives to the first meetup will be guaranteed to have a group of friendly folks to engage with. In that case, it's about quality of conversation rather than number of attendees, so don't stress about it being "full" or not.
On the other hand, sometimes your meetup can hit a real nerve with the community and you have the opposite problem of how to fit so many people in the venue :P.
As a non-awkward way to talk to customers though, I really love this approach, since it gives you a default reason for being there and talking to each other, and you know everyone is up for it.