Ask HN: Are Tech Meetups Dead?

I help run a tech/AI meetup in San Francisco - during the initial post-Covid period we often hit capacity limits since there wasn't much else going on.

But since late 2024 into 2025, meetups are extremely back in fashion here. Every day of the calendar has multiple meetups and it's impossible to avoid conflicts, so attendance rate can vary wildly.

[dead]

Bay Area, but not SF. Mostly dead. Multiple organizers I've talked to pointed to companies no longer wanting to host. There are a few exceptions, but the number of events is much, much lower than it was before 2020.

Lots and lots of well-sponsored AI meetups, especially in SF, but every single one I've been to has been 100% fluff.