The Offline Club

Well, if it's at a venue, they have to rent it out.

In times past, we used to have things like clubs and user groups. For the most part, they held open meetings. Anyone could attend without commitment. These meeting not only served the interests of members and the community, but they also served to engage people who would become members. Members paid dues. Dues paid the bills.

If it was a community based organization (ham radio, open source developers, etc.) and the membership worked out outreach, you could usually find someone who would provide a meeting space. Perhaps it would be at a local business. Perhaps it would be at a local university. Perhaps it would be at a local community centre or library. Even if you did have to pay for the space, there were typically a lot of inexpensive spaces to rent for an hour or two. But the key word is community based. There was always a surplus of space if you knew where to look and who to ask. Some people were willing to donate it and others were willing to let it be used for a nominal fee.

That seemed to change 10 or 20 years ago. I'm not quite sure as to the reason why.

How about just going to a public library? Perhaps with a friend or two as accountability partners for keeping off the phone?