Wow! So cool that you are doing this! Meetups have been so huge for how I learned about Bitcoin. I'm sure you are gonna make an outsize impact with the efforts you put into this!

1. Give-get is a good ice breaker that doesn't waste time: have each person introduce themselves and tell the group what they can give to the community and what they are looking to get from the community. It's better than just a casual ice breaker.
2. Sometimes it's easy to get "stuck" talking to one person. If the meetup organizer finds a way to force people move around and talk to new people it can be really great.
3. talking about bitcoin is fun!
4. If it's the first time the group is getting together, it might be a good idea to have some topic or subject that you are going to talk about. I really like how bitdevs meetups do a list of links to interesting bitcoin things and talk about as many of them as people seem interested in. If you expect a bigger turnout, presentations can be good.
5. My personal gripe is when meetup organizers are taking pictures. Even if you ask for permission, it's hard to make sure people aren't in the background. I always appreciate meetups that have a no picture policy.

Hey there - I run a Bitcoin Meet-up in Madison, WI :)

and much like LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow (back in the 80's or 90's)....you don't have to take my word for it! You can verify it by looking up Bitcoin Meet-up Madison, WI.

Now to answer your questions....
1 - Say Hi....or Howdy, Hey, Hello, What up....etc...
2 - Generally speaking I think your problem may be keeping people quiet vs. getting them talking....Bitcoiner's Have lots to say :)
3 - This kind of just comes naturally...
4 - I have been helping to keep this meet-up running for about 3 years now and I rarely have talking points (as I like to keep things flowing naturally about what other people want to talk about)(though now the others in the group have decided they want more of an agenda or talking points....this is totally not needed though
5 - as for don'ts.... Don't Shit-coin!!!

Remember this is simply my recollection of how the meet-ups we have been organizing have been going...We are not trying to drive numbers...We are not getting a kick-back from anyone - We don't ask for anyone to pay for anything we decide to provide to others - We ensure to ask everyone to provide input to the others and we keep it Bitcoin - Not to say peeps don't bring up altcoins, we just don't focus on them!

We talk about everything happening in the Bitcoin ecosystem and stay humble and stack sats!

If you are trying to drive attendance you will likely need a different model -

I attended a few Bitcoin meet-ups in Hong Kong. It was a fairly international crowd from different countries (locals, expatriates living in Hong Kong and visitors) and conversations flowed easily.

As you just said, it was bonding over some pizza and wine (held at an Italian place). The vibe was very casual. My impression is, most people (myself included, as I moved very recently to the city), came to make friends and getting to know people, rather than nerding about Bitcoin. I mean, sure, Bitcoin was part of the conversation, but I suspect it soon drifted towards all sorts of things, like travelling, living etc.

Most of the crowd was relatively young (20-30), some were retired (60+), so, needless to say, the group self-segregated into age groups where they could have more common things to talk about.

Out of a crowd of about 25, there were also 6-7 girls. Even though it was obviously not a dating event, there was a tendency observed for subgroups to form around a girl as the centre, as it happens in many social events with skewed gender proportions.

It may sound off topic, but my impression is that many people living in urban areas crave for some company, after work, so the conversations flowed easily. It was a totally unstructured event, people just walked in, and started chatting with whoever stood/sat next. Nobody had to do any work to break the ice as such. Also, my event did not have any gatekeeping literally anyone with zero knowledge or interest about Bitcoin could join.

If someone is super introvert, and does not want a conversation, then they would rather stay home? So not like you, as the organiser, will have to do anything specific to encourage conversation. But if you notice someone is being a wallflower, go say hi, and welcome them, that should be enough to break the ice.

In general, try to have a set up where people can move around and mingle with different groups and participants, rather than a dinner table set up where you are mostly stuck with the person right next to you (and if they don't click, it becomes awkward).

My SuggesionMy Suggesion

Keep the first event unstructured, but try to find 3-4 persons who are genuine, smart and interested in carrying the group/meet up forward. Then you have a core team of organisers. Then, may be each week/month, you guys can raise a couple of interesting topics or present developments for someone to talk about for a few minutes. Keep one topic beginner friendly, like

• setting up wallet
• doing first lightning transfer
• think in terms of Sats rather than Bitcoin as a unit of measure (which is important for the next point)
• why the apparently high price does not mean one has missed the boat for life, and why he can and should still put his first $1000, as you can still get about 850 Sats for a dollar

to initiate new Bitcoiners.

Make another topic a bit more abstract and advanced like

• talk about quantum resistance
• whether treasury adoption and Strategy/Saylor contribute to market froth and bubble
• core vs knots
• fedimint protocol

But also, keep plenty of space and time for people to just talk (about anything) and mingle without a specific agenda, since that is always a big crowd puller.

Also, depends on your geography, but it always adds to the theme of the meet up if hosted at an establishment that encourages Bitcoin for payment. Particularly, if you are trying to low-key orange pill a total new comer, it is much easier to convince by saying that he can buy a pizza right then and there using bitcoin, instead of going to an exchange.

EncourageEncourage

Peer to peer networking, and transactions. Specifically, I think if someone has Bitcoins, but needs cash (because...life happens) and others are hungry to acquire more, it is probably good to encourage a peer-to-peer trade at a midmarket price, rather than both going to coinbase and pay their spread.

Knowledge sharing, demonstrating how something (e.g. a wallet, transaction) works, or some software they themselves developed. Who knows, some folks may come up with a billion dollar start up idea from these, as the eco-system is so young and still evolving

DiscourageDiscourage

Generally creepy behaviour

People whose entire agenda is selling some shit (insurance, credit card, a used car or whatever) or people who quickly take the conversation in a direction where, in some form, they are very keen for you to invest in something

not much experience in that department... just do it, I guess, and learn from it. Make it chill and welcoming, not nerdy and overtechnical

Do your homework and prepare a basic presentation, then answer questions.
Share useful resources for learning more about BTC.

The price is not relevant!

Are you going to have a strict "no altcoin" policy?

1. Just be you with everybody. When others show up, just go around and introduce them to everyone you just met to make them feel welcome and to help engrain their names into your noggin (sucks to be the last one!). Then just say a little about yourself and then ask what brought them to the meetup.
2. I've never had any problems getting newcomers to get engaged in the convo. Most of us work regular jobs and have friends and family who never want to talk about bitcoin, so we're all just sponges for other perspectives and experiences. Sometimes it's hard to get people to talk about one specific thing though. Don't have any advice there except sending out an agenda before hand, but I'd just keep it very short.
3. We struggle with this. Our plan is to start having separate technical meetups because when we all get together after work, people just want to have fun eating and drinking. But we haven't gotten very far there yet.
4. Let things flow at first. Probably important to gauge the experience levels of everyone there so you can select interesting topics in subsequent meetings.
5. Keep background questions to a minimum to avoid giving off a scammer or fed vibe. Don't wear anything with a bitcoin logo; bitcoin adjacent stuff is going to help ppl find you though.

Regarding the tab and paying in bitcoin, you or some other volunteer should offer to pay the whole tab in fiat (use something like fold or gemini card to get sats back) and use something like this app my friend made. You can scan the tab with your camera and then split the items for each attendee who wants to repay you in sats. It handles the tip as well. Very slick when the OCR works (~90%). Requires an LN address though. They get experience paying on LN and privacy from the fiat panopticon, you get their sats, and the network gets stronger.

ive hosted a few meet ups, also new to it, but I can share what I gained.

• definitely be prepared to explain the difference between bitcoin and crypto.
• dont overprepare
• keep it casual, as others already mentioned
• change up the location, from time to time
• if people enjoyed it, ask them to give back by bringing a friend to the next one.
• be consistent