Agree... It's more than getting an upvote or two... It's nice to get them, but the real value is in those connections that we made... Every next Hive meetup that I attend, I'm more aware of that and it's a kind of addiction... 😃 It's awesome to meet people who think "at your level" and the feeling of knowing the person "for your whole life" is the weirdest thing that happens... But, it's a nice feeling... :)
I attended a hive meetup in my early days, it was a very good exposure. Sadly, those guys are no longer on the chain, but it's really good to meet and know people like you've said. People who you can actually relate to and who you can get to know for a long time and even share better relationship with as time goes on. But, then the upvotes do matter too.
I suppose meetups can have a good effect when we try to attend them continuously... In that way, people stay motivated, wait for the next meetup to have fun with friends, and in the meantime, hang out on the chain...