The benifits of in person LUG meetings

I have been to only one linux users group meeting in person. That will probably be enough to last a lifetime.

Why bother actually meeting physically when the net offers so many possibilities for interaction. More specifically it allows you to do research while discussing a topic with others, and to contribute and insert outside information links during the session.

The in person meeting seemed so low-bandwidth that it drove me nuts. Maybe this is just a side effect of my ever shrinking attention span.

The main benifit I see from going to these things is going out to dinner afterward, which is really a drawback since it's hard enough as it is to try and keep the weight off as a computer guy.