I took the advice of announcing a time and place and going there waiting for people to show up. It worked quite well in my small city. The sign "Less Wrong" was often enough to provoke a conversation in the coffee shop. And if no one showed up I had some free time to read or write or program.
This isn't really the time of year for it, but I would like to gauge the interest in a meetup group for Auckland, New Zealand. If you'd like to attend, please reply, and then we can sort out a time and place.