@ossobuco,
I'm not expecting people to sacrifice their income to join us in San Francisco. However, I remember we had a a2k member come from Paris, two from Boston, and one from San Diego. Walter came at another time, and we were able to have a small meet with some other locals.
I also organized meets in Austin, Houston, and NYC, and they were successful to the extent that a few showed up. Even the London gathering was successful.
A2k has also been the link where I met a member in Moscow (Sergei) and Mexico City (Francisco Baez).
Those are the reasons why I'm trying to organize another gathering.