I've been to (and participated in) a few local events here in Toronto. I found most of the via meetup.com and others I was either invited to, or found out about through my co-working office space and its community.
I've been to:
I think out of all of these different types of events, the two that are the most enjoyable to attend are the Panel Discussions and the Codepen Meetups.
When I leave from a Panel Discussion usually my mind if racing with inspiration and ideas. I have so many new things to try, so many opinions to test, and I feel revitalized. The two panel discussions I went to (Bitcoin and Buffer) aren't even for technologies I use, but it was still worth going out just for the socializing and fun atmosphere. (And I'm an introvert so going out for the purpose of socializing isn't a top priority most of the time).
The other kind of events that inspire me are the CodePen meetups, where the speakers aren't always the best at public speaking, but it's often Show & Tell by a passionate developer, trying to show you the cool stuff they've been working on. What I like most about these talks is that the tech gets you in the door, but it's really meeting and seeing these spectacular humans do the thing they're passionate about that is the real value here. At one CodePen meetup I saw a JavaScript programmer who does abstract painting show us how he uses React + SVG to help him plan out compositions to pain. He showed us how he thinks about his designs, and then how he was able to automate experimenting with it. Now he plays around with his tool to come up with new ideas instead of using a sketchbook.
Another person that stands out to me that I had a chance to meet at a CodePen meetup as Varun Vacchar, and I have been inspired by some of his work on CodePen and his blog posts, it was amazing to have a brief chance to meet him and see that he's a real person too!