They tended to dress in their finest clothes and have serious expressions in order to convey a sense of their good character, Heiferman says.

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Founded in 2004 by meetup.com founder Scott Heiferman and co-founded by Dawn Barber, the NY Tech Meetup has over 28, 000 members, representing professionals from all parts of the New York technology community.

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As Meetup founder Heiferman describes in this talk I filmed of him, given Monday to an audience of foundation and nonprofit types in New York, the tea party was, in some ways, born on Meetup.

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