1. Pay close attention to intros channel in the Cleveland area Slack channel and cherry pick the individuals who are doing cool work. We get a lot of boomerang thirty-something remote workers moving back to Cleveland to be closer to family. Giving a talk is a great way for them to reestablish themselves and meet folks in the area.
2. Straight up cold-contact interesting businesses and ask if they have any interest in participating. Surprisingly high success rate on this one, but it does work. Companies like to brag about what makes them special, I just happen to choose the ones that I really do find to be unique.
If those don’t work, I’d rather host a general social with no speaker than force a bad topic or always host repeat speaker appearances.