Well, let me know how it goes --- my guess, though, is that just publicizing as a BOINC or GridRepublic event will not be sufficient.  

Possibly a more generic event for people interested in scientific and medical research, especially if the description sounds geared towards the general public with interest in such things?  maybe feature a speaker/presenter?  

Additionally/Alternatively: maybe focus on a topic area -- for instance, in your case, host an event on research in alternative energy?  And then present Volunteer Computing at the event?

(....just some ideas...) 

Those are some good ideas. I don't know who we can have as a speaker. I want to wait for a more formal meeting until we have a group of at least 5 regulars. Its certainly possible for me to hold meetings in a conference room at NAS after work.

 PS Is it possible to create a prview feature in these discussions. I wanted to see how the last post would render. Otherwise can we go back and edit posts?

 Oh now we have the edit featur!

the original idea was that WYSIWYG made "preview" unecessary, and there is the edit button.  but i take your point (especially since WYSIWYG isn't perfect).  

also important, i think, is to move the "post" form to the bottom of the thread so you can see the post you are replying to while you write.  (sometimes i have to open it in a separate tab, which is really lame.)

(...hopefully, we can recruit some volunteer programmers, to pick up the pace of our updating process...)