All this is face saving tactics to throw something in the market time to time to prolong the project as long as people stop following by themselves. They started a project which can't be delivered by their team. They are enjoying meetings and meetups to catch new idea probably to have some new project in future under new name. This is how business of some groups work.
You may relax and take off that tinfoil hat already. Such meetings are for making partnerships and hooking up with the right people in the business. It is not a crypto convention or anything entertaining. And for sure it is not a face saver if you show up with something that cannot be delivered or obviously fake.