Welcome back @Jeff CogaI've seen some of your posts and videos in other places and I think you will bring a lot to the table here and will get a lot out of it too.

In exchange they get to show off their passion and explain why they do the things they do.

Check out this youtube video?

I have certain skills useful to the community and so I volunteer (currently or recently):church running video 4x / monthchaperone school field trips 3x / yearmentor after-school engineering competition 2x / weekcurriculum advisory committee for school district, parent repcontinuing ed committee for school district, parent repyouth soccer club president ("club" = $1M/yr budget)athletic association directorMore specific to your point, I'm an engineer.  

Spend 30 minutes a day on Bigger Pockets by connecting with “colleagues,” perusing blogs and videos, and engaging with others on the forums:http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet7.

We have a system down for our meetups - greeting new members (sometimes with a video intro), post meeting, etc, and we'll be working on creating a set format for our meetups (we may model the BP podcast ^^).

Sterling, I have noticed that a lot of people go out a buy a note or two after seeing a guru at their local REIA meeting, or watching an online video.

Great questions @Jeff Deutsch - send me a colleague request with your email address and I'll give you our 3-video (YouTube) course of wholesaling, plus sample contracts. 

Plus there may be some other things that you learn and become passionate about.

They provided all the books, ondemand video lectures, quizzes and pretests.