I'm in the Central Jersey branch of the NJBA. I was a bit turned off by the first meeting, so I haven't been super active. I seem to be located at the northernmost limit of the group, and the bulk of members seem to be located near the southern end. The meetings are quarterly, on a Friday night, and at least an hour drive away. The discussion about rotating the meetings among 4 locations (one of which was actually 15 mins away from me) went well for 3 of the locations, but most people said they wouldn't attend a meeting held in the 4th (guess which one).
The meetings are also 2.5 hours of club business followed by 1 hour of a demonstration/education. Not feeling particularly wedded to the organization, I'm not so keen on driving such a distance to hear the minutes, approve them, hear the budget, etc. I'm interested in learning how to manage my bees. Once I get more sure of myself there, I'll probably take an interest in the organization as a whole.
Also, while it would be nice to have some very local advice, I find that being able to have several answers to my questions within 12 hours here on these forums is a lot easier than trying to contact someone in the group, waiting for a response, and having to go back and forth for clarification.
I think my group is fairly small, and I'm not sure what kind of non-meeting activities they do. I'm also pretty shy, so it's hard for me to get motivated to get together and interact with a group of strangers.