As you get people to RSVP to your meetup, ask a few of the more experienced people to install exercism the Command Line Tool and log into http://exercism.io in advance. Have them submit an exercise before they come.
Add your meetup members to your team, by asking them for their GitHub handles.
When people RSVP, ask them what languages they are interested in.
Have people sign up on a piece of paper or whiteboard. Ask for their language preferences, system preference (Windows/Mac) and their GitHub handles.
Have people seat themselves and, if they don't have Exercism.io installed, get them started. This involves: Getting a GitHub handle, installing Exercism.io, and confirming their Terminal and code editors are installed and operating.
If people don't have laptops, it's okay. You will pair them with someone who does.
10 Minutes: Stand Up
Go around in a circle and introduce yourselves. (Optional: If most people are already in pairs, you can have them introduce each other.)
Explain briefly what a Stand Up is.
Answer:"What did I work on today (at work, in learning, either)" / "What do I want to learn tonight" / "What I got stuck on recently in my learning"
Specifically for Newbies: Ask what online programs, books, videos, tutorials and/or side projects they are currently work on and where they are stuck in their learning.
Specifically for Regulars: Ask them what Exercism they worked on last time and how far they got.
Organizer: During the Stand Up, make sure everyone's GitHub handle is added to the Exercism.io team.
Organizer: Show the Exercism team page and give thumbs up for people who have worked on Exercisms or commented on Exercisms since the past meetup.
40 Minutes: Pair people up.
Pair people up by computer system preference (Win/Mac/Linux), language interest, and level of experience. Alternatively, pair people up by what exercise they are working on (Hello World, Hamming, Leap Year, etc.). Put pairs working on the same level and language close to each other.
Explain and assign a Driver and Navigator for the first-time Exercism.io-ers, and first-time programmers, and first-time Pair Programmers. Give out extra keyboards, monitors, and mice for people who need it. Monitors are especially good for people with small laptops.
For first-timers: Have them complete the "Hello World" activity with a pair. First-timers are best paired with non-first-timers. Make sure they read the README.md. If they have more questions or comments, note them.
After the first pair session, you may do a second pair session if people have time. Read "More ideas: Group therapeutic refactoring" or "More ideas: Advanced 'fun' pair programming" for activities if you have more time.
10 Minutes at the end: Retro
Have everyone make a circle again and have each answer: "What did I work on today?" / "What did I get stuck on today? and How did you get over it?" / "What did you learn today that you will bring to your coding?"
Do this Retro 20 minutes before the closing. You want people to have more time after the Retro to mingle and exchange contact information.
Optional: After the Retro, use a projector to show the Team page of Exercism.io. Your participants will be able to see all the exercises that everyone has submitted. Ask them to submit a "nitpick" for other people when they're back at home.
More ideas: Group therapeutic refactoring
Do you have an experienced, kind experienced coder willing to do code editing on the spot? Try this:
Ask participants to get as far into their current exercise (HelloWorld or Bob are good). And tell them you will stop them in 20 minutes.
After the 20 minutes, ask a pair to volunteer to show their code on the screen. Use a projector to show it to everyone. Alternatively, people can look at the submitted exercise link online. Have the pair explain their process and code. Ask them if they got stuck on anything.
Have the experienced, kind coder "nitpick" the code in front of everyone.
Others can participate by: 1) Raising their hand and offering more nitpicks, 2) commenting on the Exercism online.
This is a good chance to talk about Refactoring and Code Quality. It shows people that code can be done in many ways and there is no "right" answer.
More ideas: Comparing two languages side by side
Get participants who solved for the same problem, in various languages, to present their progress and present what challenges they are struggling with right now.
Have someone verbally explain, quickly, what the problem involves for the group.
For example, show a Ruby and JavaScript implementation side by side.
Alternatively, show two Ruby or two JavaScript implementations side by side.
More ideas: Advanced "fun" pair programming
A pairing session where no one is actually allowed to talk.
A pairing session where you "ping pong" between each test.
A pairing session where you are not allowed to use If/Else statements.
The options are endless...
Troubleshooting
If you have an odd number of people: Have an organizer join in. Or have someone be in a group of 3.
If you get seriously stuck on installation: Use plain-ole command line to run the tests yourself and pair with them.
If you have people who are experts in, like, all the languages: Have them try a new language, like Elm.
If you have people who complain a lot about the UX or the code of Exercism.io: Probe them in their complaints and gently suggest they fix it and make a Pull Request.
If you have someone who doesn't feel like coding, but is bored out of their mind: Ask them if they've checked out the latest Exercism.io exercises by the other participants. Ask them what they think about the way someone used a case statement here, or used and if/else there. Then ask them to write their thoughts in a comment.
If you have beginners to programming, feel free to pair on other things too, like: Git/GitHub, HTML/CSS and more.
React
Typescript
Django
Laravel
Facebook
Microsoft
Google
Alibaba
D3
Tencent