i am struggling with figuring out (with scattered documentation) how to make this module work. here's what i have tried:
so i did find some documentation, and am now placing the code in a module instead of the template.

the code i am working with is in the nodeapi call:

     case 'view' :

       //Find gnostic groups near the zip code 90046, and return the ones within a radius of 50 miles
       $request = array('topic' => 'NetSquared', 'country' => 'USA'); //Set the parameters for the API request
       $options = array('pages' => 1); //Set options that are not specific to the method: page (page size), pages (total number of result pages to return), and desc (sort descending) are currently supported
       $results = meetup_api_groups($request, $options); // Execute the request. After this call, $results will contain $results->results (an array of returned group objects, each containing Meetup API properties) and $results->meta (Meetup API meta information).
       dsm($results->results);
       //Cycle through the results and displaying the name of each
       foreach($results->results as $result) {
         dsm($result->name);
       }

     break;

what i notice is that when i use the example ('gnostic') it seems to work fine. when i use terms for which there is no result, i get a response that says no result. when i do this one (and others like it ) i see nothing except for the drupal set message checkmark but no object of text.

are there some meetups that are invisible someow or which are just not showing?

i appreciate your patience.