I think of it as a ladder that you progress through as a speaker. This reduces risk for the organizers, but it's also good for your growth as a speaker. If you think you can just hop right into a conference talk with no warmup, then the earlier steps should be a breeze.
- Short meetup talk (10-20 minutes).
- Long meetup talk (20-40 minutes)
- Conference talk.
The only gotcha is that most meetups are not recorded. That makes it difficult to apply for conferences outside of your hometown.
Most meetups would not have an issue with you bringing a friend who would record the talk for you on their phone or with a camera. As with all these things, make sure to ask the organizers first, though.
A flip cam is, what 100-200 usd? I know personally that you can get a mount with slideable legs for about 10 usd, and that will include noobs that you can turn to make it so that it can be slide left/right even by an inexperienced user. A slight breeze will shake it, but since most conferences/meet ups, etc will take place indoors that shouldn't be a problem.
- Short meetup talk (10-20 minutes).
- Long meetup talk (20-40 minutes)
- Conference talk.
The only gotcha is that most meetups are not recorded. That makes it difficult to apply for conferences outside of your hometown.