Right. Pre-meetup socializing is to get comfortable, this is important too, especially if you have newcomers. Post-meetup socializing is for bonding. Can even just reserve 10 minutes or so for it if your participants are on a tight schedule. But it's good to have some time (and still have the space) to linger - or go for a pizza.

optimism

I like the idea of a time for what are you working on. Currently the socializing time is mostly at the beginning of the meetup, this seems to make it more less about what people are working on and more about easy chit-chat.