It really is a sad conformist air in the KH these days, which is part of the reason I got tired of it so quickly after coming back and getting baptized. At my KH, the cong is small and there's not too much personality. It seems that many of the friends keep to themselves and don't say much at all, probably some underlying fear of saying something wrong or being critized in some way. The meeting this weekend was dead, no one likes to give lively comments ( how can you really with canned answers) and now because of the new WT arrangement just about everything is scripted, right down to who reads the scriptures - no more kiddies taking forever, stumbling over 14 letter words.
It seems that when I was younger, the comments were much more personal and many of the comment-hogs felt freer to expound upon every personal experience. But this has been widely discouraged also, as the WTS instructs that the comments and answers must be brief ( I think 30 seconds or so)
I fondly remember the picnics we had, and those are long gone. It's amazing they are able to attract new converts, after one meeting they would probalby be bored to tears.