I attended a class with Portland Swordguild, a group that studies HEMA. The head instructor, Jason, gave me a 15 minute orientation on the basics (four guard positions, some offensive defense perspective, some attack lines) and did a little bit of saber-like stick fighting (some kind of bamboo or rattan like stick, approximately a yard in length, with a leather cup hand guard at one end, with us wearing fencing masks, and sports protective gloves and elbows). The standard class format is to start with a 15 minutes study session focusing on a single technique, then break off into sparring pairs to for the remainder of the time, learning by doing and having the more experienced critiquing the less experienced as they spar. I think they have some good concepts and ideas that have been pulled from the historical texts, but this is the same style of learning I have observed in some previous groups (particularly the couple SCA groups I've visited) and I feel it is not beneficial for beginners. However, as I am not a beginner with the sword and martial arts in general, I may return myself at least on occasion if they are open to me using a better helmet (I despise fencing masks) and to me possibly questioning things they wouldn't normally question.
Additionally, Jason suggested that Indes may be a better fit if I'm looking for more structure.