This past weekend I attended the GTUG(Google Techology User Group) campout at Google's Mountain View campus. This year's topic was HTML5. The campout is modeled after Startup/App weekend. The idea is to give pitches, form teams, and end up with an app to demo for the prizes(usually lunch with Googlers and things donated by the sponsors). While winning is nice, the real goal is to learn something new about a technology, make some new acquiantances, and enjoy the massage chair. I'm serious, the massage chair is awesome.
Seriously though, the Valley is small enough that the person you talk to about a random topic might give you you next job. Or you might learn an emerging technology that helps you secure an interview. Both have actually happened to me.
I think campouts and app weekends are great places for startups to recruit. I don't mean setting up a table and handing out business cards but going incognito and bringing some devs to split up and work on different teams to root prospectives. While everyone doesn't bring the same level of effort to a project like this, the time crunch helps you to know who really has the goods and how they respond to deadlines and stress. It's almost like speed dating.
