I think it depends on what you're interested in. The south bay (Santa Clara, Mountain View, San Jose) has a lot of hardware companies as well as some of the la

I think it depends on what you're interested in. The south bay (Santa Clara, Mountain View, San Jose) has a lot of hardware companies as well as some of the larger software companies (Google, Facebook, Linkedin). Palo Alto has a lot of startups and accelerators (VC) if you're into that sort of thing. San Francisco seems to have the lions share of small startups. You can hang out in numerous coffee shops with a sign stating, "I'll buy you a cup of coffee if you talk to me about the tech scene here". Another approach would be to reach out to fellow conference attendees familiar with the area and ask them what you should be doing. Presumably, they would share the same interests as yourself. Good luck, and I hope you get much out of your visit.