This seems like a good idea, but Seattle XCoders (
http://www.seattlexcoders.org ) have been regularly discussing iPhone software development, and also
a number of members are already selling some notable apps in the
store. So if you're interested in iPhone coding, they'd probably be
the best local resource.
I would also be careful about discussion at/about this event, since
Apple's iPhone SDK NDA is draconian, which did not exist last year.
Granted, both the SDK and the "hacker SDK" are much better options
than anything available 1 year ago.