I posted a proposal for an IPFS or Protocol Labs presence at Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE 16x) this year.
In addition to that proposal, I would like to propose a Los Angeles area meeting group to discuss IPFS and Protocol Labs work in general. There are a bunch of Ethereum and blockchain groups already here that will have a natural affinity for Filecoin discussions. There are DevOps groups who would have distributed file systems and repository configuration use cases to discuss. The various programming language, learning, and Open Source hackathon style groups would also have interest in each IPFS language project.
The volunteer-run SCaLE conference always has Birds of a Feather (BoF) meetings at nights after the main conference, so we could request a room for a Protocol Labs BoF and make that the kick-off meeting!