I attended the Silicon Valley NewTech meetup this week at the new DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Gary offices in “East” Palo Alto.

Part of the new batch of technology networking events, SVNT spotlights new and and cool tech and Web 2.0 companies for an audience comprised of programmers, VCs, engineers, CxOs, VPs, and marketing professionals.

The event was founded by Vincent Lauria, VP of Products for Meetro, a location-aware IM client. A recent transplant from NY, he is also the primary organizer for Bowling 2.0 which encourages people to meet in the real world. He’s off to a nice start.

Vincent is on to something. The point is that while we were all hunkered down in our bunkers preparing for world domination (read: cowering in fear or fighting for survival) after the last bubble burst, new and exciting technologies, people, and companies have flourished.

The format is simple. A mini-mixer with beer, wine and pizza greets the 100 (est) guests as they arrive and encourages them to mingle and get to know one-another. Once the room is full, the main event begins. It’s almost an “un-conference” where company spokespersons present their company and the unique value proposition in front of seated guests. Presenters use a projector and give five-minute live demos and/or walk us through a PowerPoint deck.

After each presentation, the audience is invited to ask questions, followed by a wrap-up summary by Vincent (Vinnie).

The following companies were on-hand to present:

30Boxes – A new way to organize your life and connect with friends [Narendra Rocherolle]

SiteKreator – Quickly build Web 2.0-ready business or personal Web sites [Ivaylo Lenkov]

StrikeIron – MS Excel reporting on web API’s [Dave Nielsen]

Loomia – A web service that delivers personalized recommendations to any site [David Marks]

Silicon Valley New Tech Meetup is one of the handful of must-attend events in the Bay Area. Other events worth looking into include:

• SF New Tech Meetup
• STIRR Mixers
• SVASE – Empowering entrepreneurs
• Churchill Club – Information, individuals, ideas

If you know of other events that I should consider, please drop me a note.

See you at the next event!

Tags: siliconvalley, newtech, meetup, meetro, 30boxes, sitekreator, strikeiron, loomia, bowling2.0, web2.0, Vincent Lauria, web 2.0, brian solis, briansolis, pr2.0, pr 2.0