Laid off? Time for camp!

When Chris Hutchins, a 24-year-old management and business strategy consultant got laid off in December, he decided to take networking to a different level. He launched something called "LaidOffCamp San Francisco."

Hutchins says the times are right for a self-organizing networking and coping group of unemployed techies to form, especially given that he's just one of 224,000 laid off tech workers. Based on the BarCamp concept, Hutchins will let the group form itself ad hoc. Seems to me if you're a laid-off techie of a certain age (meaning under 40), this concept sounds kind of cool.

LaidOffCamp will take place at an as-of-yet -to-be determined venue in San Francisco, Tuesday, March 3. If you're unemployed and can rip yourself away from your Linkedin or Facebook page at that time, it's a good time to go network.

Topics for discussion include How to Live on a Budget, How to Build a Personal Brand and, perhaps most importantly, how to find another job in this environment. He's signing up participants via Twitter and a Facebook page.