Here's the key: Find one person like Eli (sorry, Eli, you're going to have half of wf velcroed to you after this) and stick with for as long as possible. Awesome people just gravitate towards them and you're like a fly on the wall in the middle of all these conversations.
I once sat in between smaxor, and eli almost 5 years ago. For quite awhile a bunch of other really smart people (I want to say shady was there but that might have been another time) drifted in and out of the conversations, as well.
*mindblown*