alt Hacker NewsI work in embedded systems. I always carry a few (small) projects with me in a backpack with a power supply and bring them out if certain topics allow me to do a show-and-tell.
I also carry a binder. Each page is a one-page description of a project with a color photo of the system and a bulled-point list of all technologies inside. It's a great conversation starter. Hasn't failed me yet.
10 years after I was hired, one of the interviewers still remembered me showing him a small board that I'd designed, even though he was a Windows MFC programmer and didn't know the first thing about microcontrollers.
I've made great hires who had binders just like you described.