I just came across this blog post, The Programmer's Guide for Networking at a Conference. If you're reading this, you're already following the first piece of advice: Start networking before the conference starts.
The blog post is worth your time to read. I'll summarize the main headings here.
- Start networking before the conference starts (hurray! You're doing it!)
- Become a social butterfly (don't eat lunch by yourself!)
- Go up to speakers after talks. (I enjoy it when people visit me after I present.)
- Become a speaker
- Become a volunteer (SAS Global Forum runs on volunteers!)
- Have your elevator pitch down ("So, what do you do?")
- Seek to help people and be interested
- Sit in the front and pay attention
- Follow up (easy to do with e-mail, communities, and even the conference app).
Chris
