One particular event I’m fairly excited about in the next few weeks is Startup School 2008. Its an annual event put on by the very cool venture firm YCombinator. It’s going on at Stanford in Palo Alto next month.
Not only does the event have some great speakers like Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon.com) but it will be a great chance to network and connect with other entrepreneurs and experts alike. There is a wiki set up for the event to showcase the projects, companies, and people attending.
Before signing my name on the wiki I decided to read through the comments to see who everyone was looking to meet; to my dismay most attendees thus far have said “Everyone!!”. Just a tip:
Narrow focus in networking is good focus.
If you’re going to an event, figure out exactly what you want to get out of it beforehand. Conferences and workshops tend to be pretty full days so its important to make the most of them. Meeting “everyone” isn’t possible at most events and even if you do meet a lot of people, it’s best to meet people that share similar interests or even better can help you with something specific.
Consider this great quote by Mahatma Gandhi:
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
If you’re attending conferences, make the most of it. 
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