alt Hacker NewsNetworking involves more than just letting people know you exist. I'd say that's borderline useless. Actually networking requires building real relationships with people. For me, that means continually meeting new people who do the same kind of thing that I do, having pleasant or exciting conversations with them, learning as much as I can about them (showing a real interest! asking serious questions! listening to their answers!), and demonstrating to them that I'm hungry and I want to do Big Things. It's hard to do this effectively. I'm sure it depends on your field and it certainly requires continual practice.
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> Actually networking requires building real relationships with people.
Yes! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that letting folks know you exist was sufficient; it is only necessary.
I find a cheat code to building relationships with people is to give first. I love to ask "how can I help" when I meet someone at a conference or networking event. This does a few things:
* separates you from so many other people who go to these events looking to be transactional
* shows you can follow through (when you actually do help them) which, somewhat shockingly, distinguishes you from many other folks
* filters folks that might not be a fit for a deep relationship because you move in different worlds; if someone asks "well, I am looking for a major piece of real estate to buy", I as a software developer am unlikely to be able to help them
This is a long play though, to be sure.
In general, going to a single networking event with the purpose of networking is kind of silly, but going to the same conference year after year to see the same people and have deep discussions opens a lot of doors. I imagine the point of "networking events" in general is to be a modern take on a country club: You go to see like-minded people who want to meet people like them, and you keep going over and over again to develop relationships.