How Do I Decide What To Go To?
You spend a couple hours every other Saturday morning searching for events, conferences, workshops, seminars, and classes. You could easily spend your entire week at events. If you’re just starting out, and don’t have a lot of clients to keep you busy, that might be a good idea. Otherwise, you need to prioritize your options.
There’s no easy hierarchy of events (conferences are better than trade shows, for example). The best you can do is make some assumptions about how likely it is that people you want to meet will be at this particular event. (Another reason to know who it is you want to meet.)
After that, go for the event that is less likely to be filled with people selling stuff. Most events labeled “Business Networking” attract a lot of salespeople, job seekers, and other people trying to market their wares.
You’ll get more mileage (and less competition) at educational events or other places where “networking” isn’t the stated primary purpose.
