Conferences for networking

I was wondering the same thing. Was thinking about going to the Deal & Deal Maker's conference... but really don't have the money for it and found out about it too late to try to find a back door way in.

And... I could be wrong, but $500 is REALLY cheap... I'd say marginally suspect. The D&DM was somewhere around $2900 and there was a PE conference a while back that I wanted to try to go to that was similarly priced.

Can anyone comment on some of the benefits from attending these events for someone not in IBD/PE? I know any exposure is good, but it would have to yield some pretty good results to fork up a couple of grand.

If someone is paying $2900 to attend a conference, I doubt they would want to spend their time talking to a kid that is not even in the industry yet.

CDN, the people attending these conferences aren't paying $2900 out of pocket.

oh good point. I don`t know though, I just think it would be smarter to take that $500 or whatever it is and make a trip to New York and set up some informational interviews instead.

CDN - You make a good point: even if they aren't paying out of pocket to attend these events, the attendees are all there to network for themselves. The top-flight people (e.g. speakers/hosts) are looking to network with each other and fend off the masses, while the lower level people are trying to meet people above them and generally drum up business (specific targets depend on the event). In any case it is a bit hard to imagine why anyone would want to waste their time talking to me.

And, definitely realize that informational interviews (w/alumni, etc.) are a better overall strategy, but just thought this might be a way to augment that.

I really don't know who attends these conferences (whether it be LP's, senior guys at other firms, FoF's). I guess anyone interested in learning about the subject matter (although why would I pay to listen to some guy from Bain or TPG talk about the credit crunch when I can listen to my boss every day?). We certainly don't attend.

I would think SR people would attend more-so than Analyst/Assoc or even VP level. Do you mean 'we' as in you and your peers, or 'we' as in your firm?

Firm.