Edit wiki/showing-up-with-no-plan.md — Rookie Mistakes & Gotchas

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# showing up with no plan

*(common gotcha)*

## what happened

you arrive at a conference or networking event, wander around, talk to whoever happens to be near you, and leave without making any meaningful connections.

## why it's a gotcha

events have dozens or hundreds of people, and your time is limited. without a plan, you'll default to talking to people who are easy to approach (other nervous newcomers) instead of the people who could actually help your work or career.

## the fix

before the event, look at the speaker list, attendee list, or sponsor list. identify 3-5 people you specifically want to meet. research their work so you can start a real conversation, not just "so what do you do?" set a micro-goal: 3 quality conversations beats 20 business card swaps. once you meet your targets, [[get-contacts-immediately|lock in the contact on the spot]]. plan [[how-you-introduce-yourself|your intro]] too. having a plan doesn't mean having an agenda — it's the opposite of [[networking-as-extraction]]. same [[figure-out-what-you-want-before-partners|"know what you want"]] energy, applied to events.