Networking at Tech Events: How to Make Connections That Actually Matter

Tech events have their own culture. The networking dynamics at a startup conference are different from a general professional event — there's a particular blend of intellectual intensity, casual presentation, and high ambition that shapes how people interact.

Here's how to navigate it effectively.

The Tech Event Landscape

Tech networking happens across a wide range of formats:

• Large conferences (Web Summit, TNW, Collision): Thousands of attendees, lots of noise, harder to have deep conversations
• Smaller industry meetups: 50-200 people, more focused, easier to have sustained conversations
• Hackathons: Intensely collaborative, shared work creates fast bonds
• Product launches and demos: Specific focus, self-selecting audience
• Startup pitch events: Investors, founders, and operators with clear agendas

Each format requires a slightly different approach.

What Tech People Actually Want From Networking

People in tech tend to be allergic to overtly transactional networking. "Can I pick your brain?" and "I'm looking to make connections" land poorly in most tech contexts. What works better:

• Genuine curiosity about what someone is building
• Specific, thoughtful questions about their area of expertise
• Honest sharing of what you're working on and what challenges you're facing
• A real interest in the ideas being discussed at the event

Tech professionals often respond well to people who've done their homework — who know something about their company or their work before approaching them.

Using LinkedIn Before You Go

Pre-conference LinkedIn research is especially worth doing for tech events. Most speakers and senior attendees have public profiles. Knowing someone's background before you talk to them means you can have a more specific and interesting conversation from the start.

This isn't about impressing someone with your research. It's about being able to have a real conversation rather than spending the first five minutes establishing basic context.

The Hallway Track

In tech conference culture, "the hallway track" refers to the conversations that happen outside the formal sessions. Many experienced conference-goers prioritise the hallway track over the talks themselves — particularly at events where the talks are likely to be recorded and available later.

The hallway is where ideas from different sessions collide and where people with complementary problems and solutions find each other.

Hackathons as Networking Events

Hackathons deserve special mention. Working alongside someone for 24-48 hours — sharing the pressure, the problem-solving, the inevitable 3am energy crisis — produces a quality of connection that takes weeks to develop through conventional networking.

If you have the opportunity to participate in a hackathon, the networking value is disproportionately high.

Apps for Tech Event Networking

Apps like FirstMove are increasingly used at tech events. The consent-based connection model suits tech culture, which tends to value autonomy and privacy. The VibeZone feature is useful at large conferences where the sheer size of the attendee list makes random discovery difficult.

Many tech conferences also have their own apps (often built on Brella or Swapcard) with attendee directories and meeting scheduling. Using these is worth the few minutes of setup.

The Dinner Rule

If there's a speakers' dinner or an invite-only evening event, do whatever you need to do to get invited. The real decisions and connections at large tech events often happen in these smaller, higher-trust social settings.

If there's no hosted dinner, organise one yourself. Inviting five or six people you've met during the day to share a table is a powerful way to consolidate connections.

After the Event

Tech communities tend to be tight-knit and have long memories. The person you met at a conference three years ago may turn up as a potential collaborator, investor, or employer at an unexpected moment.

Follow up specifically and genuinely. Connect on LinkedIn where appropriate, but also consider following up via email or through the conference app if you had a substantive conversation.

Try FirstMove

FirstMove is free and works at tech conferences as well as social events — consent-based, privacy-first, and designed for real in-person connection. Available on iOS and Android.