Simon Willison’s Weblog

What’s the best way to expand your professional network?

My answer to What’s the best way to expand your professional network? on Quora

Speak at events, and talk to people afterwards.

(Just going to events is a great way of extending your network, but it can be difficult networking effectively with other attendees. Speaking is an amazing shortcut, since it ensures everyone at the event knows a bit about you and makes it much easier to strike up interesting conversations later on).