Three tips for successful networking:
- Find the right people
- Ask the right questions
- Value your own time highly.
When you go into a networking situation, you don't have to put pressure on yourself in ways like "I have to get in front of a hiring manager by talking to one of these people tonight." This sort of mentality is the wrong attitude when networking, sets an unrealistic goal when job searching and can come off as desperate to others you meet. Not to mention this expectation you place on yourself will taint your opinion of what a good networking experience is supposed to be. Instead, think of networking as simply having great conversations with and learning from new people in your industry.
This is a great skill to keep up to date in your field and takes the pressure off of you to "get something" from the experience which is not the goal. The goal is to expose yourself to new people and learn new things about your field of interest.