Went to my first networking event in a while last week. As the summer comes to an end and work starts to gear up it seemed that this was a good time to dust off some work apparel and broaden my network. At these things, you can often find people approaching the event from two different camps. The energising, "This will be fantastic! An opportunity to meet new people", vs the soul-sapping, "I'd rather be at the dentist... this'll be 3 hours of my life I'll never get back."