Ask HN: Why not use technology to find people to talk to at a conference?

[amichail]

The point of conferences is not so much to attend talks but rather to network with people in the field.

In reality, you may end up walking around aimlessly not knowing whom to talk to.

And when you do start up a conversation, there is too much introductory material. The repetition in terms of questions and answers can get annoying pretty quickly.

So why not solve this problem using technology?

Specifically, why not have an iPhone app that lets you find people in the conference room who share your interests? It would help you locate them in the room, learn more about them, determine the probability that they will want to talk to you, give an estimate of likely conversation duration, extent of potential mutual financial benefits, etc.

Why waste your time talking to the wrong people (or not talking at all) at a conference?

[jedediah]

When I'm at a conference, I prefer finding people with entirely different sets of interests. This gives me the opportunity to potentially learn something new and maybe even find out about a field I didn't previously know about.

This idea sounds interesting. I'd like to see where it could go if you built it online and let people use it while not at conferences; keep a virtual "hallway track" online at all times.

[amichail]

You could use technology to find people with entirely different sets of interests as well at a conference.

The point is, this would be better than aimlessly walking around trying to find someone to talk to.

[fburnaby]

I'm in town for a conference which starts tomorrow. I was planning on seeing the talks that sound interesting, and then talking to the speakers, or other people who thought that same talk would be interesting.

I agree with you that I'm not here for the talks, but everyone still goes to them (at least the marine-ecologists at the conference with me), so I won't have anyone to meet while there's a talk going on, anyways. Go to the talks, and see who goes to the same sessions that you do!

[Zev]

This sounds remarkably like what Twitter gets used for during major conferences. I know its what I used it for during WWDC, at least.