But also remember that your goal is to find people who are good to work with, who will be the right people to know in 10 years, not just the right people to know now. If you are early in your career, don't spend all your time chasing "relevant" people who have already made it. Spend some time with your peers who are interesting and may well become the next generation of relevant people.

C.S. Lewis said this more eloquently in _The Inner Ring_ http://www.lewissociety.org/innerring.php