I attend event myself, but not often enough. When I first cut out on my own and when I needed to expand a bit more technically I would go to events to network. Hanging out in the Karaoke on Mike's cruise landed me enough work for all of 2009 and up to when we started the redevelopment of JVNP 2.0... I missed a few of the masterminds but the different group activities as well as dining with folks i've only heard about online definitely humanized the experience.