Event Photo from Mumbai.olx.in

I absolutely love volunteering at conferences and business events. You meet so many awesome people that you would have never found being in your own circle of friends. Two weeks ago, I volunteered for this organization called the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP). NAAAP was hosting a national convention sponsored by Macy’s at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco. I met a lot of the board members of the NAAAP SF chapter and befriended a few young professionals who worked around the Bay Area. On top of that, I got to attend professional development workshops and eat at their Gala Dinner for free. It does not get any more awesome than that!

I also attended an event by the San Francisco chapter of the American Marketing Association this Wednesday at Bars+Tones. The topic was about the Old Spice Phenomenon featuring a panel of marketers including JIm Nicholas, Mark Silva, Maria Ogneva, and two other marketing gurus. My biggest takeaway were the new contacts on the SFAMA board as well as local business professionals from companies including LeapFrog, Logitech, and etc. In addition to new contacts, I found about other interesting organizations in the Bay Area like Bay Area Advertising Relief Committee (BAARC) and San Francisco Bay Area Interactive Group (SFBIG).

Next month, I will be volunteering at a few other conferences in the Bay Area. Those conferences include App Nation, Virtual Goods Summit, and Smart Phones Games Summit. I am really looking forward to meeting the awesome organizers at these events. The main reason I volunteer is because I don’t have the money for admission and I really enjoy networking with people and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area. Speaking of networking, I am hopefully going to visit some friends in New York City in mid-September. This will be a great opportunity for me to attend some NYC events and also brainstorm with my buddies about potential business ideas.