Riding out the recession workshop

I attended a free seminar held at a local hotel yesterday morning entitled "Riding out the recession". It was run by Business Link and the local council. There were about half a dozen talks on various topics, some not relevant to me as a sole trader but nevertheless quite interesting. Of course there were exhibitors, each vying to get our custom, and I came home with an armful of literature. There was time to network both before the workshop began and again during coffee, but when I looked down the list of attendees there was only one potential business contact (a publisher) and it's a bit bizarre just walking up to someone you don't know and starting to talk to them about potential work. I keep trying these things - hey, if they're free it's no great loss: only time; but I'm not entirely sure if they're going to work. I've come to the conclusion that you have to keep at this networking in the long term: you get your face and name bandied about and people get to know YOU.