To get a job today, go out in the world
Because your next job won't find you on the couch
For the past two months, my friends and I have spent every other Thursday evening at All Time: there is wine, music, and a burger I have yet to try. There are also a lot of people working in entertainment.
I don’t work in “the industry,” but have thought to myself that anyone who does — or wants to — should join us next week. Finding a job in entertainment is difficult right now, but I’m certain that if I wanted one, I could have made several useful connections while standing on that corner of Hillhurst.
Which leads me to the central point of today’s letter: to get a job, you need to go out in the world.
This advice almost seemed too obvious to publish, but in my recent experiences working with college students, I’ve realized it’s not as obvious as it seems. Perhaps they subscribe to the bed rotting trend, or perhaps COVID lockdowns diminished their social batteries, but a lot of young people I meet are reluctant to leave their homes, even when they’re desperate for a job. And yet: last week Uracha shared that most of her work has come from “going out and striking up conversations with strangers rather than submitting [her] CV to HR,” and last month, Sierra said that the best experience for someone interested in marketing is to go out and “talk to people.” Opportunities come from building organic connections, and those connections are not built from your couch.
Bars, coffee shops, art exhibits, public lectures — if you live in a big city, it’s likely you can access all these places and more to meet people working in your industry. But for people outside of major urban areas — or those who want to be more targeted — conferences are a great place to gain contacts and sharpen your own industry knowledge.
I used to associate the word “conference” with a stuffy, windowless convention center in a midsize American city I’d never willingly visit. But in recent years, many conferences have become branded, experiential events, and — dare I say it — fun? They are also, truly, great places to find work, and I say this from firsthand experience: one of my recent freelance projects came from a person I met at the HNGRY Summit last fall.
I asked my friends working in different fields which conferences were essential in their industries; below is a list I compiled based on their answers. If you have a conference to add, message me through Substack or reply to this email.
Before we move on, a tip: these conferences can often be prohibitively expensive, but I’ve found there are two ways to secure free or discounted tickets. The first: offer to help out as a volunteer. Your free labor will often earn you the best seat at the conference — the check-in table — where you have access to the full list of attendees and meet every single one as they enter. The second way: offer to make content about the conference and share your experience online. Even if you don’t have a large following, if you frame yourself strategically and share how you’ll provide value back to the conference host, they’ll rarely say no to free advertising. Below the paywall, I share two email templates I’ve used in the past to (successfully) make these requests.
A List of Conferences by Industry
Food and Beverage:
Sweet and Snacks, the premier candy and snacks event 🍫 🍭 (May 12 - 15, 2025; Indianapolis, IN)
The Fancy Food Show, “where culinary innovation meets business opportunity.” There are winter and summer editions (Summer - June 29 - July 1, 2025; New York, NY)
HNGRY Summit, a conference at the intersection of food and technology, led by
. I attended last year and got a freelance project out of it (Fall 2025; Los Angeles, CA)Expo West, the “Super Bowl” of food and beverage trade shows that draws over 85K attendees interested in food, beverage, and CPG (March 3 - 6, 2026; Anaheim, CA)
Every year, Andrea from
also hosts a pre-Expo event — called Snaxpo or The People’po — for free in LA, to give smaller brands a chance to showcase their products. It’s definitely a place to network if you’re interested in food and CPG. Read ’s recap of the 2025 event in Bite Sized.
The James Beard Foundation also holds frequent events — book talks, lectures, parties — all over the country throughout the year.
Hospitality
NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum, for stakeholders shaping the future of hospitality real estate (June 1 - 3, 2025; New York, NY)
ILTM, with both North America and Europe editions, recommended to me by my friend who owns a hotel in Paris as a conference with “glamorous parties” 🥂 (North America conference is October 6 - 9, 2025; Baha Mar, the Bahamas 🏖️)
America’s Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), the flagship global hotel investment conference, recommended to me by hospitality leader Carolyn Schneider of Corner Booth Weekly (January 26 - 28, 2026; Los Angeles, CA)
ITB Berlin, the leading platform for the global travel and tourism industries (March 3 - 5, 2026; Berlin, Germany)
Tech
Tech Week is a decentralized conference by A16Z, with New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco editions. Each week has hundreds of offshoot events, and they’re great places to meet investors and founders, or find a job at a startup (next edition is June 2 - 8, 2025 in New York, NY)
Figma Config, a conference about the future of design and product building. Connect with a community of designers and developers and learn how to leverage Figma’s tools. Recommended to me by a lead product designer at Therabody, who says the conference has helped him make meaningful connections (editions in both San Francisco and London in May 2025, also available virtually).
Healthcare x Tech
Rock Health Summit, a digital health conference bringing together people from technology, medicine, and public health (September 30, 2025; San Francisco, CA)
JP Morgan Health Care Conference, the premier healthcare investment symposium. I’ve spoken to people who’ve attended in the past, and they say to prepare for a lot of old men in suits 👔 (Every January; San Francisco, CA)
Climate and Sustainability
New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco also all hold their own decentralized Climate Weeks. My friend who now leads sustainability at Eva NYC got her job while working as a volunteer at Climate Week NYC in 2023 (San Francisco is happening now; next edition is September 21 - 28, 2025 in New York, NY).
Public Sector
NACo, a gathering of elected and appointed officials from the country’s over 3K counties (July 11 - 14, 2025; Philadelphia, PA)
NLC City Summit Conference, for people interested in local leadership (November 20 - 22, 2025; Salt Lake, UT)
Creator Economy x Marketing
Canva Create, a summit bringing together designers, content creators, and marketers over a myriad of talks and activations. Replete with dance performances and shooting confetti, it is, as Ashwinn (@shwinnabegobrand) dubbed it, the “Coachella of corporate events” (Spring 2026; Los Angeles, CA)
If you found this list useful, leave a comment and a like — and share with a friend who can accompany you to your next conference. And if you have any conferences to add, feel free to DM me or reply to this email.
Email Templates to Secure Free Conference Tickets
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