Going to HQB is (was) valuable because: 1) You get a visceral read on what's up and coming - every month and half it's different but volume doesn't lie. Readin

Going to HQB is (was) valuable because: 1) You get a visceral read on what's up and coming - every month and half it's different but volume doesn't lie. Reading the tech news you're in a filter bubble for whatever company is spending the most on PR but on the street you get a real sense for what's being made in volume. Pulling the threads on why this new widget is trending this month is always educational. 2) For prototyping something I find HQB quicker - you can get supplies, programmers, and adapters all in under an hour - usually it was just a new test fixture for isolating a QA issue you've found but having it down the street is wonderful. For production, yes, by all means go through your supplier network. 3) Going in person let me build up guanxi with the niche vendors where I was a repeat customer. As a 6'4" huge foreigner I left an impression, and in turn was able to leverage that network to find things I couldn't/didn't know of. WeChat has streamlined this but the tone is completely different there between people I've met in person and people I haven't.