"how to appropriately ask your friend to introduce you to his friend, FAMOUS GUY" Well, to turn this around: After attending the first few Ruby confs (though I

"how to appropriately ask your friend to introduce you to his friend, FAMOUS GUY" Well, to turn this around: After attending the first few Ruby confs (though I missed #1) I was pleasantly surprised to find that matz not only recognize me when he saw me, but remembered my name. At some point I was attending Ruby conferences with coworkers or friends who were going for their first time, and when I would run into matz I made a point of going over to say hello, and also introduce these conf newbies. And I would try to do this for anyone else I thought my cohorts would be interested in meeting. For the longest time I had been a horribly shy person, and I still often have to force myself to do certain social things, so I figure if I can help someone else get over that initial hurdle by doing a few introductions then the world is a better place. So, all you people who have already established assorted acquaintances, help broaden the circle. BTW, most of the time FAMOUS PERSON is pretty nice and happy to meet people who say how great they are and how cool their work is. :) So in the absence of a formal introduction, just go over and introduce yourself. That's kind of the point of conferences.