Well, as materialistic as it sounds: 1) Who are the people you'd _like_ to meet? (There's a lot of us old fogeys out there ;) 2) What would you like from them?

Well, as materialistic as it sounds: 1) Who are the people you'd _like_ to meet? (There's a lot of us old fogeys out there ;) 2) What would you like from them? 3) What are they interested in? 4) What can you offer? Take a look at those 4 questions, and you should be able to identify people that you _should_ contact. I realize that's not the question, directly, but unless you prep for success, it's hard to be successful. So next, how do you meet those people? At this point, you're down to individuals, not a nebulous class. So, volunteer with their charity. Attend classes organized by their employers. If at all possible, do something that gets you into physical proximity. (Uh, please in a non-creepy way. Just saying ;) But even if you're not in physical proximity - then you ask. Ideally, you get an intro from somebody they know. That opens way more doors than anything else. If you don't know anybody who knows them - cold call. Write a nice e-mail explaining that you know they probably are very busy, but you're really interested in XYZ, and you'd love to pick their brain over coffee, if they have time. And then wait and see what happens. In recap: Don't meet "classes of people". Find interesting people and meet the person.