The only requirement I have for these things is that the after event drinks are held at a place where you don't have to raise your voice to have a conversation.

The only requirement I have for these things is that the after event drinks are held at a place where you don't have to raise your voice to have a conversation. Most pubs are satisfactory for that purpose. I've never seen anyone get completely hammered at these things, but I don't stay until the wee hours either. I think the fact that your networking at an event in your profession should temper you a bit, and from what I've seen, it does for most people. You don't want to make yourself out to be an ass that can't hold it together. That, in my mind, is the difference between having nice conversation over a few drinks and "binge drinking." Binge drinkers are there to get blackout drunk as fast as possible, not to meet new folks and have interesting conversation. Having said that, I don't think I've ever actually witnessed binge drinking at a tech event. As a rule, I try to keep things to one drink an hour. Any more than that and I start getting buzzed and quality of conversation falls off a bit.