You’ve heard getting a job is not about what you know; it’s about whom you know. In a job search, you can only cast a net as wide as the network of people you know. Face to face connections are imperative to grow your network to include key players who can help you, recommend you for jobs, or direct you to someone else to meet who can further expand your network.
The goal is to create a huge web of awesome professionals on whom you can lean. As you grow your network, people will then ask you to make an introduction to someone in your network. One person introduces you to one other person and that person introduces you to another and it goes on until you have built an awesome professional network.