I would be interested to hear whether in the Software and IT industry it is normal to have conference parties and, if so, whether you have found them useful or not and, more in general, your experience and opinion about them. Would you recommend them? Are they easy to find/advertised well?

Context: I used to work in the Games industry and have attended GDC (Games Developer Conference) in San Francisco various times. During GDC it is normal for companies to organise parties and you have many parties to choose per night. There you can meet other developers, investors and publishers. I have found that, most of the time, these parties are the place where you make the most meaningful networking connections, compared to the actual conference. However, they were super difficult to find due to poor advertisement! I have now moved to work in the Software Industry and will have to attend some software conferences and I am curious as to what the culture is in this industry regarding conference parties.

Thanks!