So-and-so said that such-and-such was the best Networking! she'd done. And these things can be long-term, and I don't want to get judgy, but...has So-and-so sold anything in the N years since she did that Networking!, N > 5? Anything at all? A flash piece, perhaps? No? Then perhaps So-and-so should admit that she was having a good time at a party?

Yah, seriously.

I have seen people who get results from networking get quite remarkable results from it (though not in the fiction field). That said, those remarkable results tend to be visible on the timescale of months or sometimes years, rather than decades...