@wealthydrop going to an event like this as a newbie is the best opportunity to make connections with people that might be difficult to reach online. We will have top witnesses, investors, authors, and curators there with many new collaborations possible from networking in person that would be unlikely to happen just messaging online.

To prepare as a newbie, I suggest reading everything at http://steem.guide and becoming active in discord communities like @minnowsupport.