This is exactly what you should do to connect with the right people.

No one would take you seriously if you're like a waiter. How can we actually be taken seriously by these kind of people?

You're right, they won't. They have these get-togethers every once in a while. What you really need to do is get the person who's running those kind of things and tell them what you're doing in school and you're trying to get into the networking here. They are the first people that would say, sure, come and you can see what we're doing here. Then you really need to walk up to people and introduce yourself. It takes a bit of gusto, but you really have to get your self-confidence up. Don't be meek about it and walk up to somebody and just say, hey, listen, I'm so-and-so, I'm thinking of going to do something like I'm really trying to meet some people in the industry to sort of get some idea how to get in the doors or something. I'm telling you, it starts from one little thing, and then you get from them, they introduce you to two people, and two people introduce you to four people, and you have to get out there.