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How can I get the most out of attending TED in Long Beach?

Q: I've been fortunate enough to be able to attend TED in Long Beach this year (2013), and would love to hear from anyone who's gone before: how do I get the most out of it? Looking at the schedule, it seems like an amazing but potentially exhausting week, and want to make sure I make the most of a great opportunity. Any tips or tricks from TED vets?

For background, I'm an early-stage tech entrepreneur, but any universal advice is appreciated.

A: Emily McManus, I'm the editor of the TED.com website... (more)

For attendees, I recommend this blog post a lot: TED2012 and Why conferences will never be the same (http://hadiyahdotme.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/ted2012-and-why-conferences-will-never-be-the-same/). It's from a first-time TED attendee like you, who used an engineer's mindset to think about how to get the most out of the week. Here's an excerpt but definitely go read the whole thing:

2. Attend a conference with a purpose. I previously despised networking at conferences. It was rare that I received any value. And being an pure introvert, most networking events left me mentally exhausted. I find it helpful when conferences or events publish their list of attendees. It's worth it to do a little ‘research’ on those in attendance and make an effort to meet people of interest. Often the person of interest is not the ‘celebrity’ of the conference, but someone who may be more accessible, but you can still learn their experience and their connections. It also helps to set goals before attending a conference. What are you trying to accomplish from attending the conference? Be specific in your goals. ‘Meet people’ is not a specific goal. You can meet people at the supermarket. One of my goals from TED was to ‘Connect with developers working with Big Data.’

4. Become a connector — Everyone you meet at a conference may not be in direct alignment with your current goals. However, networking in its purest form is actually just building a network. You become a node in the network and have the ability to connect others and align goals. Plus it's just good networking karma.

EDIT: Another great post with lots of TED-specific tips is this one from Chris Fralic, from his LinkedIn Influencer column: "How to Work a Conference."
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130127223654-37087-how-to-work-a-conference?
What can you get from a great conference meeting? He says it in four words: "permission to follow up."