What makes an academic conference successful?

To tell you the truth, I submitted to this conference because it is Greece, but I gave 2 presentations today. The first one went ok, I worried I read too much from my power point slides, i was able to respond to the questions and comments afterwards without thinking too much. Then I presented the 2nd one, and although I was more relaxed, the formal question period afterwards went similarly. As the majority of people left the room, 2 different people came up to me, and starting telling me about their own research projects and how they intersected with the one I had presented. One of them gave me his card. The other one wrote down her email for me on a scrap of paper and asked me to send her the paper once it is published. And all of a sudden I felt great, I felt like the presentation had been a success. I had networked, made contact with strangers who share similar interests.I am still super happy. But why is it that whenever I get excited about my journey to becoming an academic, I feel like such a geek?