Welcome to the fun
The big list of player events is here: Empire Player Events 2022/2023
Certainly some of the socials are still taking bookings, although you’ll probably have to ping their FB pages or contact emails to find out which.
We usually suggest once you’ve picked your nation that you get in contact with your nation’s FB group, which will hopefully give you some real names to look out for at the event, and / or some IC contacts to put into your backstory. Will also give you a better idea of what the Nation is currently involved in and that your new character should think about having an opinion on as a conversation starter.
Plenty of groups are very happy to host a newbie either as an IC base until you find your feet, or as a new member of their group if they’re recruiting. Certainly mine has done both for our Chapter in Highguard.
Have you got as far as choosing a Nation yet?