[adrianhoward]

"If one wants to go because of in-person networking opportunities, or physically touch some new gadgets (e.g. Microsoft Surface table, etc) that's understandable."

I'd go as far as saying that is what you should optimise conference attendance for.

I learn a lot from attending conferences. But it's mostly from the conversations I have with people, not from watching the sessions.

The opportunity to meet and spend time with really smart people is worth way more to me than sitting and watching talks.

When I first started going to conferences I used to spend a lot of time agonising over which session to go to at multi-track events.

These days I optimise my time for talking to smart folk I'd rarely get the opportunity to spend time with otherwise. Both speakers and attendees. I'd rather continue that hallway conversation and learn something new, than go along to the talk that I can often catch up on later.