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In my experience, conferences are like a vacation where company expenses are wasted on food, and booze. If there is some learning in there, it's minimal. If you

In my experience, conferences are like a vacation where company expenses are wasted on food, and booze. If there is some learning in there, it's minimal. If you really want to hold a conference where people learn, how about we stop having them in Vegas, or some other warm weather, party destination.

detaro 9y ago
> how about we stop having them in Vegas, or some other warm weather, party destination. That's already true for the vast majority of conferences out there, so it's easy to fill the year while ignoring the party-destination ones.
- overcast 9y ago
  My vote is for North Dakota in winter. We'll see how many people sign up for "learning".
clashmoore 9y ago
It’s those destinations that have the draw and therefore infrastructure (accessible direct-flight airports, conference locations, cheap hotels) that make conference prices viable.
ghaff 9y ago
Lots of people actually don't like Las Vegas as a conference location but it has the air links, the conference space, and the hotels.
- 0xCMP 9y ago
  Besides most conferences I see are in San Fran, San Jose, NYC, or Orlando. I've only seen large conferences in Las Vegas DefCon, CES, etc.
  - overcast 9y ago
    Those sound like pretty desirable destinations to me. That's the point here. People use this as vacation, I sure as hell have.
GVIrish 9y ago
> If there is some learning in there, it's minimal. If you really want to hold a conference where people learn, how about we stop having them in Vegas, or some other warm weather, party destination. That seems to me to be problems with individuals and not the conference. I've seen people go to conferences and basically skip out on half (or more) of the sessions to go drink and party, and I've seen other people stay locked in through the whole conference learning, taking notes, and participating. For a company it may be hard to discern who is who, but I'd argue that somehow who squanders an opportunity and misuses company resources is not the person you want on your team.
- arstin 9y ago
  On the whole, I've probably learned more at conferences from talking shop over drinks than from the talks. Many talks are hastily put together and poorly presented. And many are simply above or below whatever my skill level for that thing might then be (which isn't too say they don't have value, but compared to actual conversations with new and knowledgable individuals...). Maybe "industry" conferences are different from academic ones though. But don't worry, I've never actually went to a tech conference, exactly because of the huge cost combined with not usually wanting to go to most talks. So I'm not going to be that guy on your team! :)
bluGill 9y ago
If you can learn one new thing though it can be worth it.
smileysteve 9y ago
There's some level of bonding with the food, booze, and HOPEFUL talk about what you learned at the conference or how you might apply it to what you're working on. And because you're on a trip, there is less distraction from dog, family, costs.

detaro 9y ago

> how about we stop having them in Vegas, or some other warm weather, party destination. That's already true for the vast majority of conferences out there, so it's easy to fill the year while ignoring the party-destination ones.

overcast 9y ago
My vote is for North Dakota in winter. We'll see how many people sign up for "learning".

clashmoore 9y ago

It’s those destinations that have the draw and therefore infrastructure (accessible direct-flight airports, conference locations, cheap hotels) that make conference prices viable.

ghaff 9y ago

Lots of people actually don't like Las Vegas as a conference location but it has the air links, the conference space, and the hotels.

0xCMP 9y ago
Besides most conferences I see are in San Fran, San Jose, NYC, or Orlando. I've only seen large conferences in Las Vegas DefCon, CES, etc.
- overcast 9y ago
  Those sound like pretty desirable destinations to me. That's the point here. People use this as vacation, I sure as hell have.

GVIrish 9y ago

> If there is some learning in there, it's minimal. If you really want to hold a conference where people learn, how about we stop having them in Vegas, or some other warm weather, party destination. That seems to me to be problems with individuals and not the conference. I've seen people go to conferences and basically skip out on half (or more) of the sessions to go drink and party, and I've seen other people stay locked in through the whole conference learning, taking notes, and participating. For a company it may be hard to discern who is who, but I'd argue that somehow who squanders an opportunity and misuses company resources is not the person you want on your team.

arstin 9y ago
On the whole, I've probably learned more at conferences from talking shop over drinks than from the talks. Many talks are hastily put together and poorly presented. And many are simply above or below whatever my skill level for that thing might then be (which isn't too say they don't have value, but compared to actual conversations with new and knowledgable individuals...). Maybe "industry" conferences are different from academic ones though. But don't worry, I've never actually went to a tech conference, exactly because of the huge cost combined with not usually wanting to go to most talks. So I'm not going to be that guy on your team! :)

bluGill 9y ago

If you can learn one new thing though it can be worth it.

smileysteve 9y ago

There's some level of bonding with the food, booze, and HOPEFUL talk about what you learned at the conference or how you might apply it to what you're working on. And because you're on a trip, there is less distraction from dog, family, costs.