It's not the material that makes a session bad, it's the speaker. Ok, that's a bit harsh, and some material is more interesting than others, but it's easy for a

It's not the material that makes a session bad, it's the speaker. Ok, that's a bit harsh, and some material is more interesting than others, but it's easy for a highly technical session to be dead-boring, and it's also possible for a session by a marketing type, or investor to be super interesting. An engaging speaker will expand your understanding - bringing elements of their expertise to you in a way which you can leverage it yourself. An engaging speaker is one that takes you outside your comfort zone, but at the same time gives you some practical encouragement or advice that you can take away and use yourself. Of course getting the 30 minute "you must be on facebook and twitter" speech is pretty dull to people already on those platforms. But understanding the concepts behind why, and when, one media works over another, or how to use those media to reach your core market can be enormously interesting, and rewarding. Or it can be deadly dull. It all depends on the speaker. Investors are another enormous source of information, but it takes more than just fluff to make a great presentation. It's the speakers ability to reach you, and keep you interested, which separate great from average speakers. By contrast I've been to tech events where the speaker was clearly a tech-head, and shouldn't be allowed near a stage under any circumstances. Presenting is a skill, which can be developed and improved. Don't knock the material, knock the presenter. Better yet, start presenting yourself to improve the standard accepted. (funny story: I was in Australia at an event and there was some dude from India doing a pitch on out-sourcing. The mic was having trouble, and his accent was hard to understand at times. I was at the back, and next to me a true blue Aussie was doing his emails. When he finished that, about 30 minutes into the presentation, he looks up, and in his normal (very loud) speaking voice asks "what the is this guy talking about?". )