Are IT conferences useful?

Question

I’ve had the opportunity to attend several conferences. Some were OK, but most of time, I feel like I could have learned a lot more from reading a book or 2. The worst example was VSLive. It cost my company several thousand dollars to send me and I feel like I came away with virtually no new information. At a recent Visual Studio "launch event", one of the speakers did a quick poll and determined that most people were attending for the free software (we got a copy of Visual Studio) or to get a day off work. Are IT conferences useful or a waste of time?

Answer 1

I personally think that the noise to signal ratio is horrible. Sure there are good ones, but for the most part, they aren't great.

Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of them are OK, but when you take into account the cost, I find it hard to justify. Assuming you're having to fly someplace and get a hotel, you're talking around 3K for the big ones. It's also worth remembering that the large ones tend to just be marketting machines. Anyone do PDC 2005? It was all about how great WinFS was going to be...

I think it's worth going to one or two big ones in your life (like TechEd, Java One, MacWorld, E3), because it's a great social experience. But as far as learning, you could spend 4 hours reading blogs and be well ahead of the week you spend at the conference.

Of course, there are always some real gems of conferences. I've heard great things about past DevTeachs. Such small conferences tend to have many venues, so you can normally find one pretty close. Plus they tend to only be 2-3 days, which makes them more affordable.

Answer 2

IT conferences are not just big training sessions, but in my opinion mainly meet and greet. They bring together a lot of people who share the same interest, which helps extending ones network.

For the actual speakers, you may be often better off with getting Training at a Training company. But for some people, getting 5 Minutesof private chit-chat with some guys at a conference paid off in the long run.

Think of them as a large random blind date rather than a first-class training.

Answer 3

In a word: no.

In a longer word: yes.

But not necessarily for the technical education they masquerade around in. In fact, I don't think I have ever learned a technical thing at a conference I didn't already know... but that doesn't mean they are worthless. I did learn some invaluable things such as new ways of looking at problems and what other companies are doing in the industry. Social networking helps too, though most technical people tend to be introverts (myself included) so the social part certainly doesn't come all that naturally. The single most important thing I have ever gained from a conference is a relationship with a vendor such that when I call with a question, request or whatever I don't just get shuffled off into the queue but get my concerns immediately taken care of. Granted that happens more with smaller companies, but still a contact is invaluable.

Answer 4

I wouldn't discount the social factor. Getting the opportunity to talk to the right people can be invaluable. If you are going just for the training, your money would be well spent elsewhere.

Answer 5

I look forward to the few talks that actually might provide something that will help me. Yes, most of the talks I could really care less about (especially the ones that are just glorified ads for some vendor) but you generally run across at least one talk that just really sticks out. For example, I am modifying our build script at work to handle database changes based on a talk at php|Tek I went to this year.

The social experience is a plus since you get to surround yourself with a ton of like-minded people and that alone can sometimes be worth the trip.

Answer 6

It really depends on your specific area in IT. For example, SAGE/LISA related conferences are great for actual admins. Then there are IT conferences for managers. These tend to focus on totally useless topics, but additionally they push spending. It depends on the beholder of the badge.

Answer 7

I bet there are many REALLY GOOD conferences out there, but they seem to be hard to find. My gut feeling is that small-scale (for your culture's definition of small) conferences driven by a community has higher probability of good content than gigantic vendor-driven conferences.

But it's all about the people. My suggestion would be to try something (completely) different, perhaps far away from home.

Have anyone attended any of the NFJS events? Are they any good?

Answer 8

For Java developers, Colorado Software Summit is very good. No marketing, no hoo ha. Every speaker is actively working in the topic that they present on. It is a very friendly atmosphere were you can rub shoulders with moguls in their field. And the food is incredible.

EDIT: But alas, they have gone under...

Answer 9

How does "It depends" work for you? :)

The No-Fluff-Just-Stuff symposiums are excellent 3-day conferences that focus on transfering knoweldge that is immediately useful:

http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/home.jsp

The two Seattle Code Camp's I've attended (and presented at) were similiar in that they are put on by developers, for developers.

http://seattle.CodeCamp.us

By far, the best conference I've ever attended was the recent QCon 2008 in San Francisco

http://qconsf.com/conference

Answer 10

Not really,

Conferences aren't really suitable for learning, books and self-study are better for that.
Conferences aren't really suitable for keeping up-to-date on what to learn, podcasts and blogs are better for that
Conferences are quite nice for talking to other people. But I've found user-groups are far better for that too.

Conferences are good for swag though :-) I'd never have bought a usb-powered keyboard vacuum cleaner myself...

Answer 11

It depends on what the attendee gets out of it. If spending some time around peers enthusiatic about technology, seeing the latest technology, and commiserating over common challanges leaves you refreshed, motivated, and inspired, then to me, it is worth it.

I agree the information found at conferences can be obtained online, but every time I attend a conference and spend a few entire days immersed in tech and surrounded by smart, enthusuatic people in the field, I come back highly motivated.

Maybe it is just a personality thing. Maybe some people can stay motivated otherwise or without any "get away", but I find myself getting in a rut after working on the same codebase with the same few people for about six months.

And reading and interacting online, while highly valuable, just isn't the same as interacting in person.

Answer 12

Javapolis/Devoxx is fantastic conference. So much new stuff you're exposed to! Best thing about conference like this is that you can pay full attention to presented stuff and you're not distracted by daily problems with your software. Another great thing is that you can find all important/new books at once place :-)