This is so true, and very well put, Todd.

The more you learn, the more you need to extract your own ROI.  Long gone are the days of sitting through speakers and hearing tons and tons of new information, unless you've been in a coma, but they're still gatherings of the best and brightest minds in the industry.

re: SearchFest - Having all those folks in Portland was amazing, and when I read the negative SearchFest conference review, even though I agreed with with many of her points, I still kept thinking to myself, "But what did you expect?!?".  If you already know what's being talked about, MOVE.

It's only up to me to bounce to a different room, see who's hanging in the hallway, or spread myself around as necessary to get the most out of any show, and i'm sure 90% of the people there already realize this.

I remember sitting in countless sessions and tracks because I didn't already know a lot about them, while skipping more popular sessions.

My guess is she sat there in the "social media room" and checked her email all day long, too lazy to get the most out of a rare opportunity, because someone else probably paid for her ticket...