I'll be in Seattle at Lang.NEXT

[bearophile]

David Nadlinger:

> Now if only all these tech conferences didn't happen to be held 
> in the US and/or overseas flights from Europe were cheaper 
> (same for the D conference :()…

Being present at conferences gives you some not evident 
advantages, like talking with people when there are no 
conferences, asking questions to expert people during the 
conferences, letting people know you and your ideas in little 
unscheduled lighting talks, in small scheduled 3-minute talks, or 
in normal sized talks, and so on. Good conferences give you new 
ideas, help you meet people interested in your ideas, help you 
meet your heroes or people that think of you as their hero, etc.

On the other hand the amount of CO2 released in very long air 
travels for such purposes is not always environmentally 
justifiable, the ecological footprint of some conferences is 
ridiculous. And if you take a look at certain conferences (like 
the Google one) they ask for excessive amount of money and silly 
requirements.

Bye,
bearophile