I think you're a bit off point here Don. I'm not sure conferences were ever a venue intended for boning up on sysadmin skills or skills of any nature for that matter. I always thought conferences were generally academic/industry meetings where researchers show and demonstrate exactly what they're up to.

So, if you head to blackhat or defcon expecting to learn a checklist for auditing your network... I wouldn't be surprised if you're a bit dissapointed. However, if you want to get a view into the industry as a whole, who's researching what and the direction of current developments while getting the chance to network then I think conferences are great and offer very practical knowledge to those that know how to use it...

So, I don't see the problem being with conferences, but rather that many people have incorrect expectations and do find it difficult to be satisfied w/ the conference experience mainly because conference != training.

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