I've become more appreciative of crypto conference culture.

Its value add is: it gives the benefits of cross-org in-person person coordination, serendipitous connections, weak ties, etc, without everyone being gravitationally pulled into NYC and SF.

It's maybe the only institution to have successfully done this.

I love conferences for this reason too. Social, productivity, inspiration. But there is a significant amount of unrealized value from the speakers. Hundreds just sitting, listening, consuming, when they could be participating. We need more ways to interact with the content.