Do we need conferences?

In the wake of SXSW 2007 there has been complaints in the blogosphere raising the question whether large computer conferences have played out their role. I mentioned some of it in my previous post, Celebrities of the web.

For me, the biggest reason to attend these things is the enormous amount of inspiration and motivation I almost always receive. David Seah nailed it with the word rededication.

The technical information is of course very important as well, but ultimately I can retrieve all that information elsewhere. The same cannot be said for inspiration.

An alternative approach would be to arrange smaller conventions, encouraging a dialog instead of monologue.