> One thing I really appreciate YC in recent year is making the startup school videos online so those can't attend will not miss the talk. Of course those attend will meet tons of amazing people.
Conferences in this day and age are strange beasts. The value of going to listen to someone is, IMO, lower relative to the past because of videos, and, even better, transcripts and notetakers who summarize and eliminate all the blah blah blah. The value of talking to people in person though, is still pretty high, as well as serendipitous meetings and discussions. I'd love to see people experiment with different formats that involve less of the former and maximize the latter.
I go to conferences because the level of passion and excitement in the discussions (and friendly arguments) had there greatly surpasses anything I've come across at a meetup. It's a shame they usually cost almost $1000 or more apiece.
Conferences in this day and age are strange beasts. The value of going to listen to someone is, IMO, lower relative to the past because of videos, and, even better, transcripts and notetakers who summarize and eliminate all the blah blah blah. The value of talking to people in person though, is still pretty high, as well as serendipitous meetings and discussions. I'd love to see people experiment with different formats that involve less of the former and maximize the latter.