Its all about the Value Proposition....
Inevitably, Seth godin always tops my list for one of the best conversationalists out there. Two time keynoter at THE Conference on marketing - he has a real knack for hitting the nail on the head. I loved his recent post The CPM gap http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/07/the-cpm-gap.html
in a few lines, he sums up the value proposition of conferences .... "Here's the thing: advertisers treat prospects online as targets, as victims, as people to subject to interruption. Conferences treat attendees as royalty, as paying customers who invested time and money to be there".

I hope to connect again really soon with Seth - his blog is great - but there's nothing like face to face.