I'll get around to explaining "why" I'm here in due course. For now, though, I wanted to point out the one thing that drives me nuts when it comes to any large event: cost.

Whoa! Wait! Don't leave just yet. I'll explain.

I understand that these things cost a lot of money to run. I think that most of the time, the ticket prices for these events are justified. What I think is being missed, however, is a marketing opportunity.

In the same way that Adobe and Microsoft have "Education" or "Student" editions of their software, which are usually limited only by the license agreement attached, I think conferences can do something similar.

There are plenty of these conferences I'd like to attend but as a student they are waaaay out of my budget. What I would like to see is a sort of "taster" event for students. Perhaps a session that's one or two hours long and free to students. It could be a sort-of keynote summary by the major speakers (say, 15 or 20 minutes each). Maybe hold an evening event, too, where full-paying ticket holders and students can mix and network. Primarily, such an endeavour wouldn't necessarily take a lot out of the conference schedule, but it would do a lot in terms of goodwill and face-to-face marketing. A student, who may have never been to such a conference before (which assumes that they're about 10 years younger than me, too) will be a lot less cynical and a lot more willing to act on the messages being put forth at the conference.

So, once again, it's more of a marketing event. The "message" being put out by the speakers will be directly heard by those about to enter the industry, they will have the opportunity to network with others in the industry, and, since they've been to the event before, they're more likely to convert to a full-fee-paying conference attendee when they're working in their chosen careers.