Why I Keep Showing Up to Tech Conferences

There are a lot of highly efficient ways to absorb tech news these days. I could—hypothetically—lock myself in a room with Microsoft Copilot, feed it a few prompts, and have it churn out a list of every product release, partnership announcement, and industry buzzword currently trending on LinkedIn. I’ve could leverage other AI tools to transcribe and summarize YouTube videos and even live conversations, either in-person or over the phone, and used them to train Copilot to, once again, churn out lists and outlines and ideas. In fact, I’ve done all that. Multiple times. This week. But as great as AI is for summarizing and generating content outlines, it’s terrible for generating actual ideas.

So why do I still pack a carry-on, endure airport security, and wake up in a hotel room wondering if the air conditioning was set to “cryogenic preservation” mode? Because for all the tools at my disposal, nothing replaces what I get out of being physically present at a tech conference. Not even close.

Let’s start with the obvious: the people. I’m not saying I fly across the country for the badge lanyard or the tote bag (though let’s be honest, I have a disturbing number of both). I go for the conversations—the ones you can’t schedule, predict, or reproduce in a Teams meeting. The side chats between sessions. The “oh wow, you’re working on that too?” moments over hot beverages. The serendipitous encounters as you walk through the expo hall. The overheard conversations that make me open up a fresh note on my phone and type like I’ve just remembered a dream I had about Kubernetes.

Tech conferences are where I hear the weird, real, unexpected problems people are solving. Not the sanitized version you get in press releases or product demos. I’m talking about the messy edge cases and clever workarounds and, yes, the occasional “we tried it and it absolutely blew up” horror stories (who doesn’t love those stories?). That’s the stuff that sticks with me. That’s the stuff I build on.

Because while Copilot can summarize an announcement, it can’t summarize a vibe. And at a good conference, the vibe is data-rich.

I come away with my brain buzzing—not just with “what’s new,” but with what’s next. I jot down future blog topics, sketch out outlines for videos, and occasionally write down things that don’t even make sense when I reread them later (shoutout to “blockchain nachos”—I hope I figure out what that meant someday). But even the nonsense has value. It means I’m in a space where ideas are moving faster than I can process them. That’s where I want to be. It’s a little slice of ADHD heaven.

Also, let’s be honest: the breakfast buffets. I’ve been known to consume my body weight in scrambled eggs. There’s something about standing in a room full of people in branded t-shirts, all caffeinating at once, that makes me feel weirdly alive. Plus, conference eggs just hit different. Yes, the bacon too. But in this day and age, it’s more about the eggs.

There’s also the joy of walking through the expo floor and playing a kind of mental bingo: “This startup has the word ‘AI’ in their name but refuses to tell me what their product actually does.” Check. “Someone tries to scan my badge before I make eye contact.” Check. “There’s a robot doing something that absolutely doesn’t need to be done by a robot.” Double check.

But in between the buzzwords and badge scans, there’s genuine connection. There’s learning. There’s the thrill of talking shop with someone who actually gets it. You don’t get that from a summary.

The M365 Conference is happening in Las Vegas next week. Yes, I could stay home. I could read the press releases, dial into the keynote live stream, and have Copilot automate the highlights. But I go to conferences because I want more than that. I want context. I want friction. I want to hear someone say, “Well, actually…” and then completely change my perspective.

And also the eggs. Never underestimate the eggs.