I have a feeling you already know this, but Doug Kaye's itconversations.com includes audio from many of the notable conferences around there. Some of it is more businessy and less techy, but still, it's enough to edify a person. (He said he's going to try to get SXSW recordings as well, so watch out).

I've taken to the habit of listening to conference proceedings not only in my car, but also while doing grocery shopping at walmart. (Last week was Larry Lessig's Bloggercon panel http://www.itconversations.com/series/bloggercon2004.html; the week before was Allen Ginsberg's Howl (and let me tell you: the only place you should hear Howl is inside a Walmart http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collection=naropa&collectionid=naropa_anne_waldman_and_allen_ginsberg&from=mostViewed
the week before it was several sci fi writers.

Hearing it on my mp3 player is not the same as being there live, but let me tell you; it's a good cheap substitute; it provides the sense that I am not missing the chance to hear interesting ideas and new thinkers.

A while back you once blogged about how cheap sxsw is, and I agree (it may have to do with the fact that conference organizers are not expecting companies to foot the bill for workers to go). I really have to wonder whether the full time "conference attendees" like Dave Weinberger and Cory Doctorow really enjoy these things anymore; it's possible to go to too many mixers and hear the same tired rants about the same things.

In the day and age where IT companies are cutting operating expenses and where distance education is cheaper (and doesn't involve taking time off), going to these conferences might seem like needless luxuries. They become perks more than actual training tools.

The real issue to me is why conferences need to cost so much money. If interesting people are going to go to these things, can't they self-organize? It's hard to believe, for instance, that the $2000 XML/Java/Linux cruise conferences couldn't be recreated in toto at a university or auditorium. Maybe the only reason for assigning someone the task of organizing the conference is to prevent too many sales pitches masking as sessions.

That is all true

Yes, the costs are absurd. I organized a small three-day workshop/conference for about 25 people and was able to cover all the logisics costs charging just $200 each. That let me rent a nice room, provide a couple of meals, serve coffee nonstop, and get a projector and screen. Of course we didn't pay for anyone's hotel and travel, and that's where the huge costs would be incurred. Rockstar speakers who will really draw big crowds obviously need to be put in a decent hotel, get all their meals paid for, etc.

I honestly don't know how SXSW does it; do they pay any stipend or give anything to speakers? I assume that all they get is free admission to the event. Robert is right about the relative value of SXSW though: you're basically paying to go to parties, not to guarantee useful, valuable, innovative presentations.