The vendor pitches didn’t do it for me either, and not just because, like you, I work for a vendor. Rather, they didn’t heed the late Gian-Carlo Rota’s strongest advice to lecturers: “Give them something to take home.” Well, he credits that advice to Dirk Struik; regardless, the lesson is universal and timeless.

There were some nice presentations, like Jared Spool’s keynote and Lou Rosenfeld’s session on improving findability through site search analytics. But I think the best reason to attend such events is to talk with people one-on-one or in informal groups. It’s not hard to find the rest of the material online and in books.