Why I Quit Going To SEO Events

I seem to get this question about once a week:

How come you don't go to SEO events anymore? SMX, SES, or Pubcon? Do you think its worth it for me to go?

That's a really hard question for me to answer... But I will give it a go. First and foremost I go to these events to: Learn new stuff. Network with other smart people doing stuff I can learn from. I have paid tens of thousands for dollars for my staff and I to attend many SEO events and it was worth every penny. But not so much anymore (for me). IMO:

1. Most of the quality speakers are long gone doing there own stuff.
2. Most of the quality attendees who have real experience doing stuff no longer attend.

When I first came into the industry I was befriended by a lot of people. I helped them and they helped me. It seems as though now the SEO industry is a cess pool of negativity eating away at each other. If you look at the industries leading news site every day you see what I am talking about. Today the top stories are: http://sphinn.com/story/151854/ - A story about how all the SEO conferences should be held responsible for taking money from companies that rip users off. http://sphinn.com/story/151848/ - A story ripping on Rand Fishkin's interesting scientific analysis calling him a quack. Its just sad what it has become and I would rather attend events where I can learn, network and help people. Hopefully that makes sense. This is just my reasoning.