YW. I agree it is expensive. I have no idea, but if even one idea or contact is made at these things, it could be worth many many times the price of admission. The risk is high though... I think these things should be more granular, so that you can buy "talks" instead of "days." The problem is managing it. One way to do that is to stream the talks into separate rooms, but that has its problems too.
the conference targeted for the house (HFT firms, Brokerages, Banks, prop firms) only. Not for retail traders. $3K to attend is inexpensive for the house to pay.