All the points that have been raised I pretty much agree with. However, I agree with Linda on the fact that the IT industry and the economy have more to do with attendance for the companies I have worked for. Both my previous employer and my current employer are not funding conferences this year (nor did they last year) unless it is industry specific and 'hands on.' The only conference I attended this year is the Acord conference that was held last month. No development conferences at all. That is 100% due to training budget constraints...


>>I think you've missed the biggest reason attendance is down: businesses aren't making discretionary expenditures. In tough times, the training budget is the first thing to go. $2000 to $2500 is a lot of money in today's economy.
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>>Another reason is that conferences have been showing VFP 8 for months, long before it was released, and it doesn't seem "new" any more.
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>Lynda;
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>This is a complex topic and I must agree that the state of the economy has a great deal to do with it. Combine it with the lack of IT programming jobs throughout the nation (any language), the history of Advisor Devcons, along with the history of VFP in the market place and you have the result we now enjoy.
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>Tom
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>P.S. My contacts at training companies agree that with a weak economy training is something that gets pushed aside. There is not much going on at training companies in California.