I was able to spend a bit of time at WebDU here in Sydney last week, attending a keynote and presenting a session as well. This internet technology conference started its life off in 2003 as MXDU and while originally Macromedia focussed it's grown quite a bit over time with sessions this year including, CSS, JavaScript, source control and Ruby on Rails.

I've been lucky enough to attend and speak at one or two conferences a year for a while now and I get a lot out of them. Not only from the sessions and technology that's there, but from the networking opportunities that present themselves as well.

The interesting thing is the conversations that continue well after the event is over, usually via IM as I've now got contacts in London, Vancouver, Boston and San Francisco alongside Wellington, Christchurch, Adelaide and Perth that have come as a result of hallway meetings held at various conferences.

While you might feel that you might encounter a lot of geeky types, if there's some good speakers on the line up on the next conference flyer that comes across your desk and it's in your industry, I'd suggest give it a try.