When I have started listening to ITconversations, and following more closely certain blogs, what I realized that you can very efficiently collect a lot of what you would personally experience by physically visiting a conference or an exhibition.
NextFest 2005 was one of the exhibitions I would have wanted to attend, and seeing the great photos of it at QuenteCafe was great. I have already listened to the interview with organizer Chris Anderson.
Of course there are a lot of things missing from this remote parcitipation:
– wider networking
– smells, and sounds
– serendipity (most importantly).