I have been in some amazing conferences. Others have made me groan inside. I have plain escaped some more. Looking back at what has made a conference memorable, out of the hundreds I have attended, I realise the speakers count. An amazing speaker can make the whole thing worthwhile. But worthwhile is not the same as memorably good. The participants help. I have been to conferences where I guiltily skip rather uninteresting plenaries to have an amazing conversation with a coll