We all know the numbers - 10% of developers are active in the community whilst 90% is the programming dark matter. To have two sides of barricade is quite all right - actually we all need each other as much as we need the audience - the users of our products.
Now of the 10% of developers you have the rock stars - the talk givers. It is perceived as the highest honour to go to a conference to give a talk. As a talk giver you waltz in to a room full of the usual business developers (means configurators or integrators) and start talking about stuff they've not worked with. Say the talk giver starts explaining, in great details, the technicalities of tail recursion. Or the goodness of the new shinny feature that allows you to curry functions from right (i.e. right curry). And the audience is in awe. They can't believe their eyes - all these features. We have to use them. NOW!
Then they return to their cubicles. They launch their IDEs (see, they use IDEs unlike the talk givers happy to use 6 ... VI) and try to use tail recursion. But they couldn't. Why? Because the problem domain they're in has no use for tail recursion. They rarely use any recursion and if they do then the recursion is so complicated that you simply can't use the tail recursion.
And that's the problem with the rock star talk givers. They want to impress. They don't care about your daily chores, they're rock stars. They are the rock stars even when their presentation is a shitty Powerpoint with a stolen background, they're the rock stars when they can't really explain what the brilliant feature is good for, they're the rock stars even if their personal web page (if they have one) is a poorly knitted html4 full of marquee tags, they're the rock stars even if they have only 5 years of experience under their belts and their github is full of presentations but no code at all.
So when you go to a conference choose wisely - unlike the talk givers you don't get paid for attending, you actually have to pay the admission and find some spare time. Pick the talks you want to go to based on what you can really use in your daily life not the buzzwords. Don't be afraid to leave if the talk is of no use to you. Give the organizers a feedback and vote with your feet.
Or if you've been to many conferences try unconferences. Go to meetup groups. Smaller venues, direct contact with other developers.
disclaimer: not all conferences feature rock star talk givers. And some are happy to listen to this sweet talk just to have something to dream about.
