Should I attend the Entrepreneurial Connections 2007 conference (EntConnect)?

For many years I have attended a small conference for technical entrepreneurs held in later winter/early spring in Colorado. The first conference was named ME/Ski, then became ENTCON, and more recently Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect. I've always enjoyed attending these conferences, but after last year I decided that my entreprenurial efforts were simply not being successful enough to continue down that path and I decided no stop attending the conferences. Yes, they were fun and I enjoyed them, but I simply wasn't getting enough professional value from them. I decided that I needed to place a higher value on my own time.

The day that I sent an email about my intentions (Monday after the weekend conference), coincidentally my consulting client informed my that they no longer needed my services. I looked around for some replacement work, but the pickings were quite slim at the time and having only recently gone through bankruptcy, my finances were not sufficient for me to wait a few months until I found some consulting work.

I decided to go ahead and seek a full-time job, knowing that would be the end of my entrepreneurial efforts for at least the next five years or more. Within a month I go gotten and accepted an offer to work at The Evil Empire, where I remain employed today. Needless to say, I am not pursuing any entrepreneurial efforts at this time, nor even considering any, nor would I pursue them if they became apparent to me. That's my intention for the next five years. Five years from now, I will reevaluate by career and decide again whether to stay "corporate" or maybe take another shot at the entrepreneurial thing.

Technically, I have little to gain professionally by attending the EntConnect conference, but there is always some residual value even if from an entrepreneurial angle my interests are no longer "aligned" with those of most of the attendees to the conference. Simply getting a "view" of the interests of this sub-community gives me some context.

So, I am in fact entertaining the thought of possibly attending the conference, but am still undecided.

My finances are much, much better than a year ago, but dropping $750 for travel and hotels and expenses is still somewhat of an issue.

In any case, the conference may in fact be of interest to you the reader or somebody you know.

There is an "official" conference web page, but it isn't well maintained and not up to date, but at least it provides some background and contact info. The dates of the conference are Thursday, March 29, 2007 through Sunday, April 1, 2007. Actually the first two days are skiiing and other recreational activitys and the conference doesn't kick-off until dinner on Friday, March 30, 2007. The bulk of the conference is all day Saturday, and a bit more on Sunday morning. Late-night and breakfast discussions are part of the tradition and value even though not a formal part of the agenda. The conference has a very loose and enrepreneurial structure, so don't expect a formal binder of instructional materials. Mostly the conference is about attendees sharing their entrepreneurial experiences, with only a few formal presentations.

Maybe I'll see you there.

-- Jack Krupansky