With many fundraising folks attending the Bridge Conference http://www.bridgeconf.org/2008/ in Washington, DC the latter part of this week, there was time to get caught up on a few things at the home office. I'm waiting to hear back from a few people on the best parts of the conference and whether it would be a good choice for freelancers to attend. It can be hard to know where you fit in when you spend so much of your time working solo from a site far removed from others in the niche.

As Bob Bly noted in an article not long ago, many of us are hiding behind our emails and missing out on the interaction time, like conferences, that used to solidify working relationships. While, I'm not a huge fan of conferences (you'll find me at the food table avoiding having to network and make small talk), they do have value as a learning and relationship building resource.

So which conferences have you found useful to attend to keep up-to-date on your skills? Are smaller events better for bulding relationships or do large gatherings provide more opportunity and "bang for your buck" when it comes to meeting the right people? What can you tell me about events you've attended that would motivate me to come out from behind the keyboard?