This conference doesnt seem to be a particularly premier one, my question is why focus on this one. Also the fees associated with it are higher than most. The quality of speakers is a mix bag, with some notable ones, but also questionable ones (titiecoin). So is the aim that the dev team just gets some convention experience (fine), network (fine), or something else. I would like to know how this fits into the general strategy which is reasonable to know in situations like this, whether is a donation to a charity, church, or the girl scouts.
It's entirely reasonably to want to know where your money is going. We actually think this looks like a really notable conference and will grow in future - unlike some of the Bitcoin-centric conferences, this one seems more interested in innovation and fresh ideas. I hesitate to give it any kind of endorsement (because, until it's happened, I can't really say much more than you) but it seems, at this stage, like it's going to be a good one.
Also, there has been a lot of crowd founding in recent weeks which is great. But its getting to the point where things are getting spread thin among a number of products. Jballs and the media release was funded and we havent received an update, and the animation, water well stuff on reddit etc.
Jballs I can't speak for - I haven't seem him either, I hope he's OK, and that he comes back. The press release that was funded via vertcoinmarket.com has been upgraded - casp3r traded the VTC for BTC and sent it to me. I want it to go out via the best channels possible, so we're going to pay for release through a higher-premium service to get it out there. We didn't want to come back and ask for more VTC again, so me and another guy on the dev team (one of our PR experts) are paying the difference ourselves. I expect the press release will come out next week, but it might be the following week - the reason for the delay is entirely my fault, everything was in place but I've been to busy with other things the past couple of days to do my part, and there is a specific time/day we want to release it which fits in with the standard editorial calendar, so it's not just a matter of getting round to it ASAP - it also has to tie in with that.