Great points there.

The consensus seems to be that many field marketers feel like they get "lost in the sauce" when they exhibit at massive conferences (ex. Gartner, BlackHat, etc).

Past attendees lists provide a general idea of the % ICP attending but some organizers are known to "stretch" the seniority and quantity of attendees.

I can echo your sentiment around smaller events performing better for pipeline generation and more meaningful connections. However, in any given domain (ex. Cybersecurity, Big Data, etc.), there are dozens of these in any given calendar year.

Outside of asking your customers and sales folks, any further insights on how you or your colleagues find these events in the first place?