I haven't been to I/O, and have only seen a few of the talks online. Can someone explain what the biggest appeal for going to the conference is? Talks? Networking? Workshops?
The talks are good too, but the appeal has definitely been the gear, which is unfortunate.
Edit: to add, interacting with the devs is really nice. I went 2 years ago and was able to talk with the GWT team a bit after one of the talks. As well, if you want to network, there is definitely lots of opportunity for it, but it is not something I've cared about.
Test devices are nice, but I can have my company buy me pretty much any test device I need.
Sessions are good too (but are also online)