I think they are great if it’s about 40% talk and 60% socialize. The point of talks should be to stimulate a conversation that happens in the hallway. If it’s just one way content absorption, that could’ve been done remotely. 

I desperately miss the networking and socializing and the people I met and the interesting conversations that I could not have planned for. I hope eventually my company starts sending us again.

We have a big conference every year where I live for the tech industry. It's hit or miss depending on the person presenting, and it's usually a miss. Many talks can last over an hour when they could've been a much shorter youtube video and are just there to pad time. Also 95% of the people are there for other motives. Looking for investors, trying to get hired, browsing the booths, etc. Despite being very crowded it's very clear most of the people don't actually care about the talks and do anything else on their phones.

I think in-person conferences can be great experiences when done right but I really got anything out of it. For all the talks about networking with others they give very little opportunities to do that. When everyone is looking for opportunities from other people it felt almost like a competition to try and talk with companies and important people, and it usually boils down to them asking for my contact info so they can flush it down the toilet. I don't know, I just have a bad experience with them.

Depends heavily on the talk, but I'm generally in favour. Not only do you learn from the talk, but there's a lot of benefit to just being around likeminded people, chatting about the presentations over lunch or whatever.

I'm a fan! I don't necessarily learn more than I would watching and reading at home. The main value for me is socializing and networking. Also I usually learn about some things I wouldn't have sought out myself, but which are often interesting.

I just can't care anymore. Airplane flights are a lot of effort, and I invariably pick up some kind of conference flu.

For context, I was big into them when I was earlier in my career. But today, the tradeoffs aren't worth it. I'm still a frequent presenter at my favorite conferences, but only for the online portion.

Also, I'm already available for hallway conversation spaces like this one, anyway.

Even early in my career, IRC chat (an ancient form of Discord) was at least as useful to me as in-person hallway conversations.

So now I enjoy an online conference with some time set aside for meet and greet activities.

As someone that works in the events industry.

Conferences are about the networking and social aspects.
This is not achievable through virtual or prerecorded aspects.
I've done gigs where a few CEOs zoom/teams/whatever in to show face.
I've done gigs where it's all in 1 location with only people in the room.
I've done gigs where it's people in the room, but some satellite venues that "dial in" (even done a few of the satellite venues).
I've done gigs with CSuites at multiple locations, and each site takes turns presenting some part of the conference.
Honestly, all of this can be done via zoom or some other platform to much the same effect.

What you can't get is the face-to-face time, incidental conversations, random introductions, and drunken conversations that happen over lunch, coffee, bar and dinner events.
And I see this in "happier" clients. TBH, the good clients. The ones that have interesting presentations and engaged audiences are also the ones who benefit most from these extra social interactions.
The gigs where it's some death-by-powerpoint should have just been a zoom meeting, or dare I say just an email or 2.

So, I'd say it's how invested you are in the topic.
If it's something you care about (or affects you directly): go in-person. You will get more from the event than is what is on the schedule.
If it's something you have to go to, save the planet: watch it online (or whatever is the minimum mandated by your company). You aren't going to benefit from the social aspects, leave that to you manager.

I am seeing the trend of team leaders and key people attending conferences, with many others watching virtually (like a 1:4 ratio).

I wanna go to one so bad! But they never happen in my city..