Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's influential people talking to each other. If they don't go, they're missing out.
Having thought about it, I wonder if Klein, Ferris and maybe some of the others were there to give talks.
> I’ve now been once. Everything is off the record, but I’ll just say that it is nothing like the ordinary conference where there are keynote lecturers you barely get to meet (if at all), or where you listen to some pre-packaged lecture.
> There are no speeches, presentations, panels, or anything like that. Everything is geared around small-group discussions with 6-10 people in a session or a lunch/dinner. You repeatedly find yourself in deep conversations about life/death/family/career issues with a handful of other people who happen to have great professional accomplishments (although none of that is even mentioned). The experience was both intense (lots of intense conversations) and refreshing (i.e., no hierarchy or status-signaling).
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2022/02/16/hey-i-got-...
EDIT : or maybe it's more complex than that :
https://www.wired.com/story/how-peter-thiels-private-dialog-...