Oh hell yeah. Money is number one. And then at night it's just good business to have drinks and good times with current business partners and make new ones over a drink and maybe a whore or two.
I do enough boring "all business" right here in my office. I did enjoy going to the shows back when all the sponsors and owners and affiliates were at ONE of them (the ia2000 shows for instance in vegas 10 years ago) because it was the only big show of the year.
With so many shows now, you just don't get that same concentration of business, fun, and pure spectacle. So the shows just aren't as valuable, memorable, or "must attend"
I know it isn't ever gonna go back to one show. Too many companies making a profit off of running shows to do that.
But even with a lot of folks hurting for money, the bad economy, piracy, etc. I do believe that if there was just ONE show in a year, it would be huge. Everybody would attend, sponsors wouldn't have to spread their money to a dozen shows so the spectacle would be a lot more grand, business would be done to a degree that some of the folks that have only been in this biz less than 10 years have NEVER seen.
But my Mama always told me: "Wish in one hand, spit in the other and see which one fills up first"