I guess it really depends on why you go to conferences, and which event you go to. I wouldn't pay the $1000+ price tag of some conferences just to "talk to people in the community". Free meetups achieve that just fine.

The nice thing about big conferences is that everybody makes an effort to show up. People aren't going to fly in from all around the world to attend a free meetup, whereas they might for a big conference. So the big conferences are really the best chance you're likely to get a large part of the community together for a chat. At the free meetups you'll mostly just be running into the same few people who happen to live less than a 45 minute drive away.

For a 1000 usd conference sure, but it's happening to the grassroots conferences and it's pretty annoying. My suspicion is that it's tied to the current funding craze.

I agree, this kind of behavior at conferences is a HUGE turnoff. I always come home with a backpack full of cards that I promptly throw in the trash.

Agree. While it's great to have a demo available if it pops up in a conversation, power pitching can be annoying. Especially if it's done by somebody who exhibits the traits of poor salesmen.