Except Infosec is free..?
Slight issue with your reporting here, Mr Leyden.
Infosec is actually 'free' to attend whereas BlackHat, RSA and their ilk are all pretty expensive to attend.
So for those of us not working in minted private organisations who can afford to send their infosec professionals to several paid for conferences a year, Infosec is pretty darned useful.
Lets face it, the fact that CPEs can be earned for attendance at the various presentations and seminars is also pretty useful and occasionally, there is the odd gem.