I very rarely go to anything termed an "event", however, since this one is coming up:

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/HETHR_schedule/

(May 26 - May 28, 2006)

and it's local to me (since I live in the San Jose, CA area), I figure that if anything is going to get me out of the apartment, it's going to be something like this.  I've been reading about transhumanism online for about 7 years now, and have been interested in human enhancement and longevity since early childhood -- but overall I've tended to be much more of an observer than someone who interacts much.

I've never been to anything remotely like this, so aside from the fact that I am likely to hear interesting people talking about interesting things, I'm quite honestly wondering what to expect. 
I'm very close to just registering and attending to see what it's like, but I honestly don't do well in unfamiliar social situations.  I'm not too concerned about having things to talk about -- I imagine the attendees are certainly likely to be the sorts of people I'd be inclined to converse with on the basis of common interests.  But are there any "rules" about attending transhumanist-type events?  What sort of a turnout is likely? 

If I do go, I am going to only attend the Saturday session on May 27 (2 days of social exposure would be too much, but given the sheer number of input I'm likely to get on Saturday alone, I anticipate it would be well worth the $170!).  I'm just trying to make sure that my impressions of what this event is likely to be like -- a group of smart people behaving themselves and learning about fascinating things -- are valid.

All in all, I am quite excited about the prospect of getting to listen to so many interesting speakers.  I figure that opportunities like this do not come along very often.

Is anyone else on Betterhumans planning on attending this conference?  If so, have you been to anything like this before, and what was it like?