Here's the story of me saving at least several hours of development work in a 5 minute chat...

On the flight out to Chicago on Sunday, I was working on a webform addon module for a client (integrating with Exact Target if anyone cares). I got most of the way through it, but I definitely felt like I was doing some things "the hard way".

The next day, during the pre-conference training session lunch break - I grabbed a plate and plopped down at an open seat. Said "hi" to the guy sitting next to me. Nathan "quicksketch" Haug. Who maintains the webform module. Who is super nice and helpful, as many Drupallers are. He indulged my questions and gave me some tips on how to better architect my module.

Hopefully this kind of story helps you convince your boss to send you to the next one! The return-on-investment is very real. These kinds of interactions are incredibly valuable, and happen all the time at conferences, summits and camps.