Plug: One such small regional conference with a security bent happening in Raleigh, NC is http://www.carolinacon.org/ at the end of April.

Cool, thanks for the tip!

I especially liked the Ruby Hoedown, and Magic Ruby conferences because they were free admission. All you had to do was convince your company to pay for travel and lodging. The quality of talks and technical skills of people who went to those conferences were definitely not lacking

Getting to meet local peers and discuss tech & worklife issue = priceless

Small means more one on one contacts. Regional means Cheaper. A win-win.