I have no doubts at all that most of them are worth it. the problem is just about how much it costs to commute and stay for a night even at a location away from home. I have run 5 sql saturdays and next year will be the 6th. As Steve said my satisfaction comes from bringing free training home to those who have a hard time with travel/commute in locations away from home. I'd love to do more per year but constrained by the sheer effort and also funding in some ways.(more effort than funding). But sql saturdays have really made a huge difference to training, quality training for free in most towns - a great advantage to many people.