A heated conversation is rippling across professional circles after Adedeji Olowe, the founder of Lendsqr, openly described business and tech conferences as “a scam” and “a money drain.”
In a viral LinkedIn post, Olowe criticized the soaring costs and elusive returns of attending such events, arguing that “not a single one” of his peers could name a tangible benefit despite spending fortunes on tickets, travel, and accommodations.
“Beyond random hookups and shenanigans, nothing comes out of it,” he wrote. “Do I still speak at conferences? Oh yes, if I’m not paying, or if someone’s paying for me to haul my backside there.”
His blunt assessment reignited a wave of reactions across industries, from tech to communications, academia, and real estate, drawing thousands of engagements online.
The post has since sparked a wider conversation about the true value of conferences, especially in developing economies, and how professionals measure impact in an age driven by social visibility.
In extended discussions facilitated by Techparley Africa, several professionals, across diverse sectors, offered contrasting views on whether conferences are indeed “a scam” or simply misunderstood investments.
Professionals’ Perspectives and Instances
In follow-up conversations with Techparley Africa, professionals highlighted that the real question is not whether conferences are valuable, but whether participants attend them with clear objectives.
Tomilola Boyinde, a senior communications and marketing specialist, disagreed with Olowe’s conclusion, that:
“He (Olowe) should say he just dresses and goes to sit down. Aside learnings, you attend events that align with your business goals and drive. You go there to meet potential customers or partners,” he said.
“There are some events that you don’t even go to listen to anything but to chase contacts that will move your company forward.”
Yoma Onosemuode, a professional working across travel, tech, and community engagement, also dismissed Olowe’s stance.
“Not true for those who consciously attend to deploy marketing, networking and closing. The biggest ROI, in my opinion, is the network built that improves your bottom line. If conferences don’t translate for you, it’s not the conference, it’s you.”
One Onabove, co-founder and CEO of Renda, added that conferences have evolved with technology.
“Most events now have apps where attendees can make meaningful connections. Just showing up won’t do you much good if you haven’t set up targeted meetings,” he noted.
In the real-estate sector, Odinaka Mbonu, a commercial leader, shared that conference exhibitions have led directly to business deals.
“From speaking at conferences, my MD made connections that translated to leads and eventual conversions.”
Surprisingly, Olowe later replied to Mbonu’s comment, admitting, “Maybe I have been looking at the ROI wrongly or need to be more strategic and intentional.”
Others adopted a more nuanced stance. Jemil Oyebisi, a senior developer based in the United States, said:
“For engineers like us who work remotely and spend much of our time alone with computers, conferences provide valuable opportunities to go out, interact, and connect with people from different walks of life,” he said.
“At a 2024 conference I attended in Abuja, some of the contacts I made there have remained among my strongest professional connections, leading to mutually productive collaborations.”
“In another instance, a woman I met at an AWS conference last year was able to leverage our discussions to secure a great job. She was so delighted that she shared her story on LinkedIn, and seeing that made me genuinely happy as well,” Oyebisi narrated.
On the other hand, Farhan Ahmad Nasirudeen, a Nigerian web developer, and student at University Mohammed VI Polytechnic in Morocco, sided with Olowe:
“Most conferences are overhyped scams. Apart from making contacts, you realize you didn’t gain anything tangible.”
Why Are Conferences Regarded as Scams?
Critics of the booming conference economy argue that event commercialization and performative networking have overshadowed genuine knowledge exchange.
With thousands of conferences promising exposure, learning, and partnership opportunities, yet many attendees report outcomes that are more social than strategic.
In emerging markets like Africa, where travel and registration costs can exceed an average professional’s monthly income, disillusionment often follows unmet expectations.
“Maybe you get a few pictures and one of those ‘I’m excited’ or ‘honored to speak’ posts we all throw around on LinkedIn,” Olowe quipped in his post.
The sentiment resonates with a growing number of professionals who see conferences as status symbols rather than impact hubs, especially when sponsorships or measurable returns are absent.
Ways to Maximize Conferences’ Impact
Despite growing skepticism, experts say the problem lies not in the concept of conferences but in how participants approach them.
Experts note that 64 percent of professionals who prepared networking goals before attending events reported meaningful business outcomes, compared to just little 21 percent who attended “to see what happens.”
For participants like Olarewaju and Oyebisi, maximizing impact requires intentional strategy, from identifying potential collaborators ahead of time to following up on leads post-event.
Others recommend blending physical conferences with hackathons, skill workshops, or virtual think sessions to ensure tangible value creation.
“You’d probably get more value from an online hangout or a hackathon where people actually think, build, and solve problems,” Nasirudeen said, echoing a preference among younger professionals for action-driven gatherings.
Impact of Conferences for Business Owners and CEOs
For entrepreneurs and CEOs, conferences are more than social gatherings, they are strategic marketplaces for partnership and investment.
Research found that 71% of small business owners who attended at least two international conferences annually reported forming collaborations that led to measurable business growth.
“Conferences create a neutral ground where buyers, sellers, and investors can interact,” said another marketing expert, adding that deals often happen in hallways, not auditoriums. “It’s not about the speeches, it’s about positioning and presence.”
Moreover, event tech platforms now allow pre-conference networking.
“You can now set up meetings and introductions before the event even starts,” noted Onabove.
Furthermore, marketing teams’ innovative tenacity would determine the outcomes of conferences to either grow brands or otherwise.
Ridwan Adelaja, a media, growth and marketing specialist opined that young startups shouldn’t copy what big companies are doing and expect a hundred percent success.
“I have a problem with marketing departments of early-stage startups who think they can copy what an elephant “MTN” is doing at an event. Or, what Paystack or Flutterwave are doing. No!”, he said.
“Because MTN buys a booth, and gets its staff to help people do sim registration and service porting, you want to copy,” the specialist added.
In his efforts, he described how copycatting could lead to outrageous failure.
“You go ahead to secure a booth, and then expect conference participants to show up to your tent where you are looking for users to sign up on your new app where you match people looking for vacant houses to agents or landlords. Just like that! No, it’s not done.” he warned.
‘People love to win and be rewarded’, Ridwan did not just condemned copycatting, he as well offered a more practical and patience-demanding method to marketing strategists
“Instead, why not pull up a booth to offer participants free games during tea and launch breaks, and in the process of trying out the games, you get their phone number, and email. You need to think of something they cannot resist. People love games.”
“While they play games, for instance, you can share your company brief. It doesn’t even have to be games. Just do something relatable to your industry as well as something capable of attracting onlookers,” he advised.
Commenting on Olowe’s original claim on conferences, Adelaja said:
“Calling conferences scams tells us that your team is not solid enough. They just haven’t invested in a strategy that will yield. Copying what others are doing may be grossly misleading. Yes, marketing can be expensive, and you may have to stop doing it cheap for results.”
How Conferences Benefit Government Officials and Policymakers
Beyond business, conferences remain critical tools for diplomacy, governance, and policy alignment. Global platforms such as the UN Climate Change Conferences (COP) and the World Economic Forum drive multi-stakeholder negotiations that influence real-world policies.
A 2024 OECD report noted that international and regional conferences have directly contributed to over 200 new policy collaborations in areas like climate action, security reform, and digital governance.
According to Suleiman Dauda Okah, who has observed the government-private sector intersection, “When officials attend sectoral conferences, they meet private innovators whose ideas can drive reforms.”
For public officials, conferences serve as bridges between bureaucracy and innovation, spaces where governments observe emerging solutions before adopting or regulating them.
Academic and Student Impact
In academia, conferences remain indispensable engines of intellectual growth and collaboration. Experts maintain that over 80% of early-career researchers credited international conferences for helping them secure joint research or publication opportunities.
Conferences give students and scholars visibility, exposure, and confidence to pitch their ideas before global audiences.
As a university scholar, Olátúnjí Yusuf told Techparley Africa, “A single paper presentation can open doors to collaborations, funding, or PhD placements.”
Students, particularly those in STEM, social sciences, and global development studies, also find that conferences sharpen their communication and research dissemination skills, competencies increasingly demanded in academic and policy circles.
Talking Points
Indeed, the debate around conferences stretches far beyond the confines of the tech industry. Across disciplines, from academia to healthcare, governance, and development, conferences have long served as critical engines of knowledge exchange, collaboration, and professional growth.
In academia, for instance, conferences remain the lifeblood of intellectual progress, allowing researchers to present groundbreaking findings, receive constructive critique, and forge partnerships that often evolve into cross-continental research projects or policy recommendations.
The global academic ecosystem thrives on these interactions; many innovations, published papers, and institutional collaborations trace their roots to seemingly ordinary conference encounters.
Similarly, in the fields of education, public policy, journalism, and even the creative industries, conferences act as melting pots where theories meet practice, where ideas are debated, and where visibility transforms into opportunity. To dismiss them as mere vanity projects would therefore ignore the tangible intellectual and social capital they continue to produce.
While commercialization and performative participation may dilute their essence in some sectors, the broader truth remains that conferences, when well-structured and purpose-driven, are among the few remaining spaces where interdisciplinary thought, mentorship, and innovation intersect in real time.
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