A conference is a meeting of some of the people. Was a time perhaps it was thought of as a meeting of all the people. Not being in the mainstream, many of them could not have afforded to attend departmental-supported conferences. Socrates might even have been have been rescued by non-mainstream public demand instead of been poisoned by mainstream public demand. If I have opened up Pandora's Box, I can only refer you back to Socrates who had a habit of doing this.
Conferences can be richly rewarding in all sorts of ways as well as draining of meagre resources.
Conferences are very expensive to put on as well as exhausting for the organiser, who as a rule must break even or face dire consequences. Paying for a conference, travel and accommodations oneself hurts. In many fields professional advancement turns on attendance or is significantly aided by that. Let me put it to you that the better established humanities computing is, the better understood and accepted our medium for communication is, the more we can compensate for the deprivation of intellectual exchange by such entities as Humanist and its kin.