Even though it consumed more time than I expected, it was consumed by productive activity. It was possible to attend to other things at the same time, since the conference activities could be flexibly scheduled. Being able to be involved in a discussion or at least listen in on a running discussion of the use of computers in chemical education, where I had time to consider what was being said. The wide range of experiences and responses with many people dealing with the same or similar problems to those we have. Paricipants have ample time to read and think about the papers and ask questions and engage in discussion.
Authors have more time to respond to questions.
There is more discussion. I would not take the time to attend a chem ed conference. This allowed me to participate without making large committment of time and money. Thanks for having it so well organized. I liked the ability to exchange ideas on more than a superficial level and with out the constraints of a five minute question period.