The length of time puts pressure on you to do work you wouldn't normally do. At a conference, things don't intervene as they do when you go to class once or twice a week for three months. Doris Betts feels that longer is not necessarily better. In one week, you mount to a level of great intensity which is fatiguing. I doubt you'd get as much done in the second week.
People begin to tire of each other and are eager to go home and get back to work.
Both student and teacher may be ready to leave at the end of a conference, but still, it's hard to say goodbye. A Strong Sense of Community Poet Bob Brown was one of thirty students at the first summer writers' conference on Martha's Vineyard two years ago. He enjoyed being away from home and felt a strong sense of community among his fellow poets. As a result of the conference, he met and has kept a lot of good friends. They tried to get new work out of us and we learned about polishing our work.