Supercomputing 25 (SC25)
I can't be sure if the schedule got shuffled, but chose to repeat the Delivering HPC: Procurement, Cost Models, Metrics, Value and More tutorial I went to last year, since it was so good. Also had the Twelfth SC Workshop on Best Practices for HPC Training and Education on my calendar, which in retrospect might have been better to attend if I hadn't already paid the not-cheap additional fee for the tutorial. This isn't to knock the tutorial, which was excellent like last year, and unlike last year, quite sparsely attended (previous years it's been packed to capacity), which left more time for participant feedback.
But with the massive emphasis on AI, focusing more on training and education might have been a better use of time, since the usage models for HPC need to change to accomodate certain AI use cases, in particular AI training. The impacts on actually how to deliver HPC as an institution haven't changed quite as much, even if the hardware balance and job usage has changed quite a bit.
The grand opening gala, held in the exhibit hall, was a lot of rice, skewers, and drinks, plus some mushroom sliders and some tuna boxes (I hesitate to call un-marinated raw tuna anything else, definitely not poke and not really sashimi). Discovered some cheese and salami later, crackers, and finally, shrimp and grits near the end of my wandering-- not bad but definitely more towards cafeteria food than actual quality. Was actually a nice way to wander and see a bunch of exhibitors, although two hours was barely enough to see half the hall.