This year I am going to
CodeMash, and I couldn't be more excited. Last year I came very close to going, but tough financial analysis ended up nixing it. This year, we've made the adjustments, and I can't wait to go!
For those who don't know of it, CodeMash is a two-day language-agnostic, developer-centric convention. There are sessions on languages from Ruby to C#, and a bit of everything in between. It's held at the Kalahari resort in Sandusky, OH, which also features a huge indoor water park. If our children weren't currently full-time drowning hazards, I'd bring the whole family.
Even better, CodeMash offers a Precompiler, a special pre-conference day of deep-dive sessions. I've signed up for this, but it's a hard choice to make. From an all-day deep dive into TDD, to learning Ruby Fundamentals or software engineering from some truly great minds, it's almost an embarrassment of riches.
And best of all, CodeMash is affordable. I can attend for about a third what it would have cost me to get to PDC this year.