I sat in on a few of the panels (not any of the stuff you had to preregister for) two years ago. It was ok. I've been going to sci-fi cons for about... umm yeah a long while, and reading industry articles, blogs, forums, and more for at least ten years before I settled down and got serious about writing, so I've found that while usually they have good information, I often find it's the same information... but I'm jaded and I did only the free stuff so they might have more diversity when you register.
I will say, Maurice Broaddus taught an amazing dialogue workshop at one of my local cons a few years ago, and I always find him worth listening too. There are some quality people on the panels this year.
