More Small Conferences, Please

However the SCMS election turns out, I second wholeheartedly Maria Pramaggiore's suggestion to "explore the possibility of sponsoring small, 1-day conferences in diverse locations, organized by caucuses or SIGs, to expand the opportunities for networking around specific research interests." I've mentioned on Twitter how impressed I am by the number and scope of topical conferences in the UK. Those in the US have trickled down to at times negligible numbers. I'm not sure exactly what's driving the trend here, but I think the discipline is poorer for it.