>The idea of a small group of folks coordinating what is essentially a combination vacation / work trip seems viable, [...], but this isn't a "conference" any more than me going out to brunch with a group of my friends and chatting about DevOps is a conference.
The idea of a "conference" being a very tiny group of handpicked invitation-only friends to discuss a shared intellectual interest has a long history. The Solvay Conferences[1] being a good example. Ernest Solvay curated the physicists to invite and used his wealth to fund the meetings. There was also some rest & relaxation deliberately woven into those meetings.
But yes, this intimate gathering of peers is probably not thought of as a "conference" as much as Apple's WWDC and Microsoft's BUILD conferences.
The idea of a "conference" being a very tiny group of handpicked invitation-only friends to discuss a shared intellectual interest has a long history. The Solvay Conferences[1] being a good example. Ernest Solvay curated the physicists to invite and used his wealth to fund the meetings. There was also some rest & relaxation deliberately woven into those meetings.
But yes, this intimate gathering of peers is probably not thought of as a "conference" as much as Apple's WWDC and Microsoft's BUILD conferences.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvay_Conference