Worth the Trip to MIP?

Expensive flights, over-priced hotels, costly dinners and exorbitant bar bills are par for the course in Cannes during the MIP markets. Whether arriving from Europe, North America or Asia, expenses for a single person to attend the market ring in at US$5,000 plus, not including the cost of producing brochures, promo tapes, and other materials that also make the trip. Given the expense, should producers - whose primary goal is to create programming - plan to attend? As buyers and sellers, broadcasters and distribs are obliged to make the trip - a market is a place of trade and MIP is unquestionably the biggest of the markets. But, producers...?