I am genuinely puzzled as to why, if nobody on the WMUK board (such as the CEO or the current Chairman) is sure what the purpose of the conference is, they should chose to invest the donor's money in sending 5 trustees and 3 full time employees to it (presumably the employees are being paid for their time rather than going as volunteers).
Just to be clear, I know what the benefits we will get out of it are, and I can tell you the direction that I would like the conference to take in future; I'm just wondering whether others have the same perception.
This is not a new question, as Nathan has pointed out, and he is probably right to say it is best to continue it here; https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Future_of_the_Wikimedia_Conference
Chris