what am I really learning?

I'm sure quite a few other teachers are in my shoes--or in my chair, rather--and in a "professional development" seminar of one kind or another. I've already had one meeting to go over our new benchmarks for the year, have two full days of "guided reading" seminars next week and right now I'm sitting in a class to learn more about Apple's Garageband. Although I've already used the program quite a bit, it's always good to watch what other teachers have figured out--it definitely helps me pick up some tricks.
I do, already, know a lot of it though--and I have to wonder why I'm spending six hours going over one thing that I've already done before. And, from speaking with other teachers, their own "seminars" are not blindingly insightful either. Teacher professional development is one of the key components to keeping a fresh, excited, and analytical workforce-but I think a lot of districts are replacing the budgets that used to send teachers to conferences to have smaller seminars put on themselves.

I have never gone to a conference and not walked away incredibly excited--I have rarely gone to a "seminar" and walked away with a spring in my step.

This seems important to me.