Virtual conferences are not comparable to a live one, they’re as valuable as mandatory corporate e-learnings in my opinion.
Maybe it’s just me.
Personally I do watch recorded talks and lectures from conferences every now and then. This conference could have too much emphasis on networking for experienced people if the talks are targeted more towards beginners in PL though. Any advanced conference would have enough informative talks since very few people have time to read up on everything in their niche as often there's sub-niches and sub-sub-niches.
I'm also not saying it needs to be a permanent virtual event but it could start out that way if you don't get enough funding. And even if the talks are much more intended for beginners and the conference is about networking, it's better than nothing to get started with. Unless those famous people promoted the Kickstarter it was never gonna hit 50k anyway.
Surely there should be a more streamlined method to get the same? Maybe just a high powered meetup where you invite out station experts or something.
If someone is looking for "1-on-1 time with experts", most people would have better luck writing them a well-worded email or sending them a tweet.
I personally think conferences are the best way for someone to get somewhat-passive exposure to what's up-and-coming in their specialisation or favourite programming language, because all an attendee needs to do is sit there and listen.