They say "apply for the audience, not the talks." Haven't had the opportunity to attend in the past, but would love to go and meet the awesome people attending!
I flew in to NYC for the startup school in June, and I have one minor gripe- none of the other attendees I talked to had started a business. They were all students, bankers or people considering taking the plunge. Granted, I only talked to perhaps 8 people. It would be interesting to know how the demographics differ between the NYC and CA events.