The conference was on Virtual Goods Summit, and Offerpal gives you Virtual Currency to buy those goods, so thats the reason she was on the panel.

I can see people paying 1 USD to earn 100 Virtual Coins, but they should be made aware that it's a 1 way route. I also think having offers/surveys for users is OK to earn Virtual currency, but as long as it's made clear enough to them that they are getting themselves into a recurring charge of $10.99/mo.