Why Does PD Suck (the life out of you)?

I have just spent the better part of the past 10 days at two AWESOME professional development conferences. All of the people there were energized by what they were learning and sharing, and that energy translates to others as well invigorating them as they pass along their new knowledge. Granted, after the first two days or so you do go on brain overload and need some time to process and figure out how you will apply all of these new ideas. You do get tired, very tired, but not zombiefied, staring off into space, pretending I am not here, tired (like the usual PD days).

Being that the PD at our school is mainly on my plate, I began to wonder, what makes these conferences (which are PD events) so vastly different from the usual PD we receive during the year? This is what I came up with:

1. People are following their passions - CHOICE
2. Multiple sessions offered on the same topic (by different people) - DEPTH
3. People excited to share their learning and try new things - NETWORKING
4. Endless possibilities, one new thing leads to another - CONTINUAL LEARNING

The common problems with on site PD seem to be similar from place to place and they consist of some of the following reasons:

1. Time - not enough of it in the year 
2. Too many topics, and not enough depth in any of them
3. No choice in what they learn
4. Boring...

What am I trying to do here? Come up with a way to make the PD for our school personalized, meaningful, and not feel like wasted time. Well, it'll be an adventure and I hope that the staff will bear with me as we work through some of these ideas.