Sea Ranch Camp and Stripe Press are unusual in that they’re ultimately about positive-sum idea exchange, not about trading social or fiscal capital. Most conferences are really about selling—either products or oneself.
Publishers are even more oriented toward selling. University presses start to swing the balance closer toward positive-sum idea exchange, but often they’re still more about promotion than about ideas.
It may be helpful to think of the social convening projects of Ladder through this lens.