I had planned to attend, but NIPS "sold out" within a couple weeks before I could make arrangements. NIPS growth has been absolutely tremendous. Being unable to register made it impossible for my lab to submit workshop papers. One of my students got a travel award to attend a Women in Machine Learning Workshop, but only the tutorial day was open for booking.<p>Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like next year's venue in Montreal is any bigger based on the statistics I looked up.