I was also at the Coventry event on Thursday last. It was yet another CAA safety evening, same topics, same messages. In fact it was the same guy who had done it two years ago when I last attended.
Didn't learn anything new, but all of what was mentioned was good stuff to bring to the forefront of one's mind once in a while. Also, as the guy said, learning from the mistakes of others is a good way to fill that bag of experience before emptying the bag of luck. Of course that can be done from the AAIB reports, but having the more relevent information presented to a group is often benificial.
I must say I thought the level of audenice participation was quite poor, there was just one guy sitting next to me on the front row asking all the questions. The presenter made it quite clear that questions were welcome at any stage during the evening.