An investor friend of mine sent me your blog post from Oct 2009 re angel groups charging for entrepreneurs to present.  I agree with your point that these groups should not charge us outrageous fees to present.  I’ve had experience with one of the forums mentioned in your blog. 

“As you may know, Landmark Angels and Landmark Capital are hosting its Southeast Landmark Venture Forum on February 17th at the Ritz Carlton in Palm Beach. 

We have expanded from a group of 30 accredited investors to well over 100 accredited investors on both coasts.  Some of our members include former principals of Lehman Brothers, Oracle, Yahoo, Sybase, MCI, HP, Microsoft and MCI.  We are actively working with over 40 affiliate angel groups with over 3,000 investors on a syndicated basis.

We have expanded our Venture Forums from Greenwich, CT to the West Coast and the Southeast.  In 2010 we have scheduled five Northeast Landmark Venture Forums in Greenwich, four Southeast Landmark Venture Forums in Palm Beach, Atlanta and Raleigh/Durham, and five West Coast Landmark Venture Forums in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  At each Venture Forum we select 6-7 companies to present across all major sectors.

We have a three person review committee selecting the “best of breed” deals from the best of highly qualified companies that have presented at major venture conferences.  Last year we drew the list from the top ten companies presenting at 40 venture conferences.  We want to give our investors a basket of the very best deals to invest in regardless of location.”