I am sorry to hear that CUTC 2008 was a let down for you. As for the t-shirts, yes, it is unfortunate that we were unable to give the speakers a better prize than a t-shirt; however, this has also been the tradition over the past 9 years.
As for the TechExpo, have you been in the past? We at CUTC do try to encourage sponsors to bring up and coming technology, however, we the organizing committee are unable to FORCE our sponsors to bring it.
If you believe that you could help make a difference to CUTC 2009, then I encourage you to apply as an executive/organizer; we are constantly looking for enthusiastic students who want to make a difference to our organization.