Like you Jeff I haven't encountered self-promotional speakers at WordCamps. Maybe one on the road, and maybe one at Miami in the early days.

I talked about how i didn't think speaker ratings - private or public - was the answer to (what was at the heart of things) preventing speakers from self-promotion. Making sure speakers understand the rules (which means talking with them one one one), doing a little background research on them (hopefully prior to approving them in the first place), and having a "let me look at your slides" policy would work.

I suspected but couldn't confirm that LA was organized by first timers. If so, then I would say that since they were doing this at first then the above items probably weren't done to a rightful extent (although I can't say obviously for certain). First timers usually get mentors to help reduce initial goofs. But sounds like LA was a kick-ass WordCamp in general - wish I was there!