I've never been to an AGM (when the Boston AGM happened I had just moved away and was 2 months into my new job), but I've been to Quebec ringing weekends, and I think there's something about the combination of ringing on unfamiliar bells and being coached by unfamiliar people that can add extra stress to the tower ringing experience. (The ringing community is full of lovely people, but every so often I've gotten a stander behind whose style doesn't mesh with mine, and you never know when that's going to happen because you don't know those people.)