I had to attend one of these once. I believe people in my state are just randomly chosen to attend, and not mandated to because they are in a "dying field." My experience wasn't nearly as horrific as the OP. Although I didn't really find the presentation that useful, I couldn't certainly see how it could be for people unskilled at putting together a resume or finding the tools online to look for jobs.

At the end of the talk we all had to meet with a counselor one-on-one so they could take a look at our resumes and offer suggestions. The woman looking at mine liked it so much she asked for a copy of it to use as an example, which made me feel good. It wasn't too much later I was able to land a job and get off of unemployment anyway.