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Hardware

How To Get Free Stuff At Shows 158

Posted by CmdrTaco from the once-i-got-a-scsi-controller dept.
Enigma5O writes "The TechZone heads to the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show and came out with tons of free stuff. We're not talking cheap pens or notepads either. No, they got some really cool stuff like two Sony PSP game consoles, DDR RAM, laptop roller bags, computer tool kit, etc. This article explains how they did it."
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How To Get Free Stuff At Shows More

How To Get Free Stuff At Shows

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  • Here's how (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:09AM (#14435255)
    "Uh, we're from a, uh... tech review webs... err publication. We'd like to review your product and when I say review, I mean praise."

    • Re:Here's how (Score:2, Insightful)

      by generic-man ( 33649 )
      "Oh, good! A blog! Well, have some free stuff. Would you like some manipulated photos so that you can claim to have a 'leak' to show your loyal readers?"

  • Capitalist (Score:2, Funny)

    by Beuno ( 740018 )
    Yeah, and collaborate for free with the marketing machin... wait... did you say FREE?
    gimmi gimmi gimmi
  • than "free pizza 4 life"

    Seriously, social enginering is nothing new.
    • Seriously, social enginering is nothing new.

      Yes, but this isn't social engineering, no matter what Mitnick tells you. This is lying and conniving.

      Social engineering is when the Bush administration convinces all Americans to live in a state of irrational fear so the administration can quash any attempt to prevent it from feathering its nest.

  • I have to ask (Score:5, Funny)

    by stunt_penguin ( 906223 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:11AM (#14435268)
    Did they get their server for free? /.ed already it seems.

  • 3 steps... (Score:5, Funny)

    by confused one ( 671304 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:13AM (#14435284)
    1. Show up on a press pass as a representative of a well known technical rag.

    2. Ask for stuff. Say you're going to do a review.

    3. Profit!

    • Re:3 steps... (Score:5, Funny)

      by beacher ( 82033 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:20AM (#14435337) Homepage
      4) Post it on your website
      5) Get the article mentioned on /.
      6) Have your webserver nuked, and past out the ass for extra bandwidth
      7) Hock all of your new free goodies to pay for upgrades/bandwidth
      8) Back to square zero

      Moral of the story - If you're going to try and play the system, be discreet

    • Re:3 steps... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by cylcyl ( 144755 )
      Omitted step 0 added
      0. Mug the guy you see sporting a press pass of a well known technical rag and get the pass

      1. Show up on a press pass as a representative of a well known technical rag.

      2. Ask for stuff. Say you're going to do a review.

      3. Profit!

    • Re:3 steps... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Jozer99 ( 693146 )
      This requries you to forge press passes, or kill members of the press, both of which can be unpleasant or time consuming. This guy didn't pretend to be anything, he was just agressive in asking for stuff.

  • Doh (Score:5, Funny)

    by archeopterix ( 594938 ) * on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:15AM (#14435296) Journal
    Getting free stuff is easy. Not getting caught is the hard part!

  • Article Text - First Page (Score:5, Informative)

    by adamfranco ( 600246 ) <adam@adam[ ]nco.com ['fra' in gap]> on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:17AM (#14435309) Homepage
    Get Your Free Stuff Here!

    One of the nice perks about attending the yearly Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is all the manufacturers tries to load you up with free stuff.

    [image of backpacks, PSPs, and a whole bunch of T-shirts and other small stuff]
    You want free stuff? Man, do I have free stuff!

    Yes it's true. Everything shown in the above photo was given to me for free! Some of the more noteworthy free stuff includes 1GB of OCZ RAM, an Ultra computer tool kit, CES laptop roller bags and two Sony PSP game consoles. And these are just the stuff that I haul back home with me. Bigger free stuff are being mailed.

    There is a good chance that if you attended the CES you won't make off with as much free stuff as I did. This could be because you don't know the art of getting free stuff. Well, you're in luck because I'm going to give you the step by step to getting tons of free stuff at CES, or any other trade show for that matter.

    Step 1 - Ask For The Free Stuff

    If you want something you have to ask for it. Don't just walk up to a booth and expect them to hand free stuff out to you. It isn't going to happen. And if it does, it normally means some cheap free stuff like a notepad or a pen. If you don't ask, you don't get. If you're too shy to ask then go to the next step.

    Step 2 - Attend The Press Conferences or Product Demos

    One of the easiest way to getting free stuff is to simply attend the many press conferences or product demos that companies put on during the CES. They almost always have something good to give everyone who attends. And many will hold a contest for some really big prizes. Yes you have to sit through a demo to get your stuff but hey, it's free!

    [Page 2 refused to load]
    • [Page 2] Step 3 - Go 'Hood on 'Em Once you can see all of the _really_ nice loot, it's smash-n-grab time!. Load up on goodies and head for the door. Shocked product representatives will be so dumbfounded they won't follow. Step 4 - eBay Step 5 - Profit!

    • Page the Second (Score:5, Informative)

      by kotj.mf ( 645325 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:39AM (#14435459)
      Step 3 - Make An Appointment

      While all vendors on the show floor will talk to you about their products, you'll score major points and free stuff if you make an appointment to talk to them. This way the company is expecting you and will be prepare to give you their booth tour. After the tour, they always present you with a goodie bag fill with company information and, you guest it, free stuff!

      Attend The CES Parties

      Companies that put on parties at CES always have something to give to their guests when they leave. And there are tons of parties to attend during the 5 days that CES runs for. The problem is most, if not all, of the parties are invite only. Don't let this stop you however. Many times you can get an invite by emailing the company or going to their booth and asking for one. This really is the best way to get free stuff because you also get to attend a party as well.

      Many companies that throw CES parties will have prizes to give away. That's how I got the Sony PSP. The best thing is many of these contests are the "can't lose" type. In other words, everyone who enters wins something.

      Walk The Show Floor On The Last Day

      The last day of CES is moving out day. This is best time to get your hands on tons of free stuff. Companies are packing things up to take home and many times they will lose their packing boxes. This is the best time to approach them to ask if there's anything they want to give away and not take home? It's amazing the amount times they will say "Help yourself to whatever you like." This is because it can cost them more to ship the products back home than the product is worth.

      You won't get big items, like plasma TVs, for free but many times the companies will sell it to you for a stupidly low price. I remember one year when RCA was the official TV of CES and had their displays scatter throughout the convention center. Instead of packing the $3,000 TVs home, they offered it anyone who was willing to pay $500 for it.

      Another reason to walk the show floor on the last day is you will find many abandon booths with stuff still left behind. Most of the time, the stuff is junk but you will come across some really nice stuff once in a while.
    • and two Sony PSP game consoles

      How is that impressive? People aren't buying those, so Sony has to give them away now...

  • Babes in Arms (Score:5, Funny)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:20AM (#14435330)
    Another way to get free stuff, just walk around with two of these [thetechzone.com]

  • One way to get free stuff (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:21AM (#14435340)
    I've tried this trick at several shows and it always works -

    Approach the booth and say the gay codeword ("banana").. make sure to do that up and down thing with your eyebrows (that sort of "you know what I'm talkin about hehe" look), and then do that thing with your hand and your tongue that means "blowjob".

    The all you have to do is follow through on the deal, and you'll get all kinds of free shit.

    • I went to the Embedded Systems Conference in San Francisco in 2003 or 2004 and was the best free item being given out was beer. I've never seen so much free beer in my life! Every evening at the conference, some booth was giving away beer. TI even had a few kegs of Guinness complete with the nitrogen system!

      The best part was after downing a bunch of beer on the conference floor, most companies had parties at local bars. I can't remember which party I went to (after having about six or seven beers within a

  • quick summary- nothing profound (Score:5, Informative)

    by purplelocust ( 944662 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:21AM (#14435343)
    Not exactly profound- here are their steps:
    1. Ask for free stuff: Squeaky wheels get more loot
    2. Attend the press conferences and demos: Loot is dumped on people who sit through the spiel
    3. Make appointments: A reasonable reccommendation for stuff you might be more interested in. The vendor is more likely to give stuff to people who spend more time with them and give them contact info for followup rather than random strolling people.
    4. Attend parties/enter giveaways: Again, an investement of your time and giving them your contact info means the vendor is more likely to give stuff away.
    5. Hang around during teardown: True vultures can score big when vendors don't want to cart stuff back home.

    In my experience, the days of walking away from MacWorld/etc lugging bags full of stuff you actually want ended in about 2000 or so. Yes, there is still reasonable stuff but the scale is quite reduced from those crazy late 90s shows.

  • Free Vacation (Score:4, Funny)

    by BushCheney08 ( 917605 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:21AM (#14435344)
    I have an offer here for a free vacation to the Caribbean. All I hafta do is sit through a presentation on an amazing offer on a timeshare in Florida.
    • "It could be a small holiday.... or even a boat! It could be a boat!"
    • If you're good at saying "No", then those can be a great deal. I've attended several and they really aren't very pushy. I did buy one timeshare several years back because I got a good deal on it, and now when I attend new sales presentations I just tell them "thanks, but I've already got one and my job doesn't leave me with more vacation time".

      In a lot of places like Orlando or Vegas you can get free tickets (to a big show or a theme park) for attending. First time we used one of these 'deals' we went t
      • While in Orlando, we attended another 4 hour presentation to get free tickets for Disney. Disney is nice, but it's not worth the $55+ per person per day, but it was worth 4 hours of my time which included a nice lunch buffet.

        If I'm doing the math correctly, that's 11$ per hour for 4 hours of your vacation time. That doesn't sound like a great deal to me. 7 days Daytona and Orlando for 99 sounds better, but the Disney one doesn't help your case.

        • It was me and my significant other - we each gave up 4 hours of our 7 day vacation in exchange for $110+ worth of Disney tickets *and* a free lunch. The lunch was part of the 4 hours, so we were really only giving up 3 hours of time.

          Maybe your vacation time is more valuable that mine, but if we hadn't been there we would have been out shopping, so I probably saved even more money by not spending those 4 hours shopping...
          • When on vacation, you are being paid.
            The whole idea of vacation is that it's better than work, otherwise you would work your vacation.
            If you make less than 11 dollars an hour, it's ok ( I do, but I live in Uruguay).
            If you make more, it's just a bad deal, unless you did enjoy the chat, and really didn't have anything better to do.
            I bought Disneys tickets 2 for 50 dollars in Miami, walking by Collins Ave, saw a sign, and bought them. That's a good deal!.
            And it just reduced your hourly pay from 11 dollars to j
        • They probably got multiple entrance tickets (perhaps 2-4) $22-$44/hour is a much better leasure time rate. You should know yourself enough to ensure that you won't be sucked in by a very high pressure sale.
    • Just watch out for the flesh eating ogres!

  • Tomorrow on Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)

    by 0110011001110101 ( 881374 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:23AM (#14435358) Journal
    How to live at home, get free meals, laundry done and still pickup chicks....

  • Too bad.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Faeton ( 522316 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:26AM (#14435382) Homepage Journal
    Too bad CES isn't open to the general public, and hotels around the area are all $$$ at that time (one of the bigger conventions). Free stuff is always good, but as usual, it ain't really free =)
    • hotels around the area are all $$$ at that time ... Free stuff is always good, but as usual, it ain't really free

      I've asked dozens of people how they did in Las Vegas -- and most people "won money" every-single-time! (YMMV)

      --
      Or as their state taxing authority claims:
      'What comes to Las Vegas, stays in Nevada'

    • Too bad CES isn't open to the general public

      Of course it isn't. It's a trade show. It's supposed to be for people who are in The Business.

      Why do you think companies give away swag like PSPs and gigs of RAM? Not so that some consumer with a press pass could brag about how much free stuff they got on a now-Slashdotted webpage. It's because they want professional buyers to be so impressed with their product that they place large B2B orders.

      Giving away a $250 item to someone at a trade show is a smart move

  • When I was 17... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Short Circuit ( 52384 ) *
    ...I went to Comdex and came away with a Noritake vacuum-florescent display that looked cool. The booth attendent gave me an odd look before he handed it to me.

    My intention was to set it up as a system monitor, but I never got around to it. I've still got it, unused.

  • Reminds me of Steve Martin's old line (Score:4, Funny)

    by fighthairloss ( 455826 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:37AM (#14435449)
    about "How to get really really really really rich." "First, you take a million dollars. Then you..."

    "How to get free stuff at a geek trade show filled with guys." "First, you be a really hot female. Then you..."

  • One word (Score:5, Funny)

    by Billosaur ( 927319 ) * <wgrother@optonline . n et> on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:39AM (#14435462) Journal
    Handgun
    • That's right. A gun will pay for itself first time you use it.

    • Re:One word (Score:2, Funny)

      by TheLink ( 130905 )
      That might also get you free food and lodging at a government establishment*.

      You might also be eligible for lots of other free stuff and activities whilst there...

      *inclusive of transportation to site.

  • spiffy.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:40AM (#14435466) Journal
    So now thousands of geeks are going to be pestering booth workers to get free swag.. excellent idea. It's no wonder they have semi naked women standing around, it's too keep cultures like this distracted :/

  • getting free stuff (Score:5, Funny)

    by revery ( 456516 ) <charles@ca c 2 . net> on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:48AM (#14435506) Homepage
    Ways to get free stuff at tech shows.
    • Jedi Mind Trick Approach: <jedi-hand-wave/> We are the PSP owners you were looking for...
    • Matrix Approach: We're going to need guns. Lots of guns.
    • Tom Sawyer approach (you muat bring your own fence and whitewash):
      1. Whitewash fence, pretending to enjoy it.
      2. When approached by horde of technology-owning people wishing to whitewash, act reluctant
      3. Trade whitewashing opportunity for technology.
    • Booth babe approach: Steal/borrow mom's, sister's or gf's clothes. Wear the clothes. Flirt.
    • LOTR approach: Ok, this one is difficult as it involves convincing the people with the PSP, that it is in fact an evil artifact that must be thrown into Mount Doom, and that you are the only one who can perform such a task. [Do not actually throw the PSP into Mount Doom]
    • Direct Approach: May I have a PSP? Please?

    • LOTR approach: Ok, this one is difficult as it involves convincing the people with the PSP, that it is in fact an evil artifact that must be thrown into Mount Doom, and that you are the only one who can perform such a task. [Do not actually throw the PSP into Mount Doom]

      Well I wasn't going to throw my precious PSP into Mount Doom, but then some crazy green midget bit my fscking finger off and I dropped him and the PSP into the crag!
    • Ok, this one is difficult as it involves convincing the people with the PSP, that it is in fact an evil artifact that must be thrown into Mount Doom

      That didn't usually work very well in the book. In fact, most were willing to kill any number of people to take it from you.

  • Ways to get even more free stuff.... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    1) Be a girl.
    2) Tell the guys on the stall that they're cute

  • Free stuff in one easy step (Score:5, Funny)

    by saltydogdesign ( 811417 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:50AM (#14435530)
    First, get elected to Congress...

  • Keep your grubby PSP (Score:5, Funny)

    by dosquatch ( 924618 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @09:53AM (#14435549) Journal
    I want the cosplay booth girl.

    C'mon, baby, lemme finger your profile! Uh, click your mouse? Cable your box? Integrity check your data jack!

    Wait! Where ya goin'? Oh, come on, work with me here!

    *grumbles* Dammit, why dress in anime if you're not into geeks?

  • They forgot to mention in that article that they won the PSPs at a party... also, I don't consider having to sit through a bad 20-minute demo to get a T-shirt "free". My time at those shows is worth more than a T-shirt.

  • Oh good lord. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by IainMH ( 176964 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @10:25AM (#14435768)
    I've staffed a couple of trade show stands in the past past. What we REALLY hated was people coming over and just saying.

    "So what are you giving away then?"

    Urgh - probably the same kind of people who work out their exact portion of the bill, sans tip.
  • My girlfriend always gets free stuff, wherever she goes (restaurants, bars, grocery stores...), thanks to some simple rules :

    1. Smile.
    2. The guy behind the counter is going to be here ALL day answering people's [questions demands] like a [robot slave]. He'll just give you 5 minutes, but even in such a short time, you can make a difference and treat him like the human being he is. Be friendly and do not let any opportunity to chit-chat with the guy pass by. Thank him for his time.
    3. (optional) Have boob
  • A friend of mine once decided to do a movie review magazine. This was right before the Internet really took off (early 90s). He owned a small publishing company, wanted to expand, and he thought, "I watch a LOT of movies, I'll do reviews." He also knew about press releases, and made one for his new magazine. He also ran small science fiction conventions.

    The free stuff from movie studios started as a trickle, but then began to pour in. It was the usual tripe; posters, teasers, key fobs, gimmicks, and

    • And 12+ years later, he's still getting free stuff.

      No joke. Once companies start sending people free stuff as samples and promotions, it's very difficult to get them to stop.

      A friend of mine in college spent a single semester in dental school before dropping out to pursue an engineering degree. Shortly after starting his dental schooling, he received a box in the mail containing 250 sample tubes of Colgate toothpaste. Presumably, Colgate thought that once he became a dentist, he would hand these samples out
    • Expanding the idea: go through a list of big companies and send out press releases saying you're 'intending' to start a magazine/web site featuring whatever it is they produce, and ask if they have any promotional material or new products they might like to have featured in it. Ie do exactly what you'd do if you were a legitimate start-up. But do this on a BIG scale.

      Official letterheads are no problem - what's that high-quality inkjet printer for, after all?

      Week 1 you're a movie magazine, so contact all

    • Not to be a downer (Score:2, Insightful)

      by TubeSteak ( 669689 )
      But.... flying disks aren't exactly fire resistant/retardent.

      He might want to consider removing the foam disks and installing real insulation before he sells the place and an inspector has to come by.

      I don't know much about fire codes, but I seriously doubt he's up to code.
  • I don't go to shows that would really have consumer type products to give away.

    Example CeBit. CeBit is one of the largest (if not the largest) computer shows around. My dad used to work there every year, since his company had a large booth. I used to get a lot of free stuff when I was little, because I was really little then (everyone was at least somewhat cute when they were 9 years old, I guess I was).

    There used to be some cool stuff that they gave away (StarOffice 3.1 CDs when it was still a German compa

  • frustrating (Score:2, Insightful)

    by wolff000 ( 447340 )
    i'm so tired of not being able to see this stuff cause the server went down. slashdot should start caching the page so everyone can read the article. i want to know how to get free stuff too. not that i don't already know how and do it regularly. it may be wrong but i found faked id badges for major tech firms and publications(sony, ms, wired, pc gamer, etc.) really rack up the stuff. i actually got a free 32in TV from sony after bsing with the guy in the booth for 30 minutes and convincing him i was a

  • Tool kit? (Score:3, Funny)

    by TeknoHog ( 164938 ) on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @11:29AM (#14436566) Homepage Journal
    I went to this erotic show and all I got was a gimp tool kit...
  • 1. Give away information about how you got free stuff, and show off all the free stuff you got.
    2. Next year, when you go, noone will be giving away free stuff. And not just to you, either.
  • Looks like the Techzone just learned how to get a free slashdotting. Is that bacon I smell?

  • I checked the picture and read the "article". What we have is:

    -Laptop backpaks. Those are really sweet, and they were being given to each and every member of the press (I got one) and no one else.

    -PSP. As far as I can tell, they got those at a raffle or something like that, so I don't think it counts.

    -1 Gig of memory. That's what, 80 bucks now?

    Assorted trinkets, pens and crap. I don't think the lot of it goes for more than a hundred bucks.

    And you call that loot? Get a free plasma or PC, then write an articl

  • Hand truck: Get in free and out with lots-o-stuff! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SimHacker ( 180785 ) * on Tuesday January 10, 2006 @08:58PM (#14442507) Homepage Journal

    If you have a hand truck [handtrucksrus.com], you don't need no stinkin' badges!

    You can get into many shows for free simply by pushing a hand truck into the loading dock service entrance. (And that makes it easy to leave with a lot of stuff, too!)

    Once I got into a conference at Moscone that way, but it turned out I was in the wrong conference -- the right one was across the road in the other auditorium (through the underground tunnel). So I just pushed the hand truck out the exit of the wrong conference, down the tunnel, and straight into the front entrance of the right conference. They saw the hand truck, and waved me through the front entrance without any trouble!

    -Don

  • The Church of Jeff (Score:4, Informative)

    by the_ed_dawg ( 596318 ) on Wednesday January 11, 2006 @01:09AM (#14443709) Journal
    Allow me to tell you the story of a guy named Jeff. I'm a Ph.D. student working with this guy, who is a masters student. This guy has "free stuff" down to an art. Seriously, nobody can top Jeff in terms of free stuff.

    For example, he showed up at a College of Engineering open house event for homecoming. While he was there, he got some free cookies. Then, he walked up to the stadium and parlayed said cookies into football tickets from some cute girl. Bam! Free football tickets!

    Jeff goes to DAC (Design Automation Conference) in Anaheim. Conference admission is a couple hundred bucks. Dude comes back with close to $1000 in free stuff from the vendor show, including flash drives, MP3 players, etc.

    College of Engineering career fair rolls around. I ask him to pick me up a highlighter while he's out because I'm reading papers. He comes back with no less than 20 of them. Oh yeah, he's also gotten laundry detergent for a couple of weeks, enough Easy Mac to feed him for a couple of weeks, more office supplies than the entire lab could use in a semester, and tons more stuff. He replaced the items on his bookshelf with the free booty from multiple trips.

    We built a tower out of no less than 200 packs of bubble gum from a Wrigley's promotional stand.

    Jeff walks around campus and records dates and times of free food flyers into his cell phone. Then, he goes back to his office and enters them into an Outlook calendar. The only time this guy pays for food is when I invite him out to eat with the rest of the group.

    He says the key is to be completely shameless. I've seen him walk right up to the organizer of a booth and flat out ask him for a box of stuff. Then, after getting the box (much to my dismay), he'll turn around and ask for a box for his officemate. He'll walk right up to displays and dump the entire contents of the display into a bag. Most people are too polite to stop him, so he gets away with it.

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