Not a fan of the copying/borrowing a badge ideas. If you don't support whatever the conference is covering, you shouldn't be there. If you do, you shouldn't mind fronting some cash to support the event.
Sometimes it's not possible to front cash to support the event due to lots of factors having nothing to do with lack of money or laziness. All the people who asked me about copying my WWDC badge were people who had the money to do so (and I know at least one tried to offer even more money than they were worth to existing attendees willing to sell their tickets), but Apple was actively refusing to sell any more tickets to the event due to having reached maximum capacity. I certainly hope that's not the case next year, but who knows. Moscone West is not exactly huge.
While 3 out of 7 point are "stealing" in some capacity there is some goodness in here, specifically:
Volunteer, Offer to write, Offer to speak
As someone who's job it is to go to conferences to speak and look after the Yahoo booth I see a lot of conference action.
You will get so much more out of a conference by participating in a positive way than shiestering your way in. Both in the way people treat you but also your motivation to engage with the topics. I've met some really great friends and colleagues by offering to blog for them out of the blue, or help out when a speaker drops out.
Let me ask you this though. If you knew that someone in the audience was so eager to hear you speak that she borrowed her friend's badge, would you be upset?
I had a few people ask if they could photocopy my WWDC 2008 badge (twas sold out, all about iPhone, et cetera). I can't believe how trivial it is for some of the conferences I've been to either. I could easily see that happening, but I wonder just how many people actually do so.
Though it's fun to sneak into places (I had my share), it's better in the long run to use participatory strategies (e.g. what the author listed: volunteer, blog, speak, party)
Or better, organize and start your own conference. We are entrepreneurs after all.
[+] [-] tsally|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] silencio|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anewaccountname|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sh1mmer|17 years ago|reply
Volunteer, Offer to write, Offer to speak
As someone who's job it is to go to conferences to speak and look after the Yahoo booth I see a lot of conference action.
You will get so much more out of a conference by participating in a positive way than shiestering your way in. Both in the way people treat you but also your motivation to engage with the topics. I've met some really great friends and colleagues by offering to blog for them out of the blue, or help out when a speaker drops out.
[+] [-] AndrewWarner|17 years ago|reply
Let me ask you this though. If you knew that someone in the audience was so eager to hear you speak that she borrowed her friend's badge, would you be upset?
[+] [-] herdrick|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icky|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wmf|17 years ago|reply
Now I wonder how many roadies Tim O'Reilly has.
[+] [-] silencio|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AndrewWarner|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jaytee_clone|17 years ago|reply
Or better, organize and start your own conference. We are entrepreneurs after all.
[+] [-] rokhayakebe|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wmf|17 years ago|reply