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Yep, most attendees seem to be unaware, but a big part of their sponsor/exhibitor pitch involves selling access to this data. Most booths have a gimmick, such a

Yep, most attendees seem to be unaware, but a big part of their sponsor/exhibitor pitch involves selling access to this data. Most booths have a gimmick, such as a giveaway or party invite, which requires scanning your ID badge. That scan transfers all of your personal info, including employer and job title, straight into their CRM. At BlackHat, despite the large price tag, attendees are the product, and vendors are the customers.

tptacek 8y ago
If you've ever pitched a booth at a trade show like Black Hat --- I've never done Black Hat, but I've done RSA --- you know that you can just get the attendee list. It costs money but it's a product that is for sale. The point of the scan is not to collect as much personal information as possible, but rather to get a list of people who are interested in what you're selling; the scan is (very very flimsy first-pass) lead qualification.
- ghaff 8y ago
  >but rather to get a list of people who are interested in what you're selling Which makes swag sorta problematic. On the one hand, it drives booth traffic and some of those people may be exposed to your company or a product who hadn't been previously. On the other hand, I've seen lines of people clogging up booths and the vast bulk of them just want a T-shirt or to be entered in a drawing for a drone or whatever. You end up with scans that are 90% just people who wanted a freebie and have zero interest in your product.
  - tptacek 8y ago
    That's true, but it's all a numbers game; you're just trying to get the 15,000 attendees down to a manageable number you can target.
  - anoncoward111 8y ago
    At which point the conference organizers are smoking cigars made out of rolled hundred dollar bills and laughing at how they played both the attendees and the vendors! The American Way.
    - ghaff 8y ago
      Make no mistake. Everyone is in on the game to various degrees. The conference venue, event teams and the companies that specialize in helping put booths together, even the attendees for whom in many cases conferences are something of a perk.
      - anoncoward111 8y ago
        Agreed... any time you are transfering money from your account to someone else's, there's a strong chance you are getting the raw end of the deal unless you know exactly what you are doing.
        ghaff 8y ago
        I'm not so sure there's a raw end of the deal here so much as that there's a whole ecosystem of things related to trade shows that no one wants to end even though it's arguably not an especially efficient use of dollars at the end of the day. But it's been a thing for decades in many industries and no one really wants to end it, whether vendors, attendees, or the vast number of companies, venues, and unions that support it.

tptacek 8y ago

If you've ever pitched a booth at a trade show like Black Hat --- I've never done Black Hat, but I've done RSA --- you know that you can just get the attendee list. It costs money but it's a product that is for sale. The point of the scan is not to collect as much personal information as possible, but rather to get a list of people who are interested in what you're selling; the scan is (very very flimsy first-pass) lead qualification.

ghaff 8y ago
>but rather to get a list of people who are interested in what you're selling Which makes swag sorta problematic. On the one hand, it drives booth traffic and some of those people may be exposed to your company or a product who hadn't been previously. On the other hand, I've seen lines of people clogging up booths and the vast bulk of them just want a T-shirt or to be entered in a drawing for a drone or whatever. You end up with scans that are 90% just people who wanted a freebie and have zero interest in your product.
- tptacek 8y ago
  That's true, but it's all a numbers game; you're just trying to get the 15,000 attendees down to a manageable number you can target.
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  At which point the conference organizers are smoking cigars made out of rolled hundred dollar bills and laughing at how they played both the attendees and the vendors! The American Way.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    Make no mistake. Everyone is in on the game to various degrees. The conference venue, event teams and the companies that specialize in helping put booths together, even the attendees for whom in many cases conferences are something of a perk.
    - anoncoward111 8y ago
      Agreed... any time you are transfering money from your account to someone else's, there's a strong chance you are getting the raw end of the deal unless you know exactly what you are doing.
      - ghaff 8y ago
        I'm not so sure there's a raw end of the deal here so much as that there's a whole ecosystem of things related to trade shows that no one wants to end even though it's arguably not an especially efficient use of dollars at the end of the day. But it's been a thing for decades in many industries and no one really wants to end it, whether vendors, attendees, or the vast number of companies, venues, and unions that support it.