This has been my experience too. The amount of vendor emails and offers of wine, beer, food, etc. is ridiculous. And the IT conferences (back before covid) were

This has been my experience too. The amount of vendor emails and offers of wine, beer, food, etc. is ridiculous. And the IT conferences (back before covid) were crazy too. Young women dressed in tight clothing working vendor booths trying to draw in customers. It all felt so wrong. I can see how some managers can really be drawn into this sort of lifestyle. They are made to feel very important and are given perks, but they are being played/used, they just don't realize it. I would imagine politicians have the same sort of bribes (except from lobbyists).