Some of these events were part of Gestalt IT's Tech Field Day series. Other events were cases where Gestalt IT Media partnered with the organization hosting the event.
Each time, the bulk of my travel, lodging, meals and related social activities were arranged and paid for by Gestalt IT, which charges the vendors a fee for their (and my!) participation.
Sometimes the vendors pay for things too: catered lunches at their offices, post-event parties at a restaurant, etc...
I've come home with quite a bit of vendor swag from these events. The swag has ranged from trade show type stuff (pens, shirts, squeeze toys), through hardware samples that retail for a few hundred dollars.
In no case have the vendors or event hosts had any influence over who Gestalt IT would be bringing to the events, or what the delegates said about them or their products after the fact.
Blogging/tweeting/talking about any particular product or company has not been a condition of my attending any of these events. I talk only about things that I find interesting.
I have agreed to keep some secrets that I've learned at these events. The secrets fall into one of two categories:
- Stuff I've learned about un-released products. These are generally short-term embargoes, when the launch date is set for the near future, or situations where the vendor is looking for feedback on products which are early in the development cycle.
- Stuff I've learned about implementations (or implementation plans) at customers of the various vendors. If I've learned that XYZ Bank is planning a particular data center strategy, I won't be talking about it.
I've always had the option to leave the room, rather than learn secret stuff, but have not yet seen a reason to exercise that option.
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