Thread by @Tuviae

1\ Since #CES is happening, and this year I'm not attending, time to tell the story of how I hacked CES a few years ago 😬

As an entrepreneur (and with recession and all), you have to know how to save every $

This is how I saved thousands of $$ and maximized my time @ CES...

2\ Some background first

Conferences have different business models, where a big part is selling stands \ booths

Stands usually come with a super expensive price tag

Even the cheapest ones

But that’s where conferences make their majority of income, and best way to meet people

3\ however, very rarely do vendors manage to sell out all stands / booths at conferences.

Now, another important piece of information - most usually if you pay for a stand - you get a few extra tickets for the conference to share.

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That’s the background
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Here’s what I did:

4\ At first, I got a ticket from a friend that had a booth - that got me in.

(If you gonna be scrappy, you have to have friends...

Also, if you don't have friends, contact a company exhibiting there (find them on social media) - ask for a meeting and ask for an entry ticket...)

5\ Once I got in, I took a long walk around the startup exhibition floor

As I said, 95% of conferences don't sell out on stands,
or also, not all exhibitors are there for all days...

So as I walked around, I looked for "open\empty" stands...

And then, I saw one

6\ I took a few rounds and asked around, and understood that it's empty.

I walked over, pulled out my phone & laptop, and started "working"

I also took out my prototypes, and casually placed it beside me...

This positioning was amazing - I was able to “blend in” or “blend out”

7\ As visitors strolled by, I glanced at their name tag

If it was someone I wasn't interested in talking to, I said hello nicely and apologized that it wasn't my stand and I was just working & charging my phone.

It was great - they'd laugh and weren't offended and moved on...

8\ If it was someone I was interested in talking to - I stepped up & introduced myself

The first reaction was that they'd look around the stand for some logo or even a name explaining who I was and what was I showcasing

But the was nothing of course, so I...

9\ I right away preempted the awkwardness, by saying something like - ”We went with a minimalistic approach - keeping the suspense to what we do” and then laugh

They'd show a smile, and I quickly added “it seems to be working”

By this point I got their attention

10\ 99% of the times they'd reply too with a laughter and then ask “so what do you do?”…

And there I had it - I got the people I was interested in talking to - interested in listening to what I have to say...

It was perfect

However...

11\ All good things come to an end, especially in a 4-5 day show like #CES or #CES2023

Someone at some point figured me out...

Because after 3 days, the stand was removed

Yet, it was extremely worth it...

11\ I saved an incredible amount of money and got to maximize my time in such a huge conference.

I'll be honest, I'm not proud of these things - but being a scrappy entrepreneur - you learn to maximize EVERYTHING

Like how to meet the top VIPs 👇

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https://twitter.com/Tuviae/status/1471118017404805130