lobbycon
n.—Gloss: to attend the site of a professional conference, without enrolling or paying entrance fees, for the purpose of meeting with attendees in the site’s public spaces. Note: From lobby + conference. «Some of Silicon Valley’s digerati don’t let $3,600 admission prices keep them from attending technology conferences. They simply loiter in the venue’s lobby—without paying—in hopes of mingling with other entrepreneurs, collecting business cards and cutting deals. The phenomenon has become so prevalent that it has been given a name: lobbycon.…“The sessions at technology conferences are often like plots in porn films,” said Ben Metcalfe, a technology consultant from San Francisco who said he lobbycons about four conferences annually. “It’s required for the context, but it’s not really what you paid for.”…Lobbyconners acknowledge that they could, in theory, be asked to leave, although none was aware of it ever happening.» —“‘Lobbyconners’ crash tech conferences to schmooze, cut deals” by Verne Kopytoff San Francisco Chronicle Oct. 14, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished...