Alec made a smart marketing move by introducing the free registrations for XBIZ Summer. People were (and still are, as evident by the page count of this post) definitely talking about it...and people took action by signing up and attending. Isn't that what good marketing is about? Regardless of your ability to "afford" to purchase a badge or register for free, it was thinking that was "out of the box" and differentiated this show from the others that are competing for attendance for the rest of the year.
Many large industry shows (not the adult industry) offer free registrations for attendees. The thinking being, the more attendees, the more chance a sponsor has to meet with a potential client. How the sponsor chooses to handle the attendees and those opportunities, is up to them. If you look at CES, they offer free registrations for attendees for all exhibits and seminars, up to a certain date. Beyond that time, there is a staggered deadline in which the registration price goes up. When checking in, on site, you must show 2 forms of id - 1 is a photo id and the second is an id that verifies that you are part of the industry (paystub, biz card, etc.). Something like this could easily be done in the adult industry.
Something else that is commonly done, in other industry shows, is the same registration process as above, but then sponsors also receive admission badges that can be given out by them. So if you miss the free cutoff date, you need to contact a show sponsor to get a free admission pass. A great opportunity for programs to meet up with potential affiliates before the show. Onsite registration procedures still apply - to verify the attendee.
Any parties that go on, in conjunction with the show, are generally thrown by individual companies, just like in adult. These are invite only. You get a ticket/pass or you don't get in. There's no reason this can't be done here as well.
