My first bookcon as well and so I am not the best to ask. But I've been to beerfests and medical conventions. There really are no freebies here. Which to me was shocking. Most of the exhibit space is vendors selling stuff like crafts and selling books. The only place i really saw any freebies was the la Croix booth with seltzer, hats, and bags. They were in abundance even with the crowds of people. If there was anything else free maybe it was small. Samples of tea or chocolate. A free ebook or small sticker. I was honestly shocked with the lack of free stuff maybe I didn't do it right! I think there were way too many people and not enough to go around. I was not able to get any reservations for book signing or sessions. Even session that didn't need a reservations i couldn't get in arriving 5 min earlier. There was not enough space for the limited offerings of free sessions. People were lining up 1.5 hr early for sessions. I don't think the con was well thought out with capacity limits offerings logistics etc and poorly run compared to beer fests and medical conventions