How they stack up: Disrupt, Launch, and Demo

Author's TL;DR:<p><i>if you’re looking for press, go to DEMO, if you’re looking for a good time, go to Disrupt, and if you’re looking for beta testers, go to Launch.</i>

How did you manage to get into these events for free? You mentioned that you got sponsored, but what does this mean? Can you provide some tips?

How about going where your customers actually are?