Do you think like a Social Engineer? A Riddle....

Do you think like a Social Engineer? Can you guess the answer to the following real-life riddle…..

A while ago, I was speaking at a conference in the north of England, I wasn’t especially enamoured of the topic and was doing it as a favour for the organiser who was an old friend. I wasn’t “on” until late afternoon so I had a few hours to kill after lunch at the hotel.

 In the conference centre next door to ours there seemed to be a great time being had. I could hear laughing, applause and debate filtering through the abandoned halls of the hotel and it seemed the best option for fun in the immediate vicinity. There was a problem though, it was a closed conference and I wasn’t invited. Security checking passes at the door, delegate lists, closed shop. How to get in?

I considered just wandering up and asking if I could sneak in for a few minutes but I canned this idea almost immediately as I could tell from the security, which was heavy for this type of event, I’d probably fail. Nope this one required a mixture of guile and careful planning if I was going to sneak my way in.

 I did a circuit of the venue and noticed eight fire doors running down the sides of the hall, in addition to the front exit.   Fire doors can be tricky. I had no idea what the room layout was inside but if it was the same roughly, as in our conference next door there would be rows of chairs and a fire door opening would be noticed immediately as the person would be coming in from the side. No fire doors, and no other entrance that I saw.

 Then it hit me.   I picked one thing up and just walked in. Stood up at the front of the conference and a little to the side of the stage and I had great views of the speakers until I had to leave and go and do my own slot next door.

What did I pick up?