Full disclosure : I was lucky to be among a group of networking influencers invited to Silicon Valley to visit some networking companies and see what they were offering to the market.  I was flown out and given accommodations at the expense of Gestalt IT - the company that organized the event.  I was given some swag by each company, but I was never paid to write a positive review on the product.  Heck, I’m not even expected to write at all.