I parked two floors below the hotel (sign said event parking) and there was a door to get in to the lower level ballrooms right there. Nobody cares about wrist bands and the elevators to the upper floors were open to the general public. There was no need for a ticket at all, except that if got me a program.
When I left, there at 4:00 PM, there was nobody there to take money and the parking gate was up, so parking was gratis.