What happens on SG during the big steam sales?

Hello everyone, I know every other thread these past few weeks has been about "what are you going to buy?" or "when is the sale going to be?" but I was kinda curious as to what happens on steam gifts during those sales? I've only been on SG for a few short months and I'm wondering what to expect. I saw someone say somewhere that there are usually a lot of new members during this time. Is there usually a large influx of giveaways because games are really cheap or do giveaways really slow down because everybody is snagging games for themselves?