conference swag

[GuitarStv]

My favorite swag was an IRS-branded chapstick. Government agencies almost never have swag at recruiting events, but somehow the IRS managed to get their logo printed on chapstick tubes. I loved it.

IRS branded lube might have been more appropos.  :P

[sonofsven]

Well there are already other groups at the conference that are going to give away bags, klean kanteens, hats and some of the other bigger ticket items that I'd like. But I think we are going to get embroidered patches made and vinyl stickers with housing centric designs that can cover the logos of other swag and make things more personalized. Perhaps it's a little competitive or parasitic, but it occurred to me as a way to avoid some of the impulse grabbing then tossing that happens. I'm also going to see what pricing I can get on Bombas socks.

I think we are going to try to get the pot scrapers made too, what a good low budget idea, it's always hard to find things at that price point. In the past we've done eight-sided dice, cutting boards, nice insulated mugs, frisbees, pens, notebooks, shirts, chocolate, wine, and fans.

Thanks all very much for the suggestions!

Hmm, this sounds familiar, is this for my local public radio pledge drive?

[Metalcat]

My favorite swag was an IRS-branded chapstick. Government agencies almost never have swag at recruiting events, but somehow the IRS managed to get their logo printed on chapstick tubes. I loved it.

IRS branded lube might have been more appropos.  :P

Ha!

[jeromedawg]

OMG this is bringing back bad flashbacks growing up and even through my early adult years where my dad would go to various conferences and bring back all sorts of random conference swag crap. Besides thousands of bags and pens, there were tons of random other crap he would bring back "for the kids" (after we had kids but even for my brothers' kids): squishy stress balls, random lights, a cape (wth?! I think our kids may still be playing with this), MINTS (ah yes, how can you go to a conference where at least 10 vendors don't have mints), and I'm sure a crapload of other useless items.

Off the top of my head, besides pens and bags/totes, I really can't think of any conference swag I've actually kept that is still useful to this day.

[jeromedawg]

Larger yeti cooler and JBL speakers have been my favorite.

I’ve received probably 30-40 hats over the last few years.. maybe 5-8 of them I really like to wear. I enjoy a good company hat, but it has to be the right style/fit/color.

WTH!? what kind of conference was this where everyone got a large yeti cooler and JBL speakers? LOL...  or was that from one of those contests/drawings? (if so: not exactly SWAG but ok, since everyone got a ticket for the drawing hahahaha)

[2Birds1Stone]

Telescoping back scratcher.

Stressball that allowed you to draw on it.

And for a conference in Vegas, where the humidity is like 0%, chapstick!

[iris lily]

Notepads, post-it notes, decent quality pens, water bottles are all good.  The higher the quality of the item, the less likely it'll end up in the trash.

I don't get the appeal of can coozies, but I seldom drink can soda and don't drink beer, so :shrugs: I usually have my own backpack at conventions, although our family does use the drawstring bags/totes.  If you're at a show that doesn't give attendees a good way to wear their badges, then a lanyard or badge holder can be great.

Yeah, I will use Post-it notes and good quality pens. But I would prefer nothing. One conference I attended the kind where they greet you at registration desk with a bag full of swag, I remove the program from the bag so that I could keep the program of events and handed the bag and all of its crap back to them. Would you take care of this for me I said,  I don’t want it.

As someone  who is involved with putting on these conferences, not only is the swag  very very important to some people on the planning committee, also we spend endless amounts of time discussing what kind of bag or container it will be put in.

This is making China rich. All cheap crap from China. All hail China.

[Cranky]

Notepads, post-it notes, decent quality pens, water bottles are all good.  The higher the quality of the item, the less likely it'll end up in the trash.

I don't get the appeal of can coozies, but I seldom drink can soda and don't drink beer, so :shrugs: I usually have my own backpack at conventions, although our family does use the drawstring bags/totes.  If you're at a show that doesn't give attendees a good way to wear their badges, then a lanyard or badge holder can be great.

Yeah, I will use Post-it notes and good quality pens. But I would prefer nothing. One conference I attended the kind where they greet you at registration desk with a bag full of swag, I remove the program from the bag so that I could keep the program of events and handed the bag and all of its crap back to them. Would you take care of this for me I said,  I don’t want it.

As someone  who is involved with putting on these conferences, not only is the swag  very very important to some people on the planning committee, also we spend endless amounts of time discussing what kind of bag or container it will be put in.

This is making China rich. All cheap crap from China. All hail China.

I used to go to the big English Teacher's meeting every year and would come home with a suitcase of free books. And some vendor had post it notes preprinted with stuff that you could check off and just slap on a paper. I loved those so much that I would have bought them bought never saw them anywhere else. So... I think it's about knowing your audience? I have a denim tote bag from the Scholastic booth that I'm still taking to my knitting group 10years later.

[Adventine]

Notepads, post-it notes, decent quality pens, water bottles are all good.  The higher the quality of the item, the less likely it'll end up in the trash.

I don't get the appeal of can coozies, but I seldom drink can soda and don't drink beer, so :shrugs: I usually have my own backpack at conventions, although our family does use the drawstring bags/totes.  If you're at a show that doesn't give attendees a good way to wear their badges, then a lanyard or badge holder can be great.

Yeah, I will use Post-it notes and good quality pens. But I would prefer nothing. One conference I attended the kind where they greet you at registration desk with a bag full of swag, I remove the program from the bag so that I could keep the program of events and handed the bag and all of its crap back to them. Would you take care of this for me I said,  I don’t want it.

As someone  who is involved with putting on these conferences, not only is the swag  very very important to some people on the planning committee, also we spend endless amounts of time discussing what kind of bag or container it will be put in.

This is making China rich. All cheap crap from China. All hail China.

I also hate cheap, poorly made junk that exists just to fulfill someone's branding goals.


Bur I love useful, durable swag. The best example would be a backpack that my husband has owned for close to a decade now. I've sewn a few holes and tears in it, but it's otherwise an excellent backpack that has travelled to many countries and is used daily.

[iris lily]

Notepads, post-it notes, decent quality pens, water bottles are all good.  The higher the quality of the item, the less likely it'll end up in the trash.

I don't get the appeal of can coozies, but I seldom drink can soda and don't drink beer, so :shrugs: I usually have my own backpack at conventions, although our family does use the drawstring bags/totes.  If you're at a show that doesn't give attendees a good way to wear their badges, then a lanyard or badge holder can be great.

Yeah, I will use Post-it notes and good quality pens. But I would prefer nothing. One conference I attended the kind where they greet you at registration desk with a bag full of swag, I remove the program from the bag so that I could keep the program of events and handed the bag and all of its crap back to them. Would you take care of this for me I said,  I don’t want it.

As someone  who is involved with putting on these conferences, not only is the swag  very very important to some people on the planning committee, also we spend endless amounts of time discussing what kind of bag or container it will be put in.

This is making China rich. All cheap crap from China. All hail China.

I used to go to the big English Teacher's meeting every year and would come home with a suitcase of free books. And some vendor had post it notes preprinted with stuff that you could check off and just slap on a paper. I loved those so much that I would have bought them bought never saw them anywhere else. So... I think it's about knowing your audience? I have a denim tote bag from the Scholastic booth that I'm still taking to my knitting group 10years later.

Yes the American Library Association conventions would be like the English teachers’ conventions, all the major publishers handing out books. Sometimes free,  sometimes at a deep discount.  In the early days I bought a couple books and got them signed by authors and illustrators but then I got smart that I had to haul that stuff on the plane and decided no.

[Trifle]

+1 on large Yeti travel mugs.  We have several and have used them for many years.

Also good ceramic coffee cups.

I have a couple of tote bags that have stood the test of time, but not many.  They have to be really good quality.   

[okisok]

Reviving the dead post because it's my turn to pick something for an event. It's a non-profit donor dinner.

We have to tread a very fine line between "this is a nice event for big donors so get something nice!!" and "this is a charity, why are you spending so much money on swag??"

I'd like to do just one item by each plate, so not too big or a bag full of little things.  A notepad is not fancy enough, ditto baseball caps. Shirts would be really difficult because you either need to get sizes in advance or get everyone a 2XL they won't wear.

We could do up to $20 per person. I'm leaning toward a blue tooth speaker after reading the whole thread. It's a dinner to honor a volunteer who is a big supporter. We could put little tags on them that say something like "Speaking up for [insert charity name here]"

Has anything new and wonderful come up since the post died?

[affordablehousing]

I gravitate toward things like this when there's enough lead time to work with a social enterprise-

https://redf.org/social-enterprise-gift-guide/

The best swag gifts we ever gave were cutting boards from Would Work in LA, where the non-profit trains the chronically homeless how to do woodworking. It takes time in advance to deal with a smaller group that has a positive employment aspect to their business. Otherwise I think there's a pretty good depth of providers for bluetooth speakers at all price points. And they are useful, I've regifted a lot of them to neighbors and friends and people like them.

[okisok]

This is a great link, thank you!!

[draco44]

I gravitate toward things like this when there's enough lead time to work with a social enterprise-

https://redf.org/social-enterprise-gift-guide/

I agree with this suggestion to try and have the items be from a source that does some good in the world rather than adding to the world population of plastic crap. I generally avoid accepting items at this point when I attend conferences because I don't need the clutter and don't like the environmental waste of many give-away items. If I take something, it's probably a consumable like a tea/snack type thing. Once I got a flashlight that I still use, but I don't think everyone needs one of those. I've also seen people bulk buy plants as favors. Flats of succulents in particular, like https://mountaincrestgardens.com/mcg-ultimate-succulent-sampler-tray-2in-containers-50-varieties-50/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8t2eBhDeARIsAAVEga2NkaGHs738fdjo3QlpnruPj02EkegnVB0gy_QrVz8b68H7Z-Sl51caAmyeEALw_wcB.

Another suggestion would be to give out coupon codes or gift cards for something rather than a physical object. I've seen slips of paper for a free Uber/Lift ride up to $X in value offered before, for example. Or a gift card to a local restaurant.

[iris lily]

I went to a sold out arena comedy show last week with Dave Chappelle  and Chris Rock. Unlike me, totally against my normal modus operandi, I grabbed 4 of the freebie face masks they were giving away. I usually hate this kind of stuff but I was feeling uncharacteristically sentimental about this show and wanted mementos.

And besides, I had paid a shit ton of money for our tickets in center front row.

The masks are imprinted “Chappelle show” and are of surprisingly decent quality.

Rock killed, Chappelle was not on fire.