A few weeks ago, I asked the question, “What’s your favorite type of conference swag?” A huge thanks for sharing your thoughts! I must say that I’m a bit surprised at the results. Here they are:
- Food and drink related items were at the top of the list. I wasn’t surprised at the requests for Yetis – they’re one of my all-time personal faves. But I was happily surprised at the mentions of stainless straws and chip clips. I’m hoping we see both of those in the expo this year.
- Coming in second was clothing, another surprise to me. I would have put t-shirts a lot further down on the requested conference swag list. And it was interesting to hear about the number of people who are into conference socks! They’re a collectable item.
- Tied for third place were office supplies and technology. Let’s address office supplies first. Personally, I love good office supplies – nice pens, good highlighters, fun sticky notes, and journals are great. Cheap office supplies are well, cheap. If you’re going to give away office supplies, they need to be top notch.
- I was surprised that technology placed so low. The only thing I can figure is that people want the technology accessories that they want, so tech swag isn’t appealing. I can also see some tech swag not being compatible with all devices, which may be a drawback.
- Finally, health and wellness was last. I don’t believe this is because people don’t want to take care of themselves. The conversation about wellbeing and self-care is at an all time high. Like technology, I figure that people have their own preferences, so it becomes difficult to make everyone happy.
I’m really hoping that there are a bunch of HR conferences and HR vendors that take this list seriously. First, there are some really original ideas for conference swag! Second, the last thing any event wants to do is buy a bunch of swag that no one wants. Marketing departments do not want to come home from a major event with boxes of leftover swag. What they want is to run out of swag. They want people to take pictures of their swag and post it on Instagram.
So, here’s to finding your favorite conference swag at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference. Or frankly at any event you attend.
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Bill Kutik says
Depends on your polling universe. If SHRM members, why would you be surprised that tech items came in so low? With the growing number of cities banning on plastic straws — I hate what paper ones do to Cocoa-Cola — I see collapsible metal straws springing to the top.
Bill Kutik says
Oh, my favorite swag item after 30 years of attending, is a set of miniature screw drivers in a durable metal case, meant for techies I think, but useful for a thousand things around the house. Especially fixing eyeglasses. Courtesy of a consultancy called AnswerThink. Any memory of them?
Sharlyn Lauby says
Hi Bill. I can see the theme of the conference driving swag selections. Good point.
Years ago, I received a set of household tools as a thank you for serving on a conference committee. They were really nice! While it’s not something you use everyday, when you need them, you’re really glad you have them.