Swag: that stuff given away at IT Pro and Developer conferences. Swag is typically the free stuff that conference organisers give away “willy nilly”. Expensive prizes may also be referred to as swag, but you may have to work for them (answer questions) or simply be lucky (name drawn out of a “hat”)
But what makes good swag?
For me, good swag revolves around a few key concepts:
- Usability. A pen is usable, however it’s an easy piece of swag for vendors and conference organisers to give out. How many conference pens have you got? How many are still capable of writing anything? I filled an A4 paper box with conference pens gathered over the last 10 years: none of them worked without a lot of effort. Granted pens are excellent if you need people to fill in feedback forms – having a pile of pens handy encourages folks to complete the form as they don’t have to hunt for a pen of their own. USB pen/key drives are usable, however only if they are “right sized”: 512MB is no good these days…unless it’s simply a CD replacement (devExpress gave out 512mb drives at one of the TechSummits, it contained up-to-the-minute builds of CodeRush and RefactorPro – this is when a 512MB drive is considered good swag!) For key drives, 4GB used to be an expensive option, however nowadays, 8GB and even 16GB should be deemed reachable.
- Fun. Swag has to have a reason for being, be it useful or fun. Wrox lollypops are fun, as can be seen here.
- Practical. Practical and usable are very closely related, however there is a fine line. Practical to me, means it’s not “throw away” type swag. Usable means that I might not use it daily, but I will put it somewhere that I can use it. Socks and wearables that aren’t garish are practical. For example, I have a few pairs of thick Microsoft/MSDN socks – these are practical. Branded clothing is also practical, although some folks prefer the branding to be “delicate”…I personally don’t mind branding being “in your face”. If you are thinking about producing wearables, assess your audience: how many XXL t-shirts do you see at conferences? Too many IMHO.
With those key points in mind, here are my four favourite pieces of swag:
DevExpress laptop bag. Laptop bags are emotive items. This one is perfect for 17″ laptops, whilst still providing space for other toys and chargers (when I remember to pack it!) It also has two stretchy bits at either end – ideal for a small umbrella (I live in Scotland, sometimes the rain is so heavy that a small umbrella is required) and a soft drink of some kind too.
Microsoft SharePoint thermal mug. I use this virtually every day. It’s perfect. It fits in my car’s cup holder. It works – hot drinks stay really hot for well over an hour. It doesn’t spill. I’m sure that I blagged this from @lliu during a Microsoft MVP Summit.
Office duffel bag. I have two of these. They are great for carrying camera equipment at events as well as being an excellent golf shoe bag!
I also find myself using a Microsoft .NET rucksack that was given out at MSDN Roadshows around 2000-2001. It’s almost usable as a laptop bag, but since it has little in the way of padding, care is required. Nonetheless, it’s “right sized”, not too big and not too small.
That’s not to say that the CodeZone fleece, the Microsoft MVP rugby shirt and dress shirts aren’t good swag – they are used very frequently too. Good wearables, IMHO, make good swag, especially if the vendor goes out of their way to ask you what size you are!
Bad swag manifests itself in the form of:
- Stuff that is hard to get rid off. If swag doesn’t fall into the usable or practical, folks may reject it. Conference organisers like to give swag away…they’re not so keen to take it back! Personally, I try to recover and re-use as much swag as I can: cleaners don’t want swag, they’ll simply “bin it”. It’s important to recover such swag: vendors paid for it and gave it to the conference, recovery is key. Besides, it’s only common decency to grab a box and run around the conference rooms cleaning up after you, yes?
- Breaks easily. Good swag can be delicate swag, i.e. it breaks very easily. If that happens, word gets around and you have bad swag!
- Doesn’t work. Swag that looks to be useful and practical needs to work. I’ve seen a lot of USB gizmos that were very appealing, however they simply didn’t work when plugged in.
- Good, but legacy. Think about USB devices. 1.1 is old hat now, don’t expect your audience to like you if you give them a 1.1 device that relies on a little bit of speed! Folks won’t thank you for a USB 1.1 pen drive these days!
So those are my thoughts about good/bad swag; some of them are “from the field”, i.e. from attendees at events; some are simply my observations. They’re aren’t meant to be rude in any way, so please don’t take them that way. Perhaps they’ve helped you? I would be keen to read/hear your views on this topic…
What makes good swag? What are your favourite items of swag? Please do share in the comments!
I would Love a DevExpress Laptop bag… Trouble is I would need a Laptop first 🙂
Never forget about edible swag, normally sweets. These have the advantage of not being something that you have to take home with you after the event.
Good edible swag; either from a DDD or SqlBits where the goodie bag contained a special run of Haribo gummi sweets. Wonderfully branded as “Sweets for Dummies” in the classic yellow and black of the book series, they sweets were the actual head of the Wiley ‘For Dummies’ cartoon man.
Bad edible swag; low cocao NxtGenUG chocolate bars past their best before date (Mr B Dorrans).
Personally, if I’m giving a presentation anywhere near Easter I have a habit of getting chocolate eggs for additional non-geek swag. DDD1 saw full size Easter eggs (half price), this year NxtGenUG in Oxford and Birmingham had Cadbury’s Creme Eggs thrown at them.
As for standard swag, I agree that decent quality t-shirts (Screen Stars) with discrete logos always go down well.
The standard swag items I use all the time are a Microsoft Office ‘mouse’ keyring which holds my house keys and is sufficiently heavy it will never fall out of my pocket; and a seriously high quality MSDN roadshow jacket from NxtGenUG Fest07 which is my standard lighweight jacket for when the weather turns warm but there is chance it might rain.
Good swag has another conceptual important quality…
“Desirable”
This feeds into both the marketeers needs and the geek’s needs. You want others to spot it and want to know where it cames from, then you can regale the story.. And feeds the geek because we love quality stuff which we’d have otherwise bought ourselves – it’s desirable to us.
Good marketing comes from product placement, all of the above samples you make have this excellent quality.
The really smart marketers will replace a competitors placed product, like a mug, bag, jacket, usb drive, etc….
IMHO, I’ve not yet seen anyone do a good swag wallet for geeks. How hard can that product be to get and place. Preferably the ones with a thin pen or something else slightly geeky…
Surely the poisonous water bottles deserve a mention whoever came up with them?
We have had some truely dreadful swag delivered by microsoft to give out at devevening including teched 2007 tshirts (in 2009) and some very dodgey looking .networking ones. Still crap swag all adds to the fun 🙂
Nxtgen have some good swag. I got a RedGate usb pen from Oxford branch the other day which was a nice and have had MS socks from Liam W & Guy Smith Ferrier from 2 ddd events.
Desierable swag: mugs, tshirts (with tasteful logos), usb pens and books.
EXCELLENT Post!
Honestly, it can get frustratingly hair-pulling when it comes to thinking of giving away a ‘Good Swag’ to attendees who comes to attend a conference/event.
If I’m the giver, what makes a good swag would be something that is CHEAP (since I’m paying for it :))and UNIQUE (not the standard stuff that everyone receives at an event, but something that will make them go ‘WOW’). For a receiver, of course, a good swag could be something that ranges from being practical, usable, desirable etc as you guys have summed it up. I guess it’s pretty much dependable on each individual’s expectations too.
Some SWAG Items to share based on my personal experience and feedback from customers who have received some of the SWAG items listed below and my favourite swag items:
Good and Practical Swag (some are my personal favourites)
– Travel Adaptors
– Business Card Holder
– Coasters
– Passport/Name Card Holder Set
– Logo Torch Light
– Laptop Sleeves
– Mesh/Tote Bags
– Eye Mask/Shade (really useful for travelers)
– Chap Stick/Lip Balm
– Mouse pads
– Travel Neck Rest
Edible Swag
– Candies/Mints in a Tin (sure comes in useful if you are in need of a clean breath 🙂
Fun Swag
– Frisbee (SEA gave this away as one of the SWAG during TechEd SEA to the attendees and some attendees were spotted playing with it)
– Hand-held massager
– Rubik’s cube
– Bandage/Plaster dispenser
Apparel Swag
– Sweatshirts and Jackets
The ‘Ok’ Swag
– Stress Balls
– Stick on Magnets
– Lanyards
– Decals/Stickers
– Clips/Pins
Swag is such a great marketing tool, yet so easy to overdo. Swag or no Swag? I guess just as long as the swag has done its job, tickling our curiosity and desire to know more – it’s a good swag.
Obviously Liam will be getting no more nxtgen goodies.
The things I use all the time.
– A Microsoft branded rucksack (not exactly swag, but bought with MVP bucks) – before that it was the TechEd 2001 backpack
– My Visual Studio 2008 mug (and speakers seem to like the nxtgen mugs)
– My Visual Studio 2008 fleece. Hmmmmm. Fleecy.
Good stuff of limited use.
– The Windows/Office toolkit/screwdriver set. The Allen keys fit one of my Compaq machines.
– A roll up ethernet cable – handy when in hotel rooms where you can see an empty ethernet socket 😉
– The old MSDN travel adapter – although I think I gave that away to someone else.
What I chuck away.
– USB keys under 4Gb.
– USB1 hubs (really people why? why do you do that?)
– The office/vista rucksack. I had to force those on people.
I’ve found that keyring torches simply don’t last more than 3 months before they snap (or if they’re metal the connector to the keyring snaps)
I have an MS branded travel cup. Which leaks. Let’s not forget the Microsoft brain in a petri dish though 🙂
Craig
Interesting question, at least looking at it from a vendor’s viewpoint.
Swag I use all the time: fabric bomber jacket, windscreen reflective sun screen, DevConnections executive leather notepad, the same DevExpress laptop bag that you have, a TechEd rucksack, T-shirts (until they get too ratty, at which point I start using another), pens (ditto), post-it notes (ditto), DevExpress cap, retractable Ethernet cable, the PDC portable 160GB drive.
Swag I tend not to use: the DevExpress penknife/4GB USB drive (can’t carry it on a plane), the flying squealing monkey toy (the cats are scared of it), the various toy balls that were de rigueur at some point, over-logo-ed t-shirts, pens, keychain torches, etc.
Cheers, Julian
Anyone that knows me already knows that I go for the polo shirts the most. Actually, I’ll go for most items of clothing. I have a SQL Server 2005 fleece (need to get a new one, it’s getting a bit old now), several speakers shirts, some MS socks.
Google had these cycle shorts a while ago that looked great (but not on me!). I’ve seen some of the SQL guys go around with really awsome SQL Server 2008 jackets.
From a user group organiser’s perspective pens are always welcome – Anything to encourage people to fill in their feedback forms.
Always remember that folks may be flying. I’ve had to turn down the Microsoft Swiss Army knife a couple of times because it would have been taken off me at Heathrow. (These guys won’t even let you through with Irn Bru FFS. Apparenly it is a dangerous liquid!)
You also have to be careful. What is popular this year may not be the next. The Developer Highway code used to be popular.
Also, I’ve recently discovered that you have to be careful with flags on things. It can stir some people up.
On a quick poll of the office the people here would like non-clothing for the epidermally abundant. Mice. Soft toys. Books. CDs full of PDF books or articles. Keyboards.
Anti-virus companies could give out some branded condoms. That would be “fun”. Might not be very desirable tho’
Managed to get an 80GB MS Learning branded Zune at PDC08 .. best bit of swag I have ever got for myself, one of the lucky draw ones.
Favourites so far, Office branded soft shell jacket (office logo is very slight), Azure metal drink cannister (very handy), MS Zune satchel (slight branding and very good quality satchel) and an MSDN beanie which is very good in winter!
Best swag ever was a magnetic dart board that one of my coworkers picked up when I was first working. I really love anything that I can add to my desk toys. We also got given a gyro ball at a conference once that came with a little software app that could tell how fast it was going and had a lot of fun playing with that in the office. I also have a beloved flashing Google magnet that’s been on the fridge at home for the past two years.
The most memorable sweets I ever saw were tiny little gummy power tools. Best booth attraction was a chocolate fountain that Oracle had at Tech Ed Europe one year. They had a chef on their stand and everything. 🙂
I don’t usually like the t-shirts. I won’t wear anything black or white. Don’t much like the ugly branding. It’s a pity that more companies don’t make shirts that appeal to my geek side. I do really like my DDD shirts for wearing around the house. They’re soft and comfy.
Lots of people who used to come to see us would be looking for swag they could give their children. We used to give away a lot of stress balls to developers who wanted to take something home to the kids.
@Helen – Holy moley! I remember that chocolate fountain. I think I died and went to heaven that day.
I might not be a tekkie, but I love free stuff as much as the next girl, and I have one comment on t-shirts/polo shirts. Please, please make them good quality! I hate picking up a great looking t-shirt at an event and then getting it home, putting it on and realising it is scratchy and shrinks the first time you wash it.
I picked it up because I liked it and I would wear it. Don’t give me reasons not to do that!
That is all 🙂
I’m wearing Microsoft Socks right now – quality.
Other than that the laptop bag I use a lot and the MS Mouse too.
One of the best pieces of swag I got was at the Apple Educational Leadership Summit/Hong Kong in April ’09. Every attendee received The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley, right after his keynote address. Nice legacy piece.
Just to record the ideas that were discussed this afternoon I’m adding to the list. For summertime swag the following may be good:
* beach balls
* Frisbees
* (beach) towels
* Sunscreen lotion
And some other ideas I’ve had since:
* USB can coolers/fridges
* Battery/USB powered fans
I’ve been using the same Dictaphone padfolio for more than 2 years! It’s not oversized or bulky. It holds a pad of letter-sized paper, has a loop for a pen, a large slash pocket for some loose documents, and a little windowed-pocket for business cards. Nothing fancy, but I use it daily.
I have a goofy little piggy bank that sits on my desk collecting change so I don’t have coins rattling around in my pocket after lunch or a trip to the coffeeshop. This was probably a very cheap piece of vendor swag, but I use most days.
I also use one of those funky shaped letter-openers almost every day.
I love pens, but hate junkie, cheapie, lightweight, ballpoint pens. I have a couple of heftier, nice vendor pens that I use all the time. The rest of the vendor pens I get make their way into the nearby classrooms where I won’t care if they wander off permanently.
I have one particular swag ballcap that’s become a favorite. It’s all cloth, has a nice adjustable strap at the back, and isn’t gaudy. I wear it nearly every weekend. I have a handful of other vendor swag ballcaps that never leave the closet because they’re too flashy, have mesh backs, or just fit kinda wonky. (No trucker caps, please!!)