20 most worthless pieces of junk: #13 -- Consumer/trade show swag
Filed under: Extracurriculars
There's something about attending a convention or trade show that turns innocent folks into potential packrats. Mention a free giveaway over at Booth XYZ, and folks will scurry over to get their hands hot little hands on....keychains, mousepads, paperweights, and other items that seem nifty at the time, but often end up buried in a junk drawer. I mean, how many letter openers, rulers, calendars, and giant paper clips do you need?
Granted, you can score some cool stuff in America's exhibit halls, like T-shirts, ball caps, mugs, pens, and even briefcases. (At my last garage sale I sold off three of those convention show briefcases that had never been used.) I've gotten pedometers, mini-calculators, stress balls, and business card holders from companies that ranged from media giants to the dude who runs a local bathroom renovation company. Most of those items went unused because they didn't work for long or I already had a better model. However, I'm still holding onto a shoe horn I picked up at some local trade show in the hope that it will come in handy someday.
After years of traipsing through convention halls and hauling around bags of trade-show loot, I finally got hip to avoiding many of the giveaways to spare my back and avoid bringing home more useless junk. Now if I attend one of these shows, I only go for the good stuff, such as free magazines or books I actually want to read and business cards or brochures of people I actually plan to do business with. Also, I still can't resist a free coffee mug or T-shirt, because you just can't have too many of those.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-13-2009 @ 8:55AM
Rita said...
Then you'll have to do away with trade shows altogether, cause that "swag" as you put it helps the whole event to be more bearable. I like to look around, but several will corner you and not let you go as they drone on and on about their product. So I want to get paid for that bit of time I spent be bored to death (after all, that is time I will never get back). My payment, "swag", is pretty cheap, but it is my sole compensation for my attendance. Besides, some of the swag is useful: Like letter openers, mini flashlights, magnets with measurement conversions on them (which I DO use).
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7-13-2009 @ 1:10PM
Rei said...
I don't know about trade shows, but anything I got for free at ComicCon that I wouldn't use per se got passed on to very grateful friends and relatives. Hey, it could never hurt to give swag that could be useful away to charity/secondhand shops. T-shirts, mugs, flashlights...that stuff may not be useful to you, but there's always someone who will want something new and useful for free or almost free.
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7-14-2009 @ 6:13PM
steve said...
hey Francine,
Your post on trade show swag cracks me up!
Being in the trade show displays business I've seen a lot of USELESS junk, but man do people get excited over it!
I have to wonder what your "dude who runs a local bathroom renovation company" was handing out. He should have handed out rolls of toilet paper with his company name printed on them. Now that would have been USEFUL swag!
Thanks for the laugh.
Steve
http://www.pinnacledisplays.com
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7-14-2009 @ 10:43PM
puck said...
Oh man, do I agree with this. Having worked at several conventions for several years it is AMAZING what free useless junk will do to a crowd of attendees.
Anything they want to give me for free I immediately think, "Will I use this? If so, it must be immediate. If not, is there someone I know who would really, really enjoy it instead?" If all signs point to 'hell no' then they can keep it.
I do get suckered into anything interesting to read (which then get recycled), pretty art, and totes. Damn you totes, why can I never, ever say 'no' to you??
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7-15-2009 @ 12:18PM
Sharyn said...
I never pass up the opportunity to get a free stress ball! As a substitute teacher, these are great to throw at students (I sub at middle schools and high schools only) and we wind up throwing the ball all over the room and having a good time (what else do you expect when there's a sub?) Usually a student will keep the ball and then it's off to some training to get another one :)
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7-15-2009 @ 4:07PM
PointSpecial said...
Yeah, that stuff is pretty much junk... Just things that clutter up the approprately named "junk drawer."
But some of them do provide enjoyment for a bit and some are useful! But those are few and far between.
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