What’s Your Favorite Conference Giveaway?

I’ve attended hundreds of conferences over my years and typically every conference provides some sort of giveaway (i.e. schwag). This past week at Graphing Social Patterns, the giveaway was a messenger bag (see photo below). It seemed like they couldn’t give them away and even asked attendees to take more than one! Lately more conferences seem to be providing some sort of bag to attendees. A couple of examples include: Techcrunch50 provided a messenger bag and SXSW provided a sack-type bag (for groceries or laundry).

I have two bags that I currently use. One is a bag I bought in Paris. The bag is perfect when I don’t need to carry my laptop. The other bag I received at a conference nearly 9 years ago and yet it’s still in perfect condition today. It has lots of pockets including a padded laptop pocket and I’ve carried it everywhere around the world when I need to take my laptop. Since that conference 9 years ago, not one bag I’ve received has made me want to change my routine.

Overall I find that bags are pretty much a waste of money. Attendees always show up with their own bags, a bag that they are typically comfortable with. It would take a great bag to get someone to change. And that’s why no one takes the bags – it’s just another thing to carry around at the conference. I am not exactly sure how much the bags cost but I am guessing they range from $8-20. I’ve actually started to pass on taking the bags.

So what is the perfect conference giveaway? I am a pen guy – to me you can never go wrong with a pen. You could do something nicer than a Bic and yet still stay under a couple of dollars. What about USB sticks? They could work as well as long as they have a good amount of storage but just like the pen would be used way more often than a bag. A nice mug perhaps – just please, no more bags. Actually what I’d vote for today is a nice umbrella – a foldup that has the conference logo on the top – that would certainly useful.

Others I’ve spoken with seem to like tshirts, hats and some attendees I spoke with would rather that the price of the bag be discounted off the conference pricing. If you do tshirts, make sure you buy styles for both men and women. Yes, there is a difference and it will make you look like a superstar if you create both.

What’s your favorite conference giveaway? Please take our survey below and share your thoughts in the comments.