Have Free Swag and They Will Come!

"Swag is a slang term used, for our intents and purposes, to describe the free stuff companies give away as a form of advertising. It's usually branded with the company's name, logo, and/or colors” (Leist, 2017). Who doesn’t love free stuff? Even teachers go crazy over stickers, just like their students do. Rachel Leist describes the exact reason I decided to search out swag for each Make & Take Tech day. She states that it’s the little things that can make an event go the extra mile and it brings delight to participants.

I will admit, I was always jealous of people who had swag all over their laptops. I often wondered where and how they were able to get their hands on such things. I never realized it was as easy as contacting the company in most cases. Nearpod and Flipgrid have been extremely generous to send me stuff for free. The Google stickers, on the other hand, I did pay for but watching teachers choose a sticker is priceless. I feel as if teachers feel I went that extra mile to make this time meaningful and I welcome their attendance. I also think of swag as a way for teachers to collaborate. For example, if I see someone with a Flipgrid sticker on their device, I will assume they have gone to a training on Flipgrid or uses it frequently and would possibly be someone to bounce ideas off of.

Along with Leist (2017), the Young Entrepreneur Council (2012) has created a list of gifts and swag that attendees will like and dislike. I thought it was interesting that both lists include t-shirts and unique food items such as individually wrapped tea bags and jars of candy like gummy bears. Other items that top the list of swag people want includes mobile chargers, umbrellas, seasonal items, water bottles, and digital downloads. In other words, items that people will actually use. Of course there is always the swag that people take but do not want such as keychains, USB flash drives, phone cases, and backpacks. One item on the loathe list I was surprised about is pens. In my opinion, you can never have enough pens but Leist will argue that in the age of mobile devices, pens as gifts are becoming obsolete unless a company spends a substantial amount of money on a high quality pen. Companies like Nearpod may have this same argument because pens they give away are of high quality and serve three purposes...a pen, a stylus, and a flashlight.

Although Leist says swag and giveaway items should be of a manageable size, I have my eye on getting a Flipgrid recording tent for one lucky teacher in December. Keeping my fingers crossed!

References

Leist, R. (n.d.). Event Swag Your Attendees Will Love ... and Loathe. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/conference-swag-ideas

Young Entrepreneur Council. (2012, June 29). 11 Ideas for Cool Giveaways. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/11-tips-for-cool-giveaways.html