jkottke [22 March 2006 03:31 PM]

I dislike conference swag bags; they're incredibly wasteful and I refuse them whenever possible. That said, I have a bag from PopTech which I use for my laptop and one from last year's Adobe Ideas conference which I use for my camera. I've thrown most of rest away or given the bags and shirts to SA/Goodwill when I can, but that's not always an easy option.

Roger [22 March 2006 04:03 PM]

I really liked the backpacks from last year's OSCON, we use them now for field kits when we have to take road trips to visit wireless customers.

T-shirts almost never fit me. I've taken most of them over the years and either given them to famil members who needed them, or donated them to charities like homeless shelters.

Luke Kanies [22 March 2006 04:03 PM]

Heh, the Web 2.0 bag I got was a great size and had a lot of great pockets, but it started shredding in less than a month.

In a decade of getting swag, I think the only ones that usually stay around are the larger and more tasteful mugs. Well-insulated all-metal coffee thermoses are nice, as are Nalgene bottles. Powell's Books has a bunch of cool Nalgene bottles right now about different types of literature, and geek versions of those would be great, especially if they were less than half advertisement (the Powell's bottles have fuax ingredients lists on them).

Other than drinking vessels, not much has stuck around for me. If the t-shirts ever actually fit and weren't white and were anything but an advertisement, I might wear them, but I doubt it. Maybe some really nice socks -- Sock Guy makes tons of bike socks with all kinds of colors and logos, those might be a hit.

I generally collect anything that flashes or resembles toys in order to pass them on to my nephews and nieces, but I don't think you're really getting your money's worth there.

Jeremy Zawodny [22 March 2006 04:49 PM]

Amusingly, I can always use another t-shirt. I have way too many conference bags that I'll probably never use.

Don Marti [22 March 2006 04:54 PM]

SpikeSource gave out handy mini USB hubs. (so I went to work for them)

Richard [22 March 2006 05:56 PM]

I got a rucksack (backpack) from PalmSource '99 in London - that's the Palm developer's conference, which I only went to as a laugh. I'm still using the bag 7 years later, having gone through one TRGPro, two iPaqs, and back to a Treo 650 in the meantime. A few months after the conference, someone actually recognised me on a plane to SFO by the bag - I'd met them at the conference, but they saw me manhandling the bag across the aisle and came over to say hi :-)

I've also got a FOSSSL bag, which is cool just because, well, it was a cool conference, but I think having a bag from a Free/Open Source conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka is pretty damn cool...

I got a combined pen/stylus/LED torch/laser pointer from LinuxWorld in Boston last year, which I'd hesitate to take outside because it's big and blue, but which is a neat gadget...

Keith Peters [22 March 2006 07:53 PM]

Macromedia gave out really awesome Timbuk2 laptop bags a couple of years ago. It's my prized posession. Also have a nice mini Macromedia mouse. I'm with you on the pens, but I can always use another t-shirt.

Pat Allan [22 March 2006 08:51 PM]

I've only been to a handful of conferences, so I don't have a large collection of swag, but just a few notes:

- Apple WWDC 2004 - the bag was a piece of crap. Not designed for carrying books, notepads, pens, laptops, anything like that. Just one big section, and a smaller front pocket. The tshirt, however, was great. Understated design - just the apple logo on the front, and 'WWDC 2004' on the back, with some small text on the edge of the sleeves.

- I guess with t-shirts, i want something I'm happy to wear out, something that looks good - ie. not something I'll just wear around the house when the rest of my clothes are in dire need of a wash.

- Oh, and in comparison to the WWDC bag, the shoulderbags from MXDU 2004 (Sydney Macromedia-focused event) and Web Essentials 2005 (Sydney) are quite nice - but lack decent padding for a laptop, and so I rarely use either. It really does seem stupid to supply bags that can't support laptops safely at tech conferences.

- Pens: WWDC had a nice fullsized pen, and a crap half-sized pen. I definitely don't want felt-tip pens.

- Stress-toys are always welcome - especially if they bounce decently, as then they can be used for office cricket or can just be thrown with force without worrying about damage to walls/people.

CJG [22 March 2006 10:15 PM]

I guess that would be a Tri-Ada '92 bag, that I still use at least once a week. It is a sturdy simple canvas bag, that is great to stuff heavy book and such into.

Alex [23 March 2006 02:07 AM]

I liked most a car digital clock and a tshirt compressed into a 10/10cm cube.
What can I say... I'm a sucker for such gimmicks :D
PS. I detest free pens.

Pat Allan [23 March 2006 02:14 AM]

After a bit more thinking about this, I've decided what I'd really love is a swag bag that's a bike pannier, built to carry a laptop. So Nat, the next conference you organise, do you think that's an option? ;)

In the meantime, if anyone else wants that kind of bag, you might find my current setup interesting (and sorry for the self-promotion).

jkc [23 March 2006 07:34 AM]

I vote FOR t-shirts (XL) and coffee mugs. Swag bags generally suck, or else I've never gotten the good ones.

The coolest swag I ever got, though, was a mini Mag-Lite from the annual Sony afterparty at NAB in Vegas. It's on my desk now, in the laptop bag I bought at Costco, along with a couple of boxes of pens I bought at Staples.

Gavin Bell [23 March 2006 07:59 AM]

Best bag, Apple WWDC in 99, nice big vertical bag, I used it for a while and still have it. Mugs are good the WITI one from this years etech was a hit with my wife, so are tasteful desk calendars. I still use the 2004 etech bag for moving books to and from home and office. t-shirts are mixed, I'd a medium, so they are usually too big.
Laser pointers and the like are fun. I guess a basic rule would be, would you use this every day or would you pay for it. If neither is true then it'll get chucked away.

tom armitage [23 March 2006 08:08 AM]

Well, I'm a relative newcomer on the conference circuit... so can only pass limited comment.

However, two bits of schwag stand out from Etech 06 - firstly, the nice canvas bag, which I'm sure could be pressed into use soon by either me or the girlfriend, and secondly, the legendary Foldera tshirts.

Initially dismissed by many as "another crappy conference t-shirt", murmurs began spreading amongst those who'd bothered to try them on that they were "really astonishingly comfortable" and "definitely something I'd wear in future" and "great for cycling, walking, or tennis".

I am wearing mine at work now. It really is astonishingly comfortable.

(For those of you who haven't got one: it's long-sleeved, quite tight, and made out of that breathable fabric. It is great for walking, cycling, or tennis, and also absurdly comfortable to sleep in).

pwb [23 March 2006 11:43 AM]

Mini-mice.

Brett [23 March 2006 12:09 PM]

The best had to be the swag provided by infosec managment company Risk Watch (http://www.riskwatch.com/) a few years ago, probably at InfoSec World. Their pitch was something to the effect of "Whip your infosec managment program into shape" (perhaps I paraphrase, but the the first word is the key here). What were they giving out?

whips.

Of course, they had a luggage tag with the Risk Watch info on one side attached to them.

Top that? Yes, I can.

while i was talking to another vendor rep (female), a big burly guy walks by and says he can customize the whips for us....

Brett [23 March 2006 12:13 PM]

My second choice also came from an infosec event, but I can't recall which. But the vendor is very notable - CISCO. What would Cisco swag?

How about some shorts. Gray, light cotton, elastic waistband. Cisco's pitch in black lettering on the b.... well, on the back-side:

"Cisco Secure - covering your digital assetsts"

Brett [23 March 2006 12:16 PM]

and by the way, I too am wayyyy past tshirts. I still have some from Network+Interop 1995 that look like new!

Of course, those vendor-embazoned golf shirts are fine. The best one is from Sun (which the Sun reps affectionately refer to as the "Star Trek Shirt" because of the similarity to Star Trek Next Generation uniforms).

Tobias [23 March 2006 03:06 PM]

I have a keyring from Epson circa 1987 that I'm still using. It is very solid and good for a lot of thing -- among others, opening (beer) bottles.

CJ [23 March 2006 03:44 PM]

Sun (IIRC - I didn't get one of these) gave out a few mini remote-control cars at Oracle World in Melbourne one year.

Quality wins over quantity every time, but sometimes the fun things trump even that.

I'm sure during the week of LinuxWorld in SF last year, another part of the Moscone center was holding a conference-swag conference. I wonder what sort of giveaways they had!

Kathy Sierra [23 March 2006 05:31 PM]

The Java ring, given out at the JavaOne conference in 97 or 98, can't remember which. It had a tiny little JVM, and you could dock it and upload your coffee preferences, which you could then use to submit an order into the robotic Jini-enabled coffee bar. I believe some folks were able to hack it to get their coffee order to jump up in the queue...
You could also use the ring to upload a piece of a fractal to calculate, then you'd download your finished "pixel" to the big fractal project. Each pixel in the ongoing fractal could be tracked back to a particular person, and they (Sun?) would choose pixels at random and award prizes.
http://www.useit.com/papers/javaring.html

Now THAT was swag. Magazines and newspapers featured stories about that swag for the entire next year. I love the idea of swag that actually *becomes* part of the conference experience and not just one more thing to stuff in your carry-on. I'm sure it was expensive, but the publicity and enthusiasm had to be worth it.

Another year they gave out Palm V's at half price. It wasn't technically swag, since you had to pay, but just about everybody did! It came loaded with a VM and they had contests for writing little apps during the show... those were the days : )
Ahem -- note about t-shirts -- will someone PLEASE PLEASE consider the women? I love the shirts, but a large/x-large--while practical for the show sponsors--sucks for your female attendees. If I had a dime for every time I've heard, "You can sleep in it!"...

Glenn [25 March 2006 07:32 AM]

No doubt the N-Gage back-pack I got at the product launch in London (02 I think) has stood up well. It's small, padded well, and has loads of compartments useful for gadgets. As for t-shirts, I have atleast 80 or 90 but the long-sleeves are the nicest and wear very well... honorable mention go to GTG, Navteq, and SMSac for providing me with very nice long-sleeves. The Nokia glow in the dark pens are a huge hit with my daughters and they work very well on late night flights when you don't wan to turn on your over head light.
Cheers

Chris [25 March 2006 09:51 AM]

I think the primary purpose of swag is to announce to the world that you participated in an event. A practical use is a nice extra. I like T-shirts with a bold graphic quality (e.g. the "Mashup or Shutup" T-shirts from Yahoo), and dark ones are usually best. Stickers are fun because you can put them on your laptop. A backpack with lots of pockets for gadgets would be great too! Pens and other such things just cause clutter in my office.

Nick [27 March 2006 06:57 AM]

I'm a reporter for InformationWeek, where I get sent all sorts of odd swag. The most unusual: flippers and a snorkel from networking vendor Nominum.

Geoff [27 March 2006 07:10 PM]

every time I go to a conference I find that I don't have a luggage tag. if microsoft gave out luggage tags last year it would be coming with me to portland this year, since I still don't have any...

Jason [28 March 2006 02:55 PM]

I had an idea for a neat schwag item. It would be cute if Apple made a little wind-up, bobblehead toy that looks like the little white, blue-eyed robot in the Automator icon.

vanderwal [30 March 2006 02:58 PM]

This most recent Microsoft Search Champs had a killer jacket (it has Microsoft branding between the shoulders). I can see myself wearing it for years to come, the branding is a cause of grief and confusion. They also gave out Timbuk2 bags, which is also a great gift.

I like a good t-shirt, but have been waiting for a good fleece jacket. I have seen many that are drool worthy. Some great hats have been seen around too.

Good stickers seem to me in, or were just in.

Another Nat [ 1 April 2006 07:53 PM]

WWDC handed out the same bag in 2000 as 1999, I believe. I still use it a lot.

David Battino [ 3 April 2006 02:27 AM]

Project Bar-B-Q, the computer music brainstorming conference, has given out some inspired swag over the years, including

• marshmallow blowguns
  
• a Dolby Labs branding iron and director’s chair
  
• potato and smoke-ring guns
  
• cowboy hats (mine have seen many halloweens)
  
• steak knives (I abandoned mine rather than challenge airport security)
  
• a combination bottle opener and shaker (percussion instrument)
  
• custom-label wine
  
• a Funk Logic rack filler panel with funny knobs (the Compatibility knob goes from Toaster to MIDI)
  

At last year’s event, attendees got two USB audio interfaces. One was keychain size, the other supported discrete surround-sound outputs. (Disclaimer: I’m on the BBQ advisory board, but help select speakers, not swag.)

Laura Thomson [19 April 2006 04:15 PM]

I love the shirts, and treasure them. I wear conference shirts at work most of the time, as do some of my colleagues.

Best other schwag...wireless detectors from Sun, sticky darts from Pearson that you could throw at people's nametags and hit from a great distance, and yoyos, which unfortunately broke so I can't tell you who made them.

Mihai [27 April 2006 09:36 PM]

CROSSBOX, a usefull USB PC-to-PC cable:
http://www.netac.com/products_show/digital_g100.htm
If you think it is no big deal, then try moving data between 2 PCs using USB.

joe thacker [ 2 May 2006 11:01 AM]

Ever since I moved to DC over 20 years ago, I've been going to local events collecting giveaways/swag. I even give blood in order to get some Red Cross stuff, mostly t-shirts. I now help recruiters in my co. with the stuff we give out to job fairs, etc. I look through the catalog of our promotional provider & there are hundreds of different things availible.
I prefer things that are useful & different. Pens & shirts are OK but been done to death. I pass up cheap plastic bgs to get the sturdy canvas ones. I don't drink coffee, so no mugs. The kids in my family love the cheap toys I give them every year.
I keep hearing about events for the adult industry, I wonder what kind of swag they have? :P

Ben [27 June 2006 04:12 AM]

I know this isn't a conference per se, but I really like going to the LA Marathon expos and getting the official posters (from the event, not the individual advertisers). While they're not hip gadgets or apparel or anything, they're the only kind of swag that I've kept for years.