Any fruit of our creativity doesn't last forever. Conference swag is a mutable thing. So, any brainchild of managers and designers will have to be redesigned sooner or later. My colleagues once shared their experience of how we wildly and creatively prepare for conferences. As an event manager, I'd like to carry on the tradition.

Since our company attends conferences regularly, we're always thinking about ways to enhance our merch. If you're also a conference junkie, you may know how goes at IT events: booths actively compete for the audience's attention.

To run, or not to run, that is the question

We're keeping it low-key with our merch. Our company doesn't seek to stand out at entertainment things, so there's not much point in such a wild-goose chase. Nevertheless, we'd like to treat the booth attendees to something special, preferably new.

In 2024, we attended over 30 conferences with our booth. The number is formidable yet exciting. For each major event, we do our utmost to bring along at least one or two new giveaway items. So, we'll refresh the whole merch lineup at the end of the year. In 2025, the wheel of Samsara will turn, and we will start all over again.

Where does conf swag come from, mommy?

We currently have three event managers on our team. Our six paws heroically redesign three old merch items and created 10 new ones.

Here is a short pipeline:

Request — Brainstorming — Best Idea — Vendor Search— Task for Designer — Order.

What is brainstorming?

I suppose you know what it is, but I'll explain our case anyway. My team gathers not just witty and easy-going creative minds, but developers' ones. People of my marketing kin hardly deliver true and hilarious jokes about niche programmer topics. Yeah, I can scroll through Reddit meme tribes but still end up with so something totally out of context.

So, we've packed a room full of programmers, and they've generated some cool content. The event managers choose the juiciest ideas, describe our vision, and nip round to the design team, where all those awesome unicorns and bugs come to life.

Next, we find a vendor and put the masterpiece into production, adjusting the deadline to get the final product ready for the conference.

Stickers

Stickers are our next stop. They used to have two problems. First, they quickly wore out, which we got feedback on. Yes, we embrace and appreciate the constructive criticism!

When my team tested new fabrication techniques, I'll admit, my hands shook a bit. The current stickerology tenderly stirs my heart! The plethora of textures and materials empowers us to run wild. We went all in! Stickers with glittered, matte, and glossy lamination, different holographic stuff, and those fancy epoxy squares for phones... So far, we haven't tried just suncatcher stickers, but we'll make them sooner or later...

We realized that levelled up enough to launch limited drops. So, we started small, the limited-edition season stickers! By the way, we once did a limited cyber drop.

We went with a Halloween theme this fall, but here's the twist: after testing a ton of glittery holiday items, we made the stickers... matte. Yes, we opted for a minimalistic texture, as the illustrations are already pretty detailed. The sticker quality has been enhanced—now they don't rub off or peel easily. We're not even sure you can get rid of them that easily.

The oldies have also received a makeover, too. We haven't given up on updating the illustrations and plan to rework them soon. We've improved their quality, and now you tear them off only with the laptop lid.

Look closely, and you can spot square epoxy stickers.

T-shirts

I think any event manager who has ever created giveaway clothes knows my struggle. It's challenging to find the right vendor who offers not only a high-quality fabric but also prints that are firm as a rock. Sometimes I find a very nice fabric, but no matter the print, it always loses the battle against the washing machine. I spot a bad one from a sampler—it's thick and thus prone to cracking. To all my event makers, I sincerely wish to find that one perfect T-shirt vendor. I ordered from all over the world to find the one and only.

Now I'm thrilled to present the result: a super-duper seasonal T-shirt featuring our mascots! We aimed to make it wearable and maintain brand awareness. We know it'll be a hit, both in and out of the office.

Posters!

The idea to make merch posters came out of the blue. Our designer thought the illustration for the article would also look great on a wall, so he printed it on A3 paper using our office printer—just for fun. Almost immediately, other teams started requesting their own copies—everyone wanted one! We decided to observe if conference junkies would react the same way. Transporting the posters isn't easy, so we needed a solution. We used cardboard tubes. Yes, the poster is folded, but no worries—it'll be safe and sound, and conference attendees won't have to lug around an A3 folder at the conference.

Who transferred the print from the T-shirt to the paper? It was him again, its creator. I snatched his idea for the conference again.

Catch Bug!

Our board game generates an exciting buzz both in the office and at conferences.

It's a card-based game featuring simple mechanics like "Take That" and set collection. Conferences need a fun, fast-paced game for multiple players. As our marketing is mostly educational, this plaything is one of the rare exceptions that lets attendees unwind and enjoy the gaming experience.

The rules and setup are straightforward enough so we can gift the game to the winners. The game even fits in a pocket—and you can learn how to play after just one round. If there's an unexpected power outage in the office, you know exactly what to do.

Water bottles

We've had bottles for quite some time, but I'd like to include them anyway. You can see this popular conference swag at any booth, but each company has a different one. You might wonder why we designed these bottles the way we did. Okay, I have an Achievement to share, I consider myself a true sommelier of still water. But I'm fed up with plastic bottles, which absorb tastes and odors to the core and don't forgive our pathetic mistakes. Left the full bottle closed for a week? Now say goodbye—it's gone for good. No type of plastic can escape this fate. That's where metal bottles come to the rescue! It forgives us anything. We can fill it with tea, juice, protein, and none of those things will lose their flavor until the end of time. Plus, a carabiner and compact size let us take the bottle anywhere

... and even pens

I didn't expect such a trivial thing to make it into the article, but here it is. Why? The whole thing amuses me.

It's the same old story: conference attendees often pocket pens from the booth. They somehow just "stick" to their hands completely unintentionally, and we all understand that. We didn't even think of them as merch until my team spotted a labyrinth pen in the vendor catalog. At that moment, we understood that we'd never part with it. People react to them in a very funny way. Now, they don't just put them in pockets, they'll usually ask if they can keep one after use. Since we now bring plenty, we're happy to let conf junkies carry pens away—or even offer them ourselves. We feel like proud mama ducks showing off their ducklings!

Wrapping up

Some merch we've ditched. For instance, shortly after introducing stick-on cardholders, we realized that they were outmoded and thus sent them into oblivion.

We also sent tote bags to Valhalla. It may be a surprise, but almost all my colleagues complained that 99% of the time, the handles are too short and uncomfortable for shoulder carrying. Sad but true—tote bags are gone.

Not every idea can survive, but we're happy with where we are now. We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments or see you at our booth to discuss which merch from this article caught your eye!