Building your brand with schwag

As a planner you get to agonize over the types of goodies or schwag you want to distribute at meetings. I don’t even recall the many items I’ve received in registration welcome packets. At first, I found extra space in my suitcase and took the items home, only to toss them in a box in the garage. Once a year, usually when unpacking the Christmas decorations, I’d discover the box and it would be donated to a charity shop. Rarely would I keep an item. I do feel guilty about that, it seemed like such a wasted effort of time and money.  As an attendee I now rarely even take an item home.

Meeting clients however still want to give away schwag, and there will always be an audience for stuff. It is determining what to give away and its potential impact during and post-conference that is key to the success of the giveaway and your brand. It doesn’t help the cause if a large percentage of your attendees leave the stuff in their hotel rooms upon departure.  Once I asked hotel housekeeping to track items tossed during a conference.  In this casual observation we learned that more than 75% of the attendees left their schwag upon checkout. Who knows how many chucked out the items when they got home? This obviously was waste of money.

I don’t think there is a magical solution, but I reached out and asked other planners and attendees what they consider schwag worth taking home and therefore valuable to your brand.

HERE IS A LIST OF THOSE DESIRABLE ITEMS

1.       Designer laptop sleeves with discreetly placed event or vendor logo.

2.       High quality, well designed pens.

3.       First-class thermal coffee mugs to be used at the event, and then taken home.

4.       Well-made t-shirts or sweaters with discreetly placed event or sponsor logos.

5.       Thermal blankets with subtle logo. At least half of your audience will be too cold during sessions in hard to control meeting and ballrooms. Attendees will love these blankets, and since you no longer get them on the plane, they are great for the trip home too.  

6.       Care package of personal goodies including a nutrition bar, water, sunscreen, candies, product samples and more. Stuff to sustain attendees during the conference.

7.       Usable coupons or offers for items during the conference. A Starbucks gift card to be used at the coffee house in the venue, a complimentary cocktail offer at the resort bar, etc…  

8.       An item suggested by some, but perhaps out of range for most was the iPad. If you’re hosting that conference, let me know. I want to attend!

Share any items you have received or given to your attendees. I’ll include them in an update to this post. Click here to message me.

Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions for this post!

See more helpful advice in our Resource Blog here.

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Planning Events, a step-by-step guide - Part 2: Budgets

In the first installment of our “Planning Events, a Step-by-Step Guide” we addressed some key questions to ask at the start of the planning process, as well as how to develop an event committee. Click here to read the post.  In this week’s post we are addressing how to develop an event budget. Before starting the budgeting process we ask yourself some key questions. The answers will help guide the development of a robust event budget. Click here to read the full post.

Money, money, money, it's...

Our latest in Good Advice tackles the event and conference budgeting process. I happen to enjoy this task and find satisfaction in meeting budgets, or doing better than anticipated. Planning a budget may sound daunting. Keeping a few simple rules in mind, the process really isn’t that challenging.

We’ve asked planners around the country for their best budget planning tips, mainly on how to budget wisely and save. The ideas and feedback were plentiful. In future posts we will address how to plan for very specific aspects of your event or meeting. In this first “budget” post, we’ve compiled some overall good ideas to share.

So here you have it, budget saving tips from professionals in the field.

Clockwise:
Cassie Brown, CSEP; Greg Jenkins;
Deborah Kattler Kupetz; Kateri J. Harried

CASSIE BROWN, CSEP
Chief Experience Officer with Tribble Creative Group in Charlotte, NC.

Cassie recommends having a well thought-out budget template that includes items that could be easily forgotten, such as a piano tuner, rider expenses, mileage and more. Remember things like permits and music licenses.  She suggests rounding numbers, rather than using exact numbers. Paying close attention and understanding tax rates and hotel service fees help in the budget process, and avoid any unpleasant surprises later on.

GREG JENKINS
Partner at Bravo Productions in Long Beach, CA shares the following:

Greg finds that a best way to start is by reviewing the group's historical patterns. If you have a firm grasp of historical patterns, it's a great way to start planning a budget, and an excellent means to avoid wasteful spending. For example, how much food and beverage was actually consumed? What was actual attendance versus projected attendance?

Negotiate every supplier contract for a better rate. If every supplier you’re using reduces their cost by 5%, you will save a significant amount of money.

Set the meal count lower than expected. Hotels and most banquet facilities will often charge a penalty fee for reducing the count at the last minute, but not for increasing it. Venues always make sure to have a few extra meals on hand. It’s nice when you need them, and even better not to have to pay for them if you don’t.  Also, request the venue to provide seasonal vegetables instead of more pricey items that are out-of-season such as asparagus, artichokes and exotic fruits such as mangoes, papayas, etc. Request pitchers of water, or water stations with cups instead of bottled water.

Research the venue's 'peaks and valleys' in deciding when to host your meeting or event. You'll likely to save some money when the venue is in less demand. You'll also be in a position to negotiate a better a contract with the venue.

KATERI J. HARRIED
Principal of Klover Events in Washington, D.C. shares the following advice:

When considering a location it is imperative you know whether the facility is union. Building this into your budget and timeline is an absolute must. Not doing so will significantly impact your bottom line and onsite operations.  

Researching the cost of internet access for your meeting rooms is hugely important. You almost always need some sort of access whether it is for the presenter or the participants. Speaking from experience, I had one property in Chicago try to charge me $40,000 for 100 people to use Wi-Fi over a four day period. Don’t get bitten by this one. Different hotels structure this different ways, so make certain to glean all the options and consider all additional fees on top (hotel, local, taxes and gratuity).

DEBORAH KATTLER KUPETZ
Owner of dkkevents in Los Angeles, CA. dkkevents is known for its “green” event planning.
Deborah shares the following bits of advice:

Don't put dates on corporate materials so they can be reused, saving money year after year.

Use technology as much as possible to allow attendees to communicate well in advance of event. All materials should be available electronically. You wouldn't believe the number of materials that are thrown away without ever being read!  I agree here with Deborah and share that EventInterface.com lets you do this easily for your events and meetings.

Avoid swag bags unless the items are absolutely necessary and utilitarian well after the event. Many event planners feel they need to include some sort of souvenir, but the majority of event attendees discard these items within days, even minutes of the conference's end.

Have you own tips to share. Send us a note and we’ll include it in our next Good Advice Budget post. Send your stories by clicking here.

-Al Wynant