True Confessions of a Swag Whore

Note: The following true life confession might be disturbing to the reader.  Proceed with caution.


I have an addiction.  I have been a slave to this condition most of my life and it has been the source of many embarrassing moments. You see, I am obsessed with getting free promotional stuff (aka: swag).  I'm not talking about taking the complimentary tote bag and a few pens at a conference and calling it a day. Oh no. My vice goes way beyond that.  I exhibit an excessive behavior trait (aka: whore) where I will go to any length to get something for free. This obsession has nothing to do with whether or not I have a need for the stuff.  I am solely attracted to swag because it is free.  And the more the better.  


When I attend an event, my swag radar is always on.  I have mastered the skill of being able to keep all senses fully engaged to locking in on free stuff.  So as not to appear too anxious in collecting freebies, I have learned how to make my obsession appear natural and unassuming by applying five simple strategies. Let me use my recent attendance at evo'12, a conference for women in social media, to illustrate how I am able to manage my addiction:


1. Take the attendee swag bag. Popular conferences have popular sponsor support and these sponsors always provide their products to fill the complimentary attendee swag bag.  Upon registration, I was given this lovely reusable bag:

It was bulging at the seams with free product.  Upon further inspection, I discovered the following treasures inside: From Procter and Gamble, two full size bottles of VO5 hair products and a Pantene hair product; four boxes of healthy macaroni and cheese, a Whirlpool water bottle, pen, and measuring spoon; Candle Warmers fragrance warmer; a utensil to skin avocados and flash drive from the California Avocado Commission; a phone screen saver cloth and headband from Together Counts; Oil of Olay Wrinkle Revolution Complex; sample of Truvia; a Tillamook cheese slicer; a business card organizer from One2One Network; an eBayGreen flash drive; a Wittlebee baby t-shirt and bottle warmer set; Jelly Belly jelly beans from shot@life; a fat quarter of fabric from Riley Blake Designs; lots of coupons for various products; and four Text Bands from Hallmark..  This bag alone brought so much joy to my swag whore self.  It was totally worth the price of admission. 


2. Attend all event sponsored meals. At evo'12, meal functions were sponsored by some of the brands like Southwest Airlines, Rice Krispies, Tillamook, One2One Network and Wittlebee, Carter's and OshKosh, Dairy Council of Utah, and Park City Mountain Resort.  Not only did these great companies provide free meals,  they also gave out their swag at all the tables. What a clever conversation starter!!!


3. Attend all key note presentations. The fabulous key note speakers were sponsored by fabulous entities such as shot@life and Real Simple magazine, Disneyland Resort, and babble.  Inspiration plus swag -- a match made in heaven.


4. Visit sponsor suites regularly.  Each incredible sponsor gave out different swag each day of the conference to their guests as well as served tasty snacks and desserts. (Swag and treats--remarkable). One of the suites I couldn't stay away from was sponsored by eBayGreen.  Everything in the suite, including their giveaways, supported a "green friendly" environment.  Very cool.


5.  Participate in activities put on by sponsors. I thought I was just going to keep up with my daily workout schedule when I chose to attend a Zumba class sponsored by Together Counts and a Yoga class sponsored by Softcup and Tricalm. Was I ever pleasantly surprised to not only get some exercise but also some nifty swag at these early morning activities. For instance, Together Counts gave away healthy snacks and a Zumba DVD set and Softcup gave everyone an exercise bag filled with all of these products:

6. Play along with the sponsors. Not only did the benevolent brands supply their suites with amazing swag, occasionally they offered additional free stuff to participants who paid attention.  By following the conference twitter feed, occasionally I came across a tweet from one of the brands giving a shout out for a quick giveaway. On the second day of the conference, I dedicated every free moment to keeping an eye on @evoconf and by so doing, I was able to score these awesome giveaways:

A round trip ticket anywhere Southwest flies; a $100 gift certificate to eBay; a $25 gift certificate to Lowes, and a $10 gift certificate to Amazon given away by Proctor and Gamble.  Serious.


See what I mean?  My addiction is a little out of control. At the end of the conference, I literally went home with FOUR bags of glorious swag.  Luckily, I thought to bring an extra carry on bag and a half empty suitcase to be able to transport it all home


A GIGANTIC THANK YOU to evo'12 and all the remarkable sponsors for their generous swag.  Not only did I establish relationships with well known, trusted brands, I had fun getting to know them in the process.  It was all this little swag whore could hope for...and more.

Do you share this addiction? How do you get your fix?