One of the best parts of any event, particularly conferences, for the attendees are the goodie bags which are filled with various objects for them to take away. This is done frequently by event organisers as a way to ensure guests remember what they learnt during the conference and remember their experience at the event.
However, as this is often done at conferences, it can leave guests uninterested in the bags and are likely to even throw them away – which is both a waste of money and a waste of your effort.
Therefore, event organisers should go the extra mile and create conference bags which contain items which the attendees will be interested in, filled with items which reflect the desired reputation the company wishes to obtain. These gift bags should definitely be parts of your conference marketing plan.
Conference Gift Ideas
Earphones
Along with a device charger, earphones are frequently used on a day to day basis, both during work or after and will be appreciated greatly.
However, headphones can be slightly difficult to have the company branded logo imprinted onto them, therefore place earphones into a small case which can easily have a logo added onto it. Another suggestion could be to provide headphones, which have more space on them to promote your company.
Branded Gift Bags
A simple but effective gift which can be given to attendees can actually be a branded conference gift bag.
Especially with the new law enforcement’s making shops charging customers to use their plastic bags, this is a perfect gift which will be used frequently and is also environmentally friendly.
Food
Something which is not very common in conference gift bags is actually in fact food; however giving food to guests would be greatly appreciated by them, especially if the conference event is meant to take up most of the day – giving guests food will keep them satisfied and ensure they pay attention for longer.
The type of food provided needs to be thought through thoroughly, do not provide food which can melt easily such as chocolate or food which has a very strong and unpleasant smell, unless they are extremely relevant. Also, use this as an opportunity to promote your event or company, by wrapping the snacks in promotional packaging.
Reusable Water Bottle
Another environmentally friendly promotional gift idea is a reusable water bottle, as well as this it also gives your guests the chance to save money spent on buying bottled water. Providing gifts which are friendly to the environment portrays that your company is devoted to a more sustainable environment – something which is extremely important within any industry.
If this happens to be a gift in which is given to guests, let them use it at your event by locating water dispenser stations around the venue.
Flash Drives
Although many guests who attend various events including conferences are given flash drives, they are an excellent conference gift idea, especially if they are given flash drives which have documents and information on them already.
Pack the flash drive full of information about your company and present images too – this is more beneficial to you and your attendees as they can continue to learn once the conference is over.
T-Shirts
T-Shirts are a brilliant conference gift idea to giveaway to your attendees; many people will happily take a t-shirt, especially if it is free to take.
Although this is a favoured gift idea, it is proven to be more popular when the t-shirts do not have the company’s logo or name on it; instead guests might prefer to have a witty saying or a cool design on the tops.
Aspects to Consider
Device charger
Remember to acknowledge that in today’s society everybody is extremely reliant on technology such as their mobile phones or tablets and use them frequently in everyday life. Therefore it would be useful to provide them with portable chargers so they can always be fully charged.
Ideally, these should be given out either half way through the event or towards the end – this way the guests know that the hosting company is attentive to the guests’ needs and demands.
Assess the situation
When deciding what your promotional conference bags will contain, it is important to assess the theme of the conference – the contents of the bags should relate back to what the conference is about.
In addition, assessing your audience is also an important factor to consider – make it your responsibility to get to know what your guests like and dislike, as if the guests do not like the conference gifts, then they will be dismissed and forgotten about. Without taking these aspects into consideration, the opportunity to promote yourself or products will be wasted.
Quality over quantity
Many event planners opt for the ‘cheaper’ option when deciding their conference gift ideas as they don’t wish to spend more on top of the event which they have just organised. However, this option does not necessarily mean that money will be saved, as most event attendees just throw their memorabilia away.
To avoid this problem, event planners should think of the quality of the contents rather than the quantity – attendees are more likely to prefer and keep a useful book or good quality piece of clothing than ‘junk’ gifts.
One way to add alleged quality to a promotional conference bag is to ensure that the contents can be utilised either during the event or after the event. For instance, if the conference is taking place outside, useful conference gift ideas would be sunglasses or an umbrella – this way you can be certain that the items will get some use.
Inspire your guests
The gift a person receives in any context can either give people a positive or negative impression – this also applies to the gift bags given out at events such as conferences. From the initial invite to after the event, guests wish to feel valuable, one of the most effective ways to do this is through the giving of conference bags.
The conference gift ideas dispersed to guests can be very inspiring and can leave the guests positively remembering their event experience. Along with this, when attendees are given a valuable and inspiring conference bag, they are more likely to feel appreciated, ultimately creating an uplifting outcome.
A way to inspire guests through memorabilia is to supply gifts which require attendees to use their minds, for instance by getting their creative juices flowing or through testing them. Therefore, give out an insightful book or even a discounted membership, but make sure they are relevant to the theme/topic of the conference in which you are hosting.
