3 ms·
I think it depends on what we're talking about ..... I used to collect free stuff at conferences. I loved getting a bag at the entrance to some conference, GDC,
by asiachick 4y ago
I think it depends on what we're talking about ..... I used to collect free stuff at conferences. I loved getting a bag at the entrance to some conference, GDC, E3, CES, Auto Show, etc. It would be full of fliers and free magazines. Then I'd go around the booths collecting free pens, free buttons, free t-shirts, free stickers, more free magazines, fliers, etc....
At some point I realized all of that was actually not something I wanted. I didn't need branded pens. I was not going to actually wear the t-shirts. I likely didn't have time or care about the magazines.
It switched to collecting nothing. At most if I see something I think I'm interested in instead of taking a flier I'll take a picture and look it up later. I don't take any free swag. There might be some exception but it would have to be pretty exceptional. I might initially feel a desire for the free stuff but then I think "Am I really going to use/wear/look at this?" The answer is pretty much always "no" so I leave it.
- mechanical_bear 4y agoMy casual clothing consisted of nothing but conference shirts for years in school.
- watwut 4y ago> I was not going to actually wear the t-shirts. Why not? It is genuine question, I wore them till they broke basically.
- paganel 4y agoStill wearing a Drupalcamp 2011 t-shirt, it has held up quite well, 10/10 would take for free again.
- lupire 4y agoSome people like to look nice and/or already have too many shirts. > wore them till they broke basically. So why get a dozen more?
- watwut 4y agoI don't get them for free that often. And some are too small, too big, don't fit. My size also changed over years which made some of them bad fit. The remaining make it so that I barely ever need to buy one, but don't have that much excess.
- asiachick 4y agoFor me * you could maybe pay me to advertise for you but in general I don't want to wear an ad for your product. There might be exceptions. I'd probably wear a t-shirt of a game or movie that really meant something to me. But generally no. * I'm not really into t-shirts anymore. At some point I just stopped wearing them. (not a judgement for other people's style, only my own) * At some point I started caring about how I present myself so just throwing on any random free t-shirt no longer fit my personality. (not a judgement for other people's style, only my own)
- bin_bash 4y agoIf the VC market is strong tech conferences can be pretty good. I’ve been wearing quality swag from companies like GitHub for years. But generally speaking you’re right. Conference swag is usually junk and I rarely take the time to even pick it up anymore.