If you have ever attended a conference, there's a good chance you own a bit of swag. Swag refers to the various branded promotional items that are handed out at conferences and trade shows. Swag serves as a way to entice attendees to come to a vendor's booth (and endure a sales pitch) and as a tiny bit of mindshare after you leave. Swag can include items such as pens, shirts, toys, gadgets, and electronics. Most swag can be judged based on various factors such as coolness, geeky, functionality, fun, kids, etc.,
Now of course not all swag hits in all categories, there is for example a very large number of pens and t-shirts also given away by vendors. A pen, while functional, is not something you are likely to show your fellow attendees, nor would it have them racing to the vendor's booth if you did. That said, the pen may wind up on your desk, waiting for the moment when you are in need of the vendor's services to flash you a logo.
The Swag Report is intended to provide a glimpse into some of the swag people gather in their travels, cataloging the good, the bad, and the nifty. Feel free to contribute if you have some swag of your own to share, you're always welcome!
Simply upload your photos on Flickr with a little comment and rating of the swag in question (telling which conference/vendor the stuff comes from is also good) and click the "sent to group" button to send it to the swagreport group. Then it will automatically be aggregated here. Easy! Of course you will need to join the group first time.
We may add other feed sources later and improve the look & feel here, but we felt it was just important to get the idea back up and running again.