Making Your Conference Bag Something People Will Actually Use

Conference bags are as much part of a conference as the keynote speaker and as much part of an exhibition as the exhibitions themselves. In fact, any event would not be complete without these conference bags. People expect to leave the conference with these bags and it is not a good idea to disappoint them. This is the reason that many companies spend a great deal of money on these bags.

However, what many companies fail to consider is that many of these bags end up only in the recipients' closets. Why? The most important factor in making a bag that people will actually use is to make them seem brand new, even if the bags are several years old. Now, if you put a date on the bag, it will become outdated the moment the person leaves the conference. Who would then carry an outdated bag? Although most companies would want to commemorate the event by printing the date on the bags, it actually defeats the purpose of these bags as promotional items. If you want your bags to be used by the recipient even after the event is over, make sure that you resist printing the date on the bag. If you want these bags to be nothing more than commemorative items that can be used by the attendees only for the duration of the event, then by all means, put the date on the bags.

What companies must remember, even though the bags are given out for free, is that they are not something that one would carry out of gratitude or out of style. Since the company's name is printed on the bags, people would think twice about carrying a free bag in everyday use. Now if a company's name were a designer name, it would be a different matter. But for ordinary companies, they must remember that there are key steps in making your bag something people will really use. First, it must be perfect for the person's style and lifestyle. Do not give out laptop bags to a group of mountaineers. The bag must be something that they can actually use, even just for the sake of practicality. Second, if it can be helped, do not put your company name and logo on the conference bag. Think of a way to attach the company to the bag, for example, with a detachable identification tag. This way, the one receiving the bag will have a choice as to whether he will use it or not. Lastly, make sure that the bag is in style. No one wants to carry a bag, particularly a conference bag that is out of style.

Gareth Parkin is the co-founder of Ideasbynet, the UK's leading online conference bags and custom printed conference bags company based in the north of England.