The winners of the Punk Rock HR Advice contest [based on random numbers generated on a website] are Tracy Tran, Lisa Wallace, and Apollo.
Unfortunately, Apollo is disqualified because he doesn’t like this contest.
I’m giving his box of swag to Bonita Martin who likes chocolate.
Please email your address to yo@punkrockhr.com and I’ll send your boxes right away.
***
What’s in the boxes of swag? Well, each one is a little different.
- Shirts from I Hate People and Snag a Job.
- A set of *unused* Bliss products from The W Hotel.
- Books: I Hate People, How To Wow, Amazing Adventures of Working Girl, Anti 9-5 Guide.
- Pack of Hall’s cough drops (unopened) that I bought but realized that I don’t like the flavor.
- Bags of chocolate from Totally Chocolate.
- $10 Game Play Card from the nice guys at the Dave & Busters booth.
- Calculators from ADP — so you can calculate out how much you’re getting fleeced by your employer.
- Walking doctor toy tchotchke from Concentra.
- More chocolate from See’s Candies.
- Tote bags from Halogen and The National Conference Center.
- Duck from Aflac.
- Mug and gum from The RightThing.
- Lip balm and hand sanitizer from Careerbuilder.
- Brain pen from Vertical Screen.
- Pens from Monster.
- Notepad from Levengers.
- Potato Chip bag clips from VPI.
- I Love HR beads [as modeled by Emma, above] from SHRM.
Is that enough crap for you?
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear all presenters except AFLAC:
How much did you spend on your booth giveaways?
Which LR is now openly regifting?
Hint: take the person in marketing whose job it is to coordinate the premiums, slash the premiums budget, and instead, set that person up with a twitter account.
AFLAC, you get a bye because I think it’s wrong to harsh on plush ducks.
@Jason Wise words, my friend. Wise words. The books were given to me before SHRM. The other swag? I saw vendors giving away truckloads of made-in-China pens & calculators & toys, only to have HR people openly throw out stuff that they didn’t want to haul home. I’d like to see a little more thought on the give-a-ways. Spend the money on BOOTHS OF FOOD. Every booth should have a chef, a bar, candy, a refrigerator, soda pop, ice cream, or some kind of ‘event’ instead of swag, IMHO.
Dang it, I didn’t get my job finding advice in soon enough to win that AFLAC duck. Oh well, I’ll just add it now:
Think long and hard about what this phrase means to you: “invest in yourself,” and then DO IT.
Have to admit, I did love the ADP massage services though…nice of them to attend to sore feet and backs – which maybe we got from carrying all that swag??? LOL Judy Clark (westlinn63)
I am not Cat whisperer, but I have known enough cats to know Emma doesn’t look like she “heart’s” HR.
My friend won a Coach bag at one of the booths. Damn her.
I, myself, took not.one.single.thing. It was my personal way of ‘going green.’
I hate seeing the lip balm give-aways. Usually they are not hermetically sealed and I often wonder who else has kissed the before I do and thus never put it to my lips. SAP used to have a hoard of that swag, not sure if they’re still giving it away. However, Careerbuilder scores a win on the other end with the Hand Sanitizer. With H1N1 still around, finding small bottles of the Hand Sanitizer is like finding gold.
Does the ADP calculator automatically calculate how much Uncle Sam gets? More importantly, does it have a program by which you can routinely update local tax jurisdictions and rates (I’m looking at you Pennsylvania)?
1) About time the random number generator thingy cooperated. It owed me big time.
2) America is doom now that I have this swag
By the way, I agree each booth needs some type of food, or a Wii.
Thanks
I couldn’t believe how much “stuff” I saw people carrying around. WHY???
I am happy to see the LinkedIn pens didn’t make the box!!
I’m still waiting for my notice that I won a Kindle…
Oh, and Bliss products from the W totally rock. I trust you saved some for yourself, too.
And yeah, that’s a lot of crap. =]
You and me both, Nancy. I’ve gone to the conference 9 years, and have yet to find someone I know who has won a major booth prize.
Were the scratch tickets not an event? Somebody won $1000!
I kept telling vendors that I do not want/need their crappy pens, water bottles etc… many were frankly shocked. Do I want to win a Kindle or a Wii, you bet but do I need to have 5000 pens and stuffed animals with company logos for companies I will NEVER use, nope! I came back with a “SHRMwow” (since now I do not need to buy the actual one) and the Yahoo Super Recruiter and the notebook I used to take notes.
Laurie’s point about having food etc… I NEVER saw the booth at Career Builder more crowded than when the folks from Top Chef were giving away food and drinks and the same goes for Snag-a-Job with the Hurricanes.
If you are going to blow your marketing budget, at least think about what is useful and will get people talking. I frankly was more impressed with the SuccessFactors dinner than any of the free crap.
(Yes I am aware that I dropped the names of several vendors in this but do not endorse any of them with the exception of SucessFactors!)
@Ben You’re right about Carer Builder and Snag-a-Job. Free food & alcohol = packed!
@Matt What? Someone won $1000? I had no idea.
@Nancy/Bruno I did keep some bliss products for myself (I was there four nights) and I have no idea who won the car except that it was some chick from Delaware.
@Tim I didn’t even grab a LinkedIn pen. I was robbed!
@Tracy Thank Apollo for losing his placement on the comments section. He freed up some winners.
@HRPuter OMG, I didn’t even think about the lip balm. Yuck.
@Roolvel Yah know, if the Coach bag isn’t 100% leather like my Coach Stewardess bag, I don’t want it. Does that make me snobby? I’m old school in my Coach tastes — although I lie because I have some newer bags. I like the classics, though.
@George She hearts treats. I gave her some after we snapped the picture!
@Jenn Investment is absolutely right.
ARGH, if only I had known there was an AFLAC duck at stake. Dammit, I want an AFLAC duck.
a duck from aflac? i may need to recant my earlier position on no swag. i could take out my irritation w/their ads on that poor defenseless duck.