I have been to gaming conventions since i was quiet young (13 ish) normally in those bags (normally a cotton bag for life with an awesome design) you get your usual itinerary, useless drink/lunch/shop promos and couppons from local establishments a chewy bar (sweets/candy) and maybe a demo game or dvd or anime.
training days ive only been to a handful. those bags you dont normally look at until your on the ride home and want to know what else theyve included other than that ever occurring can of boost and rice crispie bar.
youre normally met with disappointment when you realise its normally ALOT of the same ol promos and volunteer litrature. and of course if its done through students union you will maybe get the odd rape whistle or high-vis vest/armband but without a doubt youll get that condom. after all thats all students need apparently, boost to keep them awake, condoms, because thats all they do when theyre awake and of course alot of wasteful paper, telling you how you can be more involved, in the same stuff your already involved in.
seriously, how does anyone that gets these bags not question the amount of wasted paper? i mean, ive had at least five of these baggys and i get he exact same thing every time, only the promos differ for the place.
such a waste of paper. but thats okay students union, as long as we get the boost and condoms, who needs any actually useful information.
conventions for hobbys and work tend to differ, but they all usually have the same three things, itinerary, alot of leaflets of related yet useless information and if youre lucky a decent freebie. below is a decent example.
i was throwing stuff out and came across one of the many bags that i got through attending a convention. this one was last minute and my brothers lecturer was speaking and i thought the whole thing sounded interesting (plus it was free and i got a free lift there, so it all worked out in my favour) granted i didnt expect it to be a get together of all the old animators turned university lecturers, five of my brothers and two of my own.
Youll notice after a few of these conventions, they are a great place to find out nw technologies or get a sneak peek at a new movie or something and meet decent contacts (especially if youre a soon to be out of work recent graduate) BUT you will also notice after a certain point, alot of it has the same familiar faces. the same convention goers, the same groups. after a while they all seem to know each other.
this is down to both networking and well, the industry isnt THAT massive like. obviously if its graphics/illustration/animation not everyone ill be ito it, and the same people who are into it will go to the same conventions, or be the same keynote speakers.
my point is, dont expect to never see them again, the world isnt as big as you think, and everyone eventually knows everyone one way or another.
SO LETS GET A LOOK IN THAT BAG.
as you can see its the standard convention bag (useful to shove your lunch and extra coke in on the day of the convention, forget about for half a year, then maybe keep it to store socks or something in later (theres many uses for these no longer needed bags, you will find these out soon enough)
inside there was a cute lil pocket which i didnt realise until the way home, was a perfect size for the speakers/events booklet. actually really handy.
a wee glimpse of the keynote speakers booklet. you dont want too big a book, otherwise its super obvious you dont know where or who youre going to next, and that creates not just unwanted stares from other convention goers but also unwanted attention from staff that basically see SUCKER written on your head, and decide you should not just waste five minutes talking to them but also go to whatever unpopular speaker they work for.
i once went to a convention where the three days worth of itnary was all on one big a2 page, back and front, folded up to a nice booklet size, cute for the bag, but god help you if you wanted to actually know what was on next or who was talking where, this unhelpful size of layout eventually gets you both dragged to talks and event you dont want to go to and youll definitely miss the ones you came to see.
i was at a music festival and the best itinerary booklet i ever got was actually four(one for each stage) of those elaminated tags, coloured coded.
it was light, it was able to be on your person at all times with no effort and of course being a festival it was festival proof thanks to it being laminated (pretty sure that was the glasgowbury festival)
This particular convention was very small, but had ALOT of talented speakers, and i was extremely annoyed to miss the only two animators i wanted to hear, due to it being a wee bit of schedule, and me arriving two hours late and signing up to the wrong event (wasnt actually told you could only choose one event. take note newbies! always be sure youre going to the right place)
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You will more than likely peek in the bag initially but never actually bother to look throuh everything, because when you first arrive WHOCARES, youre already here, thats the important thing.
Soooo amoung the useless promos etc you will also probably get, a poster for or relevant to the event, the one in the above photo is destroyed thanks to being crushed in a drawer for 6 months, but still you get the point. i actually love the gaming convention posters, maybe even some of the flyers, theyre decent enough to hang on the wall or hold onto....art conventions, not so much, or training conventions, theyre normally reminding you to do more work, in a very boring graphic design way. boring!
moving on. when you look in the bag at the end of the weekend, youll likely find sweet wrappers and reciepts from your many snacks and lunches (conventions can make a gal hungry) you will get a tag 90 percent of the time, which i love. feel so important when i dander about the town with it on.
it basically has your name, sometimes your info, and nomally alot of promo info on the event or the event managing companies. either way the tag is always my favourite part of a convention without a doubt.
youre at a well paid convention when you get a notebook or notepad and even a pen (with the obligatory branding on it of course. cant not promote yourself on EVERYTHING)
itinerary which weve kinda discussed (and im too tired to REALLY explain it) and your goodies!
depending on your convention this will obviously vary, but next to the tag and itinerary, its the most important item.
so we gathered students union gives energy drinks and condoms, gaming conventions tend to give a piece of chocolate or something and a demo game/dvd/anime, which you love at the time but realise its an episode 15-18 dvd....so either get confused, throw it away, or go buy episode 1-15, those are your choices.
Ive had many different goodies, mainly pens and if its really really fancy a USB.
who doesnt love free USBs i dont care how little space they have. granted the above took it to a whole new level of little disk space. i think it holds maybe 100 photos, or two videos idk.
thanks to conventions and open days and the like, ive never actually had to buy a USB pen, which is amazing since all my classes require e to hand my work in on a usb pen and i have approx 6 classes at any given time. soooo thats 6 usb pens i should have. well i do hope my lecturers enjoy pudsey the bear(childrens hosipital), or community careworkers (theres a lil old cartoon couple on it), or my favourite discover northern ireland (silver, swihes round and has wee shamrocks on it) USB pens. none of the lecturers have commented on it yet, but any time theyre handing back my work, ive noticed none of them say the usual 'now wheres yours, or which ones yours' i think we all know the wierdest on in that box is likely mine.
In this case i got retractable earphones, WOOHOO.... granted they snap back too fast and hurt me, and the ends are so hard id rather use my gelled pound land earphones, but c'mon, free earphones and USBs whose complaining right.
So thats the very long ramble of what one might expect to find in one of the hundreds of convention bags you will accumulate over your lifetime (slight exaggeration for most) but lets not lie, we all love free stuff, even if its boring old literature at how you could do more or what you could save on the local lunch menu.
free stuff is free stuff :)
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