Trade show swag is not unlike giving candy to trick-or-treaters except the cost is higher and the trick or treaters are less polite, less cute, less grateful, and more greedy. How much should you spend, and what do you get?
For me, I wanted something useful, and I wanted something I enjoyed, and I wanted something that captured what sets me apart or makes me different. I've always believed that words have meaning, and I have always been a little different as an engineer with extroversion and curiosity.
When decluttering expert Marie Kondo published her ground-breaking book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, readers around the world, and viewers of her television shows, resonated with her question “Does it spark joy?”
That was the test Kondo proposed for deciding whether or not to keep something. Does an item in your possession have that Je Nais Se Quois, or that thrill, when you see or use it? If so, hang on to it. If not, then say so-long that transactional engineer or consultant who does not make your job easier and a little happier.