Stephanie McCulloch is the Chief Schwag Officer for the SQL Server business unit of Quest. She’s on Twitter as SMcCulloch52, but she hasn’t posted anything yet. I’m not saying she likes to watch, but back to the subject at hand.
She regularly gives away schwag to webcast viewers, user groups, booth attendees, and so on. She wants to know what you would like to win.
So in the comments, let us know what your ideal prizes would be in the $50, $100, $250, and $500 price range. I’m curious to see what you think!
ZE PEOPLEZ DEMAND NETBOOKS! (or if you can swing it, start giving away SSD’s and you’ll be everyone’s best friend)
I received a big box of schwag and it felt like Christmas. SSD’s would be cool. How about those “Essentials” hard drives? The small USB hard drives that don’t require an extra power supply. You can purchase those fairly cheaply and everyone can use them.
How about training vouchers? Something in addition to the relatively short training sessions you already provide.
Hardware is always good, be it keyboards / mice, SSDs, portable HDs, gaming consoles, monitors, etc. etc. T-shirts, posters, books are all good as well. Give stuff away that will help users in their tasks. Maybe even a “lite” version of Quest products, or the full blown versions if so inclined. So many possiblities.
50 thumbdrive or book
100 external HD or two books
250 netbook with Quest software license(s)
500 laptop with Quest software license(s)
I’m with Jorge there. Only thing is to make sure that you give away a quality SSD!
Minimum size to give away is 64GB in my mind; I just got a 128GB this weekend and I’m already thiking that I got one too small, but if it was free it would be a different story, could use it as an expansion drive or something.
I really like the SSD idea too. Can’t believe we didn’t think of it, but hey, that’s why I asked you smart peeps!
How about a free day of onsite training courtesy of Mr. Ozar?
Everyone loves the TShirts but I think almost every EDMPASS member has one now
That would be a great picture to get actually LOL
+1 on netbooks but not sure the feasability with the cost… usb drives are good.
Anything XBox related seem to be the big Oooooo Ahhhhhhh type of prizes at EDMPASS.
Those USB kits seem to be very popular as well.
Kudos to Quest for caring enough to ask
Thanks!
I have to agree with David, it’s like Christmas when a Quest box shows up in my mail.
It is possible to have too many DMV posters, but I can never have enough books. Quest licenses would be awesome. I could use a new iPod or third monitor at home. Anything from thinkgeek.com. Amazon gift certificates.
Oh yeah, duh. Gift Certificates to ThinkGeek. No brainer. Perhaps you could get a discounted deal with them.
how about a vacation day… let brento come in to do our work for us?
anything with bacon would be good as a second choice though.
Most any book on your book shelve! But the Deep Dive would be a great one. Or maybe a library of books, and maybe Bacon book ends.
Well I would love a netbook. Especially after being so close to winning one from going to a virtual conference (but alas, it was for attending my own presentation and I had to come clean when asked for my address). Bitter? Who’s bitter?!?!
Seriously though I think Bacon works. Gift certificates for fresh local bacon farmers.. Well pig farmers, but it’s only the bacon that I’d want. Yeah. Lots of good quality Bacon. Not breakfast sausage (Certainly not vegan breakfast sausage.. you hear that PASS?) but Bacon.
Short of Bacon (though I really suggest you try it), I am with the smaller (and more abundant?) prizes like books, small Gift Certificates to an amazon or Quest single user licenses. Great way to get a product in the door. “Hey! I want to use Toad like that cool DBA guy who won a contest uses! Wahhh! Wahhh! Buy it for me, mommy er manager”
Books aren’t too bad for the lower price range, though a gift certificate to Amazon or similar might be better.
I like the Netbook/Laptop idea, but can see that this might not be what you’re considering.
There’s also the possibility of a free Quest software license – Spotlight/Foglight/etc. Perhaps Windows 7 Ultimate or an XBox Elite would also fit in that price range. (Not everyone has an MSDN or similar subscription to get MS Software.)
SSD’s and MS Exam Vouchers (SQL Certifications!)
Some form of MP3 player, with video, preloaded with Quest Pain in the Neck podcasts, other podcasts, videos and the like. In fact, one of those should be given to each User Group, so that when a speaker falls thru, UG leaders can grab this device, and show a pertinent topic as sold to us by the experts at Quest. And bacon. or Sausage.
The license thing is interesting, but I’m worried that we might be seen as cheap, because the license doesn’t really cost us anything. Are you sure you’d really like that more than, say, an SSD?
The training vouchers are nifty. Sending me for onsite training is awesome. I’d just have to handpick the winners to make sure they were in places like Miami, St. Thomas, San Clemente, etc.
The video player with presentations actually lines up with something we’re doing – USB flash drives loaded with the Best of Brent videos. Using it for user groups is a great idea! We should give them to the head of every user group.
I almost forgot this one:
Customized Zune HD’s. You could get the SQL logo etched onto the back of it. Not sure if you could pre-load it with some podcasts but that would be even awesomer!
I think you misspelled “iPod.”
iPud. What’s that??
No I’m talking about the device that doesn’t just let me surf the net but also subscribe to entire catalogs of music instead of paying for individual songs/albums, allows me to sync my music videos with my XBOX 360, carry around my pictures, sync everything wirelessly, listen to HD radio, and play Project Gotham Racing in the palm of my hands. Oh and I also hear that you can get HD video out of it, but that might just be a vicious rumor.
Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with Aaron here, Brent. Sorry, man, we love you, really we do, but you can’t argue with the facts.
Sync music videos with your Xbox – c’mon, seriously? Seriously? In the age of YouTube, why do you need to keep music videos? Doesn’t the Zune play video live from YouTube like the iPod?
Carry around your pictures – yep, the iPod does that.
Listen to HD radio – c’mon, we’re not even going there. You want to listen to commercials in high quality?
Play Project Gotham Racing – wow, awesome! How many other apps are there? Not quite sure what the Apple app store is up to, but you get where I’m going with that.
Music by the month – yeah, I actually agree there. If you don’t have a music collection already, the Zune is the way to go. It’s pretty impressive.
Wow.
I guess I’ll keep my suggestions to myself next time.
Aaron, it could have been worse. Matt Morollo
HAHAHA, c’mon, Aaron, was just having fun with you – same as you were having fun with me. Sorry if it came off harsh – that’d be my fault.
Oh, it’s all good then Brent, all in good fun. Whew, for a minute there you had me thinkin you were actually an iPod zealot.
Hahaha, no. And there’s some Apple stuff I heartily dislike, too. QuickTime is a pig, iTunes has a clunky search interface, the Apple TV is overpriced for what little it does, and Mac Pros cost entirely too much. (Otherwise I’d own one.)
If Windows 7 had been out when I switched to Macs, I wouldn’t have switched. I’m way impressed with Windows 7. When I buy my next laptop, I’ll think about switching back.
I agree with all the suggestions so far, although I am not a fan of the software license. I don’t necessarily have time to learn how to use it properly, although I might like TOAD.
Newer books are good, any hardware would be great, and Marlon’s idea for MS Certs is awesome!
How about a SQL 2008 Dev edition? I think this can be another option.
SQL 2008 Dev Ed is about $50.00. @BrentO ain’t cheap; he can give you at least the Standard version
Whoa there! How do you get on these recipient ‘lists’? When you don’t get schwag, then any schwag is great schwag. Maybe it’s a cultural thing that doesn’t happen here in the UK.
Kev – ha! Well, it’s not just about giving away schwag.
There’s demos and webcasts involved. If you sign up to watch webcasts at http://www.quest.com/events/list.aspx you’ll start getting more invites.
Something that’s no limited to USA-resident audience would be nice. I know international postage and laws are nasty-complex, but still….
Gail – that’s a REALLY good point. What should we give away that would work better in other countries? If we give away, say, Amazon gift certificates that arrive through email, is it easier to order through ‘em to get local delivery? Or is there an international chain that works better for schwag?
Speaking just for myself (in SA), amazon.uk or amazon.de are better than amazon.com, cause the US one won’t ship here any longer except by courier. Amazon.uk delivers here (don’t know for sure about all countries) very quickly (a week vs the US one’s 6-10 weeks)
I’d go for amazon vouchers and let the recipient decide which amazon to get them through. People in the uk would probably prefer amazon.uk over all others because of shipping cost and speed.
Don’t know about any other good chains that ship international, amazon’s the only overseas one that I use.
Handling overseas is hard. Some retailers (like amazon) won’t ship hardware international. DVDs have different regions, consoles have different regions and hardware settings. Hence the reason most competitions and giveaways are limited to USA or USA and Canada only
Amazon Kindle 2 (Global Version) – preloaded with top 5 SQL Server books you recommend.
That would be awesome!
I’ve worked with PASS Asia. Shipping swag is a huge problem in most cases the shipping costs 3-4 times more than the swag material. Fedex in my experience will get it through customs and all (other shipping modes mean you risk just getting a box with nothing inside) but fedex shipping is very expensive. The second problem is that most vendors including Quest have to have business interests in that part of the world to send stuff. They do oblige MVPs and some special people but the degree of interest they have in the States/Europe is not likely to be there for other countries unless they have business going on there.
For me the best ‘swag’ we’ve had from Quest is visits from Kevin Kline (we’re lucky he lives 3 hours from here but still he is so obliging to talk to our UG). The charts are an oversell now, T Shirts are hard to get rid of. Books are always welcome and so is hardware and licenses. Thanks.
Brent I think a Toad for SQL Server Xpert license would be really cool.
I would also recommend a yearly subscription to Books24x7. I use this a lot at work to read the latest SQL 2008 books.