Stuff We All Get

I just got back from the Leadership Las Vegas Gateway, a two and a half day retreat preparing the Class of 2009 for our 10-month program. It was terrific in several ways and you can read some about it here and here.

There was one thing during the experience that I couldn’t buy into it: the SWAG…WTF? I don’t get SWAG and not because I don’t understand marketing. On the contrary, I don’t get SWAG because I DO understand marketing. I understand that a load of free stuff you drag out in a free bag doesn’t register at all when it comes time to make a decision about (as my bag suggests):

1. Voting
2. Selecting insurance
3. Choosing a hospital
4. Hiring a lawyer
5. Deciding where to bank
6. Supporting a charity
7. Picking a place to shop
8. Answering any other question

When I was setting up this photo my kids each had a question: “What’s all that junk?” and “Don’t we already have a calculator?” Sounds insightful considering most seven year old children love to collect all sorts of stuff, especially if it is something I can’t imagine keeping.

By the way, to answer the question, yes, we already have a calculator and no we don’t need two more, ten pens, six writing pads, three mouse pads or anything else that was included. I wanted to inventory the entire contents, but I would have been forced to write a post about myself. I shudder to think.

There were three useful items.

1. 1. Tickets to the Opportunity Village Magical Forrest (except we make a donation each year)
   2. One “Caution – Laser Radiation” label (too bad it wasn’t attached to whatever is apparently dangerous)
   3. Another similar caution label (similarly, it was unattached)

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