Trade show season can be tough. The constant travel, the bombardment of customers both new and old, and the endless walking can really take its toll. And with the biggest, walking-est and customer-iest trade show, the 2010 PPAI Expo Las Vegas, currently underway, we here at Promo Marketing thought it might be nice to share a few ways to unwind with promotional products during your downtime at the show. After all, what fun is Vegas if you’re going to spend all your time walking up and down a huge, fluorescently lit convention hall?
10) Pass your trade show badge and lanyard off as a backstage pass at a Barry Manilow show. For added points, sing, “Can’t Smile Without You,” to the first person you see. Unless that person is a bouncer or with security, in which case you might want to wait for person number two.
9) Hit an entire box of Callaway Big Bertha Diablo golf balls from Gold Bond into the desert. Be sure to occasionally say things like, “Oof. Really chopped that one,” to cement the whole total-golf-superhero feeling.
8) Tape a Nite-Glow Beer Stein from AAkron Rule to each hand, shut off the lights and have yourself a little rave. It may seem lame now, but trust us, it will be hilarious once it’s 4 a.m. and you’re 12 drinks into celebrating the show’s opening.
7) Tote-bag sculpture contest! With a coworker, see who can make the cooler sculpture using any number of the 10,000 totes you’re likely to collect over the convention. Winner gets all the totes, and also the honorary title of “Tote Master of the Universe Who is Definitely a lot Cooler Than _____” (insert coworker’s name).
6) Break out your best shirt, say the UltraClub Men’s Long-Sleeve Performance Pinpoint from Bodek and Rhodes, and hit the tables in style. Be sure to pair the shirt with your classiest blazer and a pair of sunglasses that are totally inappropriate for indoors. You’ll know you did it right if you hear people whispering, “Oh my gosh, check out that guy/girl, I wonder if they’re a famous musician/athlete/criminal,” behind your back.
5) Copious use of hand sanitizer. Okay, not exactly a “fun” activity per se, but picture someone standing about an inch from a slot machine, breathing and rubbing his or her sweaty hands all over it, and see if you can honestly tell us the sanitizer is something you’ll be glad to leave behind.
4) Long-distance football, wooden plane or other flying-toy championship. Vegas hotels have some long hallways and enormously spacious first floors. It would be a shame to let all that airspace go to waste …
3) Foldable MP3-player speaker rock-out. Make full use of having a room all to yourself by blasting your favorite music. Cyndi Lauper, The Misfits or Tony Bennett, we promise not to judge your choice of artist*, so long as you go the full distance and sing along while busting out your best improvised dance moves.
2) Eating those little chocolate mints some hotels leave on your pillows. No joke here. Those chocolates are just awesome and we love them.
1) Grabbing any item printed with the Promo Marketing logo. Call us biased if you must, but maybe it’s just that we know quality when we see it.
*Unless the artist is Nickelback.
