Gratitude Monday: thanks

One of the constants of tech conferences is swag—it’s how exhibitors lure people into their booths in hopes of turning the scanned badges into sales prospects.

Frankly, I’d expect the badges-to-leads ratio is pretty crappy, especially inasmuch as some booth staff scan your badge is you just pause before the display.

However, that’s the way it’s done, and I basically will never have to buy a tee shirt for the rest of my life, between the various conferences I’ve attended over the years.

The RSA Conference last month was no exception. By the time I left, I had 25 tee shirts, two umbrellas, five stress squishers and miscellaneous other stuff.

One of the tee shirts was destined for our office manager. SF runs the monthly office events, the weekly free lunch Tuesdays, the stocking of snacks and beverages, the in-office massages, local comms and dozens of other things. Without her, we’d all fall apart.

SF is a huge fan of Baby Yoda. I don’t know the story, but from images and GIFs posted to Teams, that’s clear. So when Juniper Networks handed out tee shirts with Baby Yoda on them, I reckoned that was a small thing I could do for her. I sat through the presentation a second time (they didn’t care—by the last day of a tech conference, exhibitors are practically heaving swag at you so they don’t have to pack it up and schlep it home) and got one for her. Not a major effort, tbh.

She was very pleased when I gave it to her—had to fend off the hug because of my cough. But it made me happy that the idea was a good one.

So I was flummoxed to come in the office two days later and found this on my desk. The sweetest thank you note ever. For a swag tee.

Honestly, it cheered me up no end that millennials are writing thank you notes and that my silly tee shirt was deemed worthy of one.

And that’s my gratitude for today.