top of page
Articles Library

Trade Shows 2023: 10 Promo Essentials to Delight Event Attendees


While some conferences, events, and tradeshows have been canceled or are still virtual, we know that some trade shows in 2023 will be back in person.


It’s no secret that trade shows are a great way to interact with and strengthen relationships with your current customers, as well as a great opportunity to get your products or services seen by potential customers.


Trade show event booth design is an important aspect of drawing people into your corner of the event, but it’s the trade show giveaways that will keep your company top of mind for days, weeks, and months after your initial contact at a trade show in 2023.


Scroll through top trade show giveaway picks from previous years and peek at a few ideas for any trade shows you are attending in 2023.


Best Trade Show Giveaways

Sometimes taking a page from history is a great approach to planning your giveaways. We’ve curated a handful of our best-selling promotional products to give you an idea of what others are ordering.

• Bags. As you stroll through the busy aisles of a convention hall, packed with exhibitors and booths, you’ll notice the attendees have their hands FULL. Providing a bag, such as the Deluxe Boat Bag or Metro Enviro Shopper gives people who stop by your booth something useful, but even more powerful, your logo and company name are being prominently displayed as people walk throughout the expo hall. You may even become a sought-after booth thanks to the usefulness of your giveaway item.

• Water bottles. An ever-popular giveaway, water bottles make a great promotional item to help keep event attendees hydrated well beyond the day’s events. Consider the best-selling contour bottle with a flip-top lid or H2O to Go Collapsible Water Bottle.


• Fans. Whether it’s a cellphone fan or a plastic hand fan if your event is occurring when or where the weather will be hot, hot, or hot, providing a fan will make you one of the most popular booths at the trade show.


• Buttons. Give your cause or product a voice using buttons. They are a tangible and very visible way for your customers or supporters to become walking billboards for your brand. Consider the 3” full-color round button or a smaller, yet still impactful button.


10 Trade Show Giveaways Under $1

If you’re like many other businesses, previous years brought just as many challenges, and you may be faced with tight budgets and a push to land more clients. We’re here to help you with inexpensive, yet memorable and useful, trade show giveaways for your next event. Check our top 10 trade show giveaway items for under $1:


1. Keychains: Whether you have one primary set of keys or several sets based on where you are going that day (work, school, the gym, volunteering, coaching, etc.), it can be helpful to have each set of keys on a separate keychain. This helps if you accidentally lose your keys because then you haven’t lost ALL your keys, just one set. Providing keychains for trade show attendees can help them stay organized, provide added usefulness with lights or beverage openers, and keep your brand on top of their minds. Choose from a tape measure, beverage opener, phone stand, and screen cleaner, vinyl zip holder, safety whistle/light, or acrylic key tag.

2. Travel Items: Often times trade shows bring attendees from all over the country (or globe!), so travel giveaways can be a very immediate and much-appreciated item that attendees can put to use right away.


3. Stress Relieving: While attendees are likely very excited to be at trade shows again, that doesn’t mean they aren’t experiencing stress (especially if they’ve been having issues with their flight or other travel and lodging reservations). And stress is also a fact of life, especially with increased challenges across all industries, so stress-relieving promotional products are a much-welcomed giveaway.


4. Office Supplies: Whether it’s at the trade show or back at their home or office workspace, office supplies are a trade show promo item that never goes out of style. A few customer favorites include business card magnets, sticky note sheets, wooden rulers, calendar magnets, translucent vinyl pocket planners, monitor and keyboard cleaners, or a press-and-stick calendar.


5. Houseware Giveaways: Sometimes taking your promotional products beyond the office and into the home can be helpful for repeated exposure and always being top of mind.

6. Healthcare and Safety: Top of mind during the pandemic is taking care of personal health and safety. Show your customers and prospective customers how much you care with useful and relevant giveaways.


7. Food Giveaways: Treat your trade show attendees to something sweet with food giveaways. Some favorites include individually wrapped mints, mint cards, a goody bag with Sour Patch Kids, foiled chocolate squares, or a goody bag with jelly beans.


8. Flashlights: Help your brand stand out and quite literally shine with flashlight giveaways. From a rectangular flashlight keychain to a safety whistle and light keychain or reflector key light.


9. Bottle Openers: Beverage openers are a popular giveaway at trade shows, especially with many networking events coupled with trade shows. Choose from the clip-on bottle opener keychain or the aluminum bottle opener keychain.


10. Pens: Used by most people almost every single day in their personal or professional lives, pens are a handy giveaway that gets your brand seen daily for months (or years) to come. Choose from a variety of styles, like a wide-body pen, the Javalina Stylus ballpoint pen, a chill ballpoint pen, a curvy ballpoint pen, or a rollerball pen.


Delight your customers and prospective customers at trade shows in 2023 with promotional items that will keep them talking about you long after the event is over. Work with a trade show promos specialist today to customize your order — just start a chat or email us today.

17 views

Recent Posts

See All

If you enjoyed this article, receive free email updates!

Thanks for subscribing!

Join 20,000 subscribers who receive our newsletter with
resources, events and articles

Thanks for subscribing!

bottom of page