It is pretty much the same at all different types of trade fairs whether they computer or medical. There are always small gifts to “buy” people’s interest – pens, post-it notes, mice pads, USB sticks or even bags emblazoned with the company logo.
My wife, as a doctor, does visit these trainings and does get these types of “gifts”. The pens usually go to work. The usually have some words written on them that look more like an eye chart than an actual word.
Well, one of the gifts that she brought home was a small cloth bag with a squiggly line on the side and the word Movicol. It wasn’t really big enough to do any real shopping but it was large enough for holding a magazine as well as a few odds and ends. I used to use it when I was flying a lot so you might have seen me walking through the airport with it.
However, one day when I was being picked up by my wife she commented about my bag. It turns out that the squiggly line was actually an intestine and Movicol is a laxative.
Sometimes I wonder how many people really knew what this meant and what they thought of me wandering around with it.