Swag Runbook

Swag ordering is owned by the Venue Committee. Marketing runs the campaigns around it, including the shirt pre-order last-chance push.

See marketing-committee-runbook.md and venue-committee-runbook.md.

What Swag Is

• Shirts: a paid pre-order add-on sold alongside tickets on Pretix, with free-shirt comp classes (speakers, organizers, sponsor allotments).
• Stickers, patches, and enamel pins: the standing small-item line. Anniversary years add a special line (patches, pins, rubber ducks).
• Speaker gifts: one nicer item per year (past picks: embroidered BBQ aprons, cups, etched map glasses).
• Badges and lanyards: separate budget lines; the lanyard is usually sponsor-funded.

A shirt does not come with a ticket. Say so plainly in ticket copy and the KBYG; attendee confusion about this recurs every year.

Plan quantities against real capacity: 250 is the sell-out number, stretchable to 275.

The Universal-Shirt Question

Giving every attendee a shirt comes up regularly and has not been adopted; shirts remain a paid pre-order. Post-event survey responses lean toward wanting a free shirt included. Treat this as an open question for each year's budget discussion, not as current practice.

Order Sequencing

1. ~Week -11: ideation docs (shirt ideas, other swag ideas, speaker gift candidates) with supplier links and minimum-order tradeoffs. Commission the shirt design.
2. ~Week -8: gather vendor quotes. Remind vendors the Foundation's 501(c)(3) status removes sales tax; quotes drop once the vendor applies it.
3. ~Week -6.5: pay the first order (patches, stickers, pins).
4. ~Week -5: shirt pre-orders close. Marketing runs a last-chance campaign the week before.
5. ~Week -4.5: place the shirt order immediately after pre-orders close.
6. ~Week -2.5: everything ordered and approved.

Hold sponsor-funded items (lanyards) until the sponsor has paid. The whole window is Weeks -11 to -2.5; no swag is ordered in December.

Vendors

• Kong Screenprinting (Austin) for shirts and screen printing; quotes come through Printavo.
• Do not let the vendor alter the logo; print vendors will "improve" it and degrade it if allowed. Require the supplied art as-is unless there is a real production reason.
• Stickers: the well-known marketplace vendor upcharges; shop alternatives.
• Badges: ConferenceBadges.com (template, print ahead plus day-of). The badge order tends to slip into the final two weeks; budget and order it earlier than feels necessary.
• Specialty items: re-quote before committing; asking a second time often turns up a cheaper vendor.

Shirts

• Sold as a paid pre-order add-on on Pretix; sizes are collected at purchase for pre-orders, but comp classes, day-of sales, and buffer stock still need a deliberate size estimate. Skimping on buffer sizes means running short on day 1.
• Comp classes are tracked in the budget sheet.
• Organizer shirts: a distinct color from attendee shirts, chosen each year. A second distinct style marks the program/speaker team. Collect staff sizes early.
• Give sponsors a pre-order deadline (~5 weeks out) for guaranteed day-of pickup.
• Distribution is by poker chip redemption at a staffed shirt table. Chips need pre-sorting or stuffing into badges ahead of time, and that job cannot fall on one person during registration.
• When sizes run short, stand up a T-shirt waitlist form on day 1.
• Hand shirts out in paper bags.

Day-Of Swag Sales

• Extra swag (anniversary items, prior-year shirts at a discount) sells day-of through Pretix voucher-redemption QR codes, not cash.
• Generate the QR codes with segno (Python library); publish them in docs posted at the swag table.
• Set the swag store up ahead of time, not during registration.

Post-Conference

• Count leftovers by item and size for next year's planning
• Store leftovers for meetups and community events
• Note vendor performance in the retro

Ideas Worth Pursuing

• Get a badge sponsor; consider programmable badges (they run MicroPython).
• Hand out beanies or similar at PyCon with a CFP-and-tickets card inside.