Author: Matt Shearer

Matt Shearer has 20+ years experience with internet publishing, digital, and innovation projects. He founded “BBC News Labs” in 2012. Matt currently consults as a Product Innovation Consultant for startups.
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45 Best Hack Event SWAG and Branded Merch ideas

Hackathon Events must have SWAG (aka Merch)

Are you looking for branded “Merch” for your Hack event? Here’s our 45 Best Hack Event SWAG ideas.

Top SWAG

Branded versions of these items:

  1. Backpack
  2. Baseball cap
  3. Beach Ball
  4. Beach Towel
  5. Beanie hat
  6. Beer Stein
  7. Bottle opener
  8. Business Card Holder
  9. Camper Mug (metal, vintage)
  10. Card wallet
  11. Classic Mug
  12. Cord Tacos (hold your leads together)
  13. Corkscrew
  14. Drawstring bag
  15. Eye masks
  16. Flip flops
  17. Hand sanitiser spray
  18. Headphones
  19. Keyring
  20. Messenger Bag
  21. Notepad – high quality!! (cheap ones are passé)
  22. Pen (see also Swiss Army -style pens)
  23. Power bank
  24. Self Help Kit: Adult colouring books, colour pencils, candles
  25. Shot glass
  26. Slap wristband USB
  27. Stickers – (try StickerMule)
  28. Swiss army -style multi-gadget pen (pen with ruler, spirit level, screwdriver)
  29. T-Shirt
  30. Tall glass
  31. Tea Cosy
  32. Thermos
  33. Token on a keyring (fake £1 coin on a keyring for e.g. supermarket trolleys)
  34. Tote bag
  35. Towel
  36. Travel Coffee Mug
  37. Tumbler
  38. Umbrella
  39. Universal USB travel adapter / Charging Cable (USB A, C, Thunderbolt, etc)
  40. USB Fob
  41. Wallet
  42. Water Bottle
  43. Webcam cover (privacy & security)
  44. Wine cooler sleeve
  45. Zip Bag

Resources to help with Hack Events

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10 Top Hackathon Event Tips to make your event a success

Having defined, iterated and refined a hack event formula for BBC News Labs with BBC R&D between 2012 and 2016 (here’s a post I wrote about the #newsHACK formula), here are 10 tips I recently gave to a colleague who was setting up a not-for-profit hack event. Continue reading 10 Top Hackathon Event Tips to make your event a success

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The FROST Innovation Framework for in-house Innovation Programmes

A little heads-up – we’re starting on a new range of templates as part of the FROST Innovation Framework from GAS LABS.

This is a useful new framework that supports medium-to-large organisations in creating productive and strategic in-house innovation capabilities.

The FROST Innovation Framework is structured around five key characteristics:

  1. Focused – You articulate the challenge using the “How might we … ?” question template.
  2. Regular – You ensure that the innovation sessions are regular, recurring, and are protected against “emergencies”.
  3. Open – You ensure that the challenge is open, unrestricted, and importantly has no implementation details stipulated.
  4. Safe – Your staff and all participants, really do honestly feel safe to take risks, and to try anything they want to.
  5. Tangible – The outputs must be working prototypes of some form (NOT just pictures or people waving their arms).