Better giveaways could signal end of economic woes

Several vendors are at the Hospice teleconference. Funeral homes, retirement communities and home health care agencies are among the groups with booths here. I notice a bump in the quality of the giveaways. Lots of cloth shopping bags, pens, good chocolate, notebooks. In the past several years I have noticed how people downsized giveaways at conferences and bigger meetings. During the boom, giveaways reflected the excess. I remember wine baskets at one conference, for instance. Then, during the recession years, lots of conferences got canceled or definitely minimized.

At your next conference, notice the giveaways. Are they looking better again? Could be a sign the economy is coming back.