Elsa Wenzel penned a sweet field report about the Schwaggin’ Wagon:

A group of Los Angeles friends who work in social media were kvetching earlier this month about the mountain of waste–such as branded T-shirts, stress balls, keychains, and other giveaways–that pile up at tech conferences.

They decided to turn that into an opportunity to sweeten the convention party circuit while benefiting charity.

Michael Liskin, Marjorie Kase, and David Preciado decided to cruise the Web 2.0 Expo in a “Schwaggin’ Wagon,” collecting excess knickknacks from vendors. They plan to send the souvenirs in care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as to the nonprofit InnerKids.

Read “Schwaggin’ Wagon cruises for conference party favors“.

Schwaggin', Web 2.0 Expo |

Marjorie Kase talked about the Schwaggin’ Wagon yesterday on BC Radio. Listen here (Marjorie is on at about 2:20 into the show):

Also yesterday, Michael Liskin discussed the Schwaggin’ life on American Public Media’s Future Tense (listen here).

Schwaggin', Web 2.0 Expo |

The first full day of Operation Schwaggin’ Wagon was a blowout success. Much unwanted and useless schwag was collected for redistribution and/or recycling, and dozens of web 2-0ers were stickered and chauffeured to and from various events. Highlights were the Mashable / Chi.mp bash at Mighty (photos) and the Yahoo! Brickhouse party.

Come visit the Schwaggin’ Wagon today and Friday nearby Moscone West. Look at our twitter or brightkite for exact location.

Like AdRants wrote:

Because Do You REALLY Wanna Take the Casale Bag Home?

Last week at ad:tech, Steve and I ran into Marjorie Kase. Kase is a mastermind behind the Schwaggin’ Wagon, whose mission is to gather craploads of SWAG (Stuff We All Get — but don’t actually want) for charity.

The Schwaggin’ Wagon will take donations all through the Web 2.0 conference in SF this week. Follow the van’s activities on Twitter (caution: psychedelia ahead) or check Facebook for tour updates.

Let’s just hope the Schwaggin’ Wagon doesn’t cross paths with Plaid Tour ’08, because the result (AESTHETIC WARFARE!) might give us epilepsy.

Hop on the wagon. It only gets better.

Schwaggin', Web 2.0 Expo | 2 Comments »

When you turn to your friend and offer up an idea that he thinks is great, how often does it not get implemented? For me this has happened often. This time I was resolved to simply make. it. happen.
It is particularly gratifying to put something “out there” and get this much response, in less than two weeks.

I am so utterly grateful to an amazing team of bright and talented individuals that literally sprung into action around this when I asked. Please meet them and congratulate them for being who they are if you see them this week in SF.

This is a collaborative effort in every sense of the word, that hopefully, in part, proves the power of not only social media and new technology, but of small group collaboration and what can be achieved with a bit of help from technology. The three of us, then four, then five, and now six of us also thank all of you for warmly accepting this idea and wanting to lessen waste and give back to those who could use some…stuff (and some money).

See you soon! To find out where we are… use Twitter and BrightKite. We believe we are one of the first groups to share a Twitter account in the manner we are attempting while we are in SF. We may ask Twitter for some alterations, based on our experience here.

Schwaggin' | 1 Comment »