If you want that summer fun feel without travelling too far down the novelty route there are plenty of products on the marketplace.

Lanyards with flashing lights, gold and silver lanyards, glitter lanyards, glow in the dark, and even lanyards with ‘bling’ edged with shiny diamante crystals.

Our favourite for the summer has to be the Hawaiian Luau styled Lei Lanyard or ‘Leinyard’. Perfect to add that bit of colour, make a talking point, and delegates are sure to take them home and use them again.

The lei lanyards have a polyester lanyard attachment with a traditional lei made out of flower petals to hang around the neck, and are available in all usual sizes.

It is not possible to print on the lei flowers, but the lanyard attachment has just enough room for a logo and short message.

Make sure you pick the J-Hook Clip so that attendees can attach keys, ipods, cameras, and whatever else they like to keep close.

The fun lanyards section on our website will be ready in the next few weeks.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave this week, you would have heard of Google Plus or ‘G+’ as it’s known.

As the latest addition to the global social media networks list, it promised to deliver much more than there currently is on the market.

We were lucky enough to be passed an invite from one of the elite few so we’ve been checking out features so that we can pass the information to you – the event organizers and attendees

Google Plus

Facebook are already holding public conferences and announcing a roll out with Skype video chat, and articles on Google Plus vs Facebook are all over the internet. So it looks as though after a run as the small guy nipping at Google’s heels with paid advertising revenue turnover, it is now their turn to be on the defensive and try to stop Google taking over their territory on the Social Networking Playing field. The game of ‘what are they going to do next’ looks set to fill the rest of 2011 with excitement as the rivalries try to out do each other with latest technology.

But what does that mean for conference and event organisers, and how can theytake advantage of of Google Plus for publicity and live event coverage? Is it just another social tool to sign in to?

Well aside from the familiar social networking interface, there is one very important addition to the Google Plus package that has been made for friends, business meetings and conferences alike – Hangouts!

Hangouts

Hangouts are a major game changing element. Essentially a Google Plus hangout is a video conferencing tool that you can use with the click of the ‘hangout’ button. You don’t have to log out of email, you don’t have to use another tool, you can use the video chat tool whilst updating your social profile, checking emails, and literally hanging out with colleagues, co workers, event attendees, friends and business associates.

How does this help?

Just imagine, global brainstorming with everyone in the same room and able to see each other, yes you can do that already with skype, but not with video with more than one person.

For conferences and events you can literally have guest speakers hanging out with attendees, create virtual hangouts for those that can’t attend, and all you need is a webcam, and internet connection, and a google account.

We will be providing more information on how to use Google Plus in the coming weeks so come and hangout with mybadges on G+

Magnets have come a long way. Gone are the days of all of the data being erased from your credit cards or damage the screen of your cellphone. Modern Magnet technology means that powerful neodymium

There are so many different types of lanyard attachments that it is easy to get confused. Lanyards with reels, carabiners, Lanyards with clip on, bulldog clips, swivel hook, J hook, press in hook, split ring. All of them are functional and will keep your badge holders and lanyards in place, but which one should you choose? The answer depends on many factors: Budget - How much do you want to spend? Time – Do you need to attach clips and lanyards quickly? Strength and Stamina - No kidding! Attaching thousands of lanyards with certain types of clip requires almost olympic strength!

The more lanyards or name badges you have to prepare, the more you have to clip on and depending on the attachment you choose, that could be goodbye fashion nails and hello to sore finger tips and frustration!

If you have a hundred badges, the Swivel hook or press in hook option is perfect as it won’t take long to attach them all, but if you have thousands of lanyards to attach to name badge holders, you may want to consider the bulldog clip as they are easier to attach as they do not strain your fingers as much!

Something that you might want to consider is that delegates can re-use the Swivel Hook lanyard after the event to attach keys and other items, so if you want your brand to be shown long after your event, choose a J hook or swivel hook.

If you have a larger budget, you could think about a neck wallet that has many more uses after a convention, conference or event, and the lanyards are attached already saving fingers and time!

With school security being an ongoing concern, many educational establishments have turned to custom printed lanyards to solve the problem of how to keep student and faculty ID visible.

High Quality material and print technology means that school colours can be matched and any logo or mascot can be printed clearly which can also help to establish a sense of pride and school spirit.

Lanyards and ID Badges are available in a selection of standard colours if you require a quick turnaround.

Custom School Branded lanyards greatly reduce the possibility of an unauthorized individuals to enter the school by making student ID prominently visible.

It is even possible to customize lanyards so that they are specific to different faculties or campus buildings to further enable security officers and administrators to identify students at a glance.

It doesn’t stop there, you can also ‘brand’ various clubs, organizations, bands and sports teams with a message or imprint that is customized to their own group.

Some students are not as happy to wear ID lanyards due to concerns about fashion, so why not involve your students in the process of choosing colours, imprints and ID?

Lanyards are nylon of polyester cords with a clip attachment on the end so they have many different uses.

Here is our top 10

ID – Lanyards are used mainly for identification purposes. Attached to a name badge, lanyards are a powerful, useful and attractive way to make personal, business, school and employee identification easily visible

Promotional Lanyards- conferences and events use lanyards to promote brands, tradeshows with a conference name tag attached

Lanyards for Keys – using a jhook attachment, lanyards are often used for keys. Church administrators or those that do not have pockets, can hang keys around their neck using a lanyard

Fashion Lanyards- there are hundreds of lanyards out there that are not just nylon cords. Beaded a jewelled lanyards have brought the hunble lanyard into the realms of fasion at home, work and at schools and universities.

Cell Phones & Mobiles can be attached with a lanyard so that you never lose your phone

Lanyards with a duel use can also be used to carry your sunglasses

Sports Lanyards! Make sure you never lose your whistle.

Lanyards for outdoor activities – Running, walking, hiking – attach water bottles, maps, penknives and other gadgets

Music concerts – lanyards for VIP back stage passes

Protect your wallet from loss or theft by attaching a lanyard

However you choose to use your lanyard, make sure you have safety in mind. Lanyards that are too long can become entangled so if you find yourself using lanyards around moving parts, think about a strangle free breakaway lanyard

Our round up of Conferences taking place in Canada in July 2011.

Do you know of any British Columbia Conferences happening in June that are not on our list?

If you have been to any conferences – send us pictures of your lanyards and badges to feature in our gallery and we’ll post it in our blog and twitter pages.

If you order your conference supplies in advance, you could even get some free publicity for your event before the day!

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