Freebies. Swag. Loot. Whatever you call it, there's tons of it here at the BIO convention, distributed at the trade-show booths. Key chains. Pens. Note pads. Bouncy balls that light up. Pedometers. Mints. Highlighters. Puffy starfish. All emblazoned with logos of the companies distributing them.

To help us designate one item as the best, we (somewhat randomly) recruited the assistance of an expert, a marketing director from Arizona who was cruising the vast convention floor with multicolored gifts bags stuffed with, well, junk. His name is Brian Harris, from Coconino Community College, in Flagstaff. His favorite: a rubber Nano iPod cover sporting the name of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Insiders may think our contest was rigged, because Vertex is a Cambridge company run by Joshua Boger, the newly installed chairman of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which runs the convention. But Harris's pick was entirely coincidental.

Another popular item with some convention goers, Harris said, are small and colorful fans distributed by the Boston law firm of Sullivan & Worcester. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was raving about the fans today.

Vertex spokesman Zachary Barber said the company put quite a bit of thought into its marketing presence for the BIO convention. ``There's a lot of things going on here, and cutting through the clutter is a challenge,'' he said.

Harris had another tip for us: the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. is serving a killer latte.”

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