Last year at VMworld 2007 San Francisco, we did get nice backpacks that you could slip a notebook into.  Hopefully someone can authoritatively state whether there will be backpacks or not this year...I don't want to bring one only to end up with another one that has to be checked separately or stuffed into another piece of luggage.

Not a bad idea...although I'm from Canuckistan, so shipping a box home will not only take much longer, but might even cost more than paying the airline for a second checked item.   Last year, two checked bags were allowed for free so I stuffed as much swag as I could into the backpack.