With so many more channels to reach consumers, audiences are becoming extremely fragmented, which makes it harder to reach specific demographic niches through traditional advertising formats. Consumers are becoming much more selective about where their attention goes, and can easily ignore or opt out when they’re not interested.

By contrast, marketers are seeing event sponsorship as an emerging opportunity to align their messaging with a specific topic that consumers are interested in. Sponsoring events allows brands to interact with their target audience in a more authentic and engaging way. Here are four reasons why:

1. Interactive: Events create an opportunity for dialogue between brands and consumers
2. Emotional: Events tap into topics, themes, and causes that consumers are passionate about
3. Relevant: Consumers are at events because they choose to be there and are looking to gain from their experience
4. Immersive: Sponsors can make an impact on brand awareness through multiple touchpoints and components throughout the event

What do your Sponsors Want?

If you want to take advantage of brands’ increased interest in event sponsorship, you need to understand what they want to achieve by sponsoring an event. While money is being shifted away from traditional advertising and marketing channels, it’s important to remember that those spending the money are still being held accountable for justifying how they spend their budget and the ROI.

To create competitive event sponsorship packages that will be attractive to potential sponsors and provide them with the outcomes they’re looking to achieve, you’ll need to demonstrate how the sponsorship can help reach and engage their target audience.

Sponsors are likely to be working towards one or many of the following goals:

Your job is to ask strategic questions to identify what they’re trying to achieve, and then start to form creative ideas for activation.

Recommended Read: How to Create a Killer Sponsorship Strategy that Maximizes Event Revenue

Your Event Sponsorship Packages Need Event Tech

If your sponsorship packages have been virtually identical year-over-year, your sponsors may be tired of the same routine offers, have started losing interest, or are even pulling out. Whether you’re seeking to attract new sponsors or looking to hold onto your well-established high-value relationships, it may be time to redesign your sponsorships by offering a range of creative options that help sponsors achieve their own goals.

Sponsor needs and expectations are constantly evolving. In order to remain competitive, the most successful event professionals are exploring event technology to redefine and expand their sponsorship offering.

10 Tips to Maximize Event Sponsorship ROI

To get your creative juices flowing, here are 10 ideas on how to leverage sponsorship opportunities in your event app, registration or digital signage. We’ve grouped them according to the most common sponsor goals: brand awareness; lead generation, and promotional advertising.

Brand Awareness

1) Leverage your event app home screen to make a powerful first impression

• With every attendee starting their mobile experience on the home screen page, there’s no better place to offer exposure to your main sponsors

2) Showcase sponsor branding in pre- and post-event email communications

• Increase app downloads and sponsor awareness by sending attendees branded emails with sponsor logos

3) Extend exhibitor profiles to beyond just a booth

• A few strategies to enhance sponsor profiles within your event app include adding logos and social media links to their online profiles, attaching resources to their profiles such as product presentations, brochures, and videos, and enabling sponsors to post exclusive coupons and discount codes

4) Create listings so sponsors stand out from the crowd

• Mobile users only spend 3-5 seconds looking at a page before selecting what to do next, so the higher up the listings the better chance of being seen

Lead Generation

5) Collect data and derive insights from session attendance

• Many event apps allow attendees to favorite sessions and exhibitors. This data can be shared with sponsors so they can follow-up with attendees in a more personalized way.

6) Allow sponsors to create a personal connection through attendee networking

• A networking functionality allows for one-to-one in-app chat. Sponsors can send customized messages and promotions to customers and target prospects.

7) Engage attendees and collect qualified leads through sponsored surveys and contests

• Surveys and contests are a great win-win for both sponsors and attendees. Sponsors collect data that help them understand their prospects’ needs, and attendees get the chance to win prizes and engage in a fun way.

Promotional Advertising

8) Use every page as a point of contact with banner ads

• Banner ads generate brand awareness for sponsors by being seen on the pages where attendees spend the most time, and can link to a sponsor’s profile, website, or promotion.

9) Give your sponsors a voice through notifications and alerts

• Attendees will be opening the app throughout the event, so if a sponsor wants to increase foot traffic to their booth, for example, a sponsored alert can be sent out with details directing targeted attendees to the booth.

10) Make a big splash with live display

• Digital signage solutions with a live display offer real estate for sponsor logos within rotating screens. Even the most last minute sponsorship decisions can be made, and sponsors can update their messaging in real-time.

Want to learn more?

Read our ebook on how to improve your sponsorship strategy and maximize event revenue with event tech.

 

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The post Event Sponsorship: 10 Tips to Maximize Sponsorship ROI appeared first on EventMobi.

The right ideas = the right sponsors. And having strong sponsor support can mean the difference between a good event and a great one. After all, with the right sponsors, you’ll not only receive financial support but also:

• Establish valuable partnerships
• Enhance your brand visibility
• Add credibility to your event

And so much more!

Of course, it can be tricky to get the right sponsors. But if you offer the right incentives, your chances multiply! So let’s explore 66 creative event sponsorship ideas that will help you secure sponsorships for events of all kinds.

How Do You Ask a Company To Sponsor an Event?

But first… how do you find your sponsors? If this is your first time, don’t worry—it’s not so hard once you know how to ask for sponsors for an event. And if you’ve got quite a few sponsorships under your belt, you might find something new to consider! 

Follow these simple steps to increase your organization’s chance of securing sponsorships:

1. Identify your needs

You might start by asking: how do I find sponsors for an event? Instead, try asking yourself: what part of my event requires financial support? 

Maybe it’s venue rental, marketing expenses, speaker fees, technology requirements, accessibility support, or catering costs. Make a list of what you can cover and what you need your sponsors for, and then…

2. Determine what you can offer

Make sure you learn what sponsors hope to achieve through your collaboration and define your offerings.

According to a 2022 survey by The Partnership Professionals Network and Dynamic Benchmarking, one reason sponsors’ objectives aren’t achieved is because associations don’t know sponsors’ goals. In fact, only 21% of sponsors achieve their objectives “most of the time”!

So how do you make sure your sponsors are in that 21%? Generally speaking, by offering to become sponsors, companies seek to:

• Create business development and growth
• Foster brand exposure and differentiation
• Be portrayed as thought leaders

To help your potential sponsors achieve these goals, you could:

• Feature sponsors’ educational content in your event
• Offer lead generation opportunities
• Organize networking lounges

And more.

3. Create sponsorship levels

Got your offerings ready? Great. Start categorizing them into different sponsorship levels. This allows sponsors to choose the option that aligns best with their marketing/business objectives and budget.

For events like conferences, trade shows, or festivals, sponsorship levels can include benefits like:

And tons of others.

4. Build your sponsor package

With your sponsorship levels ready, you can now price and build your sponsor package.

So how should you price your package? You want to look at:

• Your organization’s needs
• What your sponsors can afford to pay
• What competitors are offering
• What the overall cost of your event is 

Every event is different, but make sure you’re meeting industry standards!

To add even more options for sponsors, you could also offer à-la-carte benefits. These allow companies to sponsor a specific element of your event. 

5. Find potential sponsors

If you’ve organized events with sponsors before, make sure you look into your current sponsors first. If not, take a look around your space. What are sponsors for similar events? Which potential sponsors are out there still?

Think specifically about how you can appeal to the sponsors you’re considering! 

Got your list of sponsors? Awesome. Now, you can…

6. Collect contact information

Try to start with the person responsible for handling sponsorships at your company of choice. After all, you don’t want to spend time crafting emails just to have them land in the wrong inbox!

Often, you want to reach out to someone from the marketing department. Some job titles to look out for include:

You could look into the company’s website to see if there’s any contact information there. If not, Google and LinkedIn are your friends! You can also use tools like Hunter.io to find the email of the person you’re trying to reach.

7. Send your first touch

It’s time to make a good first impression. Craft a compelling sponsorship proposal email or letter that communicates:

• What your event is about
• The sponsorship opportunities available

And most importantly: the value and benefits sponsors will get in return for their support.

Ideally, you’ll have all the details of your sponsorship package ready on your website or in a PDF. You can link potential sponsors to that site or attach the file in your email. In either case, your email should clearly communicate the benefits of sponsoring your event.

8. Follow up

Obviously: don’t send and forget! Once that first email’s out of the way, make sure you have a follow-up system to secure sponsor support and keep leads hot.

You should give potential sponsors ample time to review your proposal. This means several days to a week, tops. After that, you can follow up with a phone call or another email to discuss the opportunity further. You could address potential objections in this second email as well!

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate!

Maintain open lines of communication with potential sponsors throughout the whole negotiation process. If they come back with a question, try to address it as soon as possible—ideally, within 24 hours.

At the same time, don’t overcommunicate. If you’ve already followed up twice and haven’t received any responses, chances are they’re not interested. That would be the best time to call off the chase! Bombarding potential sponsors with tons of calls and emails will just make you seem desperate and unprofessional. Worse, you’ll burn a bridge with those companies by doing so.

What To Offer Sponsors for an Event: 12 Benefit Ideas

So how do sponsors benefit from events? Well, sponsors see many benefits when sponsoring events. 

Consider incorporating the following sponsorship benefits ideas to make your packages compelling:

Opening/closing ceremonies

Feature sponsor logos during the event’s opening and closing ceremonies. For a step up the sponsorship levels, you could also invite a sponsor’s representative to speak during these sessions.

Signage

Display sponsor logos on banners, posters, and directional signage throughout the event venue. Going virtual? Feature your sponsor logos on banner ads!

Event badges

Include sponsor logos on event badges or lanyards provided to attendees.

PR/media coverage

Include sponsors in press releases, media interviews, and event-related articles.

Reception

Provide sponsors with an exclusive opportunity to address attendees or host a branded reception.

Marketing collateral

Display sponsor logos on both online and offline marketing collaterals. These could be event brochures, flyers, the event’s landing page, and so on.

Session introductions

Boost their brand exposure by allowing sponsors to introduce speakers or sessions.

Social media

Feature sponsors in pre-event, during-event, and post-event social media posts and campaigns.

Certificates

Recognize sponsors with certificates of appreciation or achievement.

VIP events or benefits

Provide exclusive access to special events or benefits for sponsors and their guests.

Gift bags

Include sponsor-branded items or promotional materials in event gift bags. That way, your attendees will have a physical reminder of your sponsors even after the event is over!

Website

Showcase sponsors on your event website! You could feature their logos, company profiles, and links to their websites.

26 Event Sponsorship Ideas for Events of All Kinds

Hosting an in-person, hybrid, or virtual event? This is a great opportunity to get creative! But if you’re having trouble getting started, these 26 out of the box sponsorship ideas will help attract your ideal sponsors:

Workshop sponsorship

If you’re organizing a workshop or if it’s part of your event, you could partner with companies that offer products or services relevant to the workshop’s theme. Sponsors could show their expertise by:

• Introducing and explaining the workshop
• Providing educational resources
• Having a representative run the whole workshop
• Sponsoring payment for a workshop speaker in their network

Awards sponsorship

Are you hosting an award show? Having sponsors can help underwrite the cost of the awards. In return, your sponsors can present the awards to gain visibility during the ceremony.

Event technology sponsorship

You could partner with tech companies to boost engagement for your event. In return, offer them branding or feature their logos in:

• Social media wall
• Cell phone charging lockers
• Interactive theme gaming (like Jeopardy!)
• Your mobile event apps

Psst—EventMobi sponsors some associations every year. Get in touch if you think you’d be a great fit. We usually work with associations that support event and meeting planners and organizers!

Media sponsorship

For media coverage, reach out to media outlets or publications targeting your event’s audience! In exchange for their promotion, provide sponsors with advertising space or exclusive interviews.

Expert speaker sponsorship

For companies interested in establishing their thought leadership, you could offer:

• Speaking opportunities
• Prominent branding during sessions featuring sponsored speakers

Stage sponsorship

Provide sponsors with brand exposure throughout your event by featuring their logos on your event stage or naming the whole stage after them. As a highly visible sponsorship opportunity, a stage sponsorship can be how to get corporate sponsors for an event!

Research sponsorship

Does your event feature groundbreaking research? You can partner with organizations interested in making a difference! Provide them with opportunities to take part in, facilitate, or present research findings.

Booth sponsorship

Your sponsors could exhibit their products or services in a designated booth area! Go above and beyond and provide them with branded signage, promotional materials, and lead retrieval systems.

Registration area sponsorship

The registration area is a great way to introduce your sponsors. Display your sponsors’ logos and branding while attendees check in and get event materials. 

Lounge sponsorship

Offering comfortable lounges for attendees? You could provide sponsors with the opportunity to brand and decorate these spaces. Bonus points if they provide food and beverage options.

Wifi sponsorship

Ever logged in to a branded Wifi network at an event? Your attendees will thank you for the connection, and your sponsors get event-wide visibility! 

Merch sponsorship

You don’t have to shoulder the cost of merchandise production yourself. Collaborate with sponsors to create branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, tote bags, or water bottles.

VIP sponsorship

Offer exclusive benefits and experiences to sponsors, such as access to VIP lounges, reserved seating, or private networking events.

Happy hour sponsorship

Happy hour and cocktail receptions are great for networking and sponsor branding. Allow sponsors to host a session so they can network with attendees and gain exposure.

Keynote sponsorship

Work with your sponsors to support keynote speakers! In return, offer them branding opportunities during these presentations.

Contest/giveaway sponsorship

Partner with sponsors to create engaging contests or giveaways. You can even use their products or services as prizes.

Charging station sponsorship

Events can be a battery drain! Set up charging stations throughout the event venue, branded with your sponsor’s name or logo.

Accessibility sponsorship

Collaborate with sponsors to provide meaningful accommodations! They could cover the cost of sign language interpreters, closed captioning services, or assistive devices. This is a great opportunity for potential sponsors to show their commitment to accessibility. 

Q&A sponsorship

Here’s a chance for companies to directly interact with attendees: sponsoring Q&A sessions or panel discussions. Offer a moderation role to your sponsor for some valuable face-to-face time! 

Lanyard or badge sponsorship

Display sponsor logos on event lanyards or badges worn by attendees.

T-shirt sponsorship

Offering T-shirts to staff or attendees? Collaborate with sponsors to produce event T-shirts featuring their logos!

Venue sponsorship

Need a venue for your event? Partner with companies interested in hosting your event and offer them branding opportunities throughout the venue. 

Brand activation sponsorship

Boost your sponsors’ brand exposure with booths, exhibitions and interactive experiences.

Social media sponsorship

Even if you’re in person, don’t forget about social media! Connect with influencers so they can feature your event in stories, posts, and activate their audience in support, pre-, during-, and post-event. 

Volunteer sponsorship

Allow sponsors to support and engage with event volunteers to show their commitment to community involvement. They could sponsor a branded pizza party, volunteer gifts, or a green room snack station.

Program sponsorship

Offer sponsors the opportunity to advertise in the event program! They could also have a dedicated section to show their products or services.

5 Association Event Sponsorship Ideas

Associations have specific needs and benefits to offer sponsors! When you’re planning your next association event, consider these 5  unique sponsorship ideas for association events:

Mentorship program sponsorship

Partner with companies that prioritize professional development, or are leaders in your space. They could offer mentorship opportunities to association members.

Certification program sponsorship

For sponsors interested in supporting certification programs, you could offer them branding opportunities during certification ceremonies or training sessions.

Member perks sponsorship

Engage sponsors to provide exclusive discounts, perks, or benefits to association members. This is an easy way to highlight their commitment to the industry!

Annual conference sponsorship

Hosting an annual conference? You could offer sponsors branding opportunities, speaking slots, and networking events. For the right sponsor, you could even let them sponsor the whole event.

Special events sponsorships

Develop sponsorship opportunities for your association’s special events, such as networking mixers, gala dinners, or educational workshops.

10 Virtual Event Sponsorship Ideas

Looking for sponsorship ideas for your virtual events? Look no further. And psst: these work for your hybrid events, too.

Webinar sponsorship

Your sponsors could present webinars on relevant topics. If you’re using an event management platform like EventMobi, you could also:

• Highlight your sponsors with banner ads and sponsored messages during these sessions
• Create sponsored live polls

Online certification sponsorship

Partner with sponsors to support online certification programs! You could offer them branding opportunities during certification courses or exams. Alternatively, you could look for a learning management system sponsor to host your certifications and courses.

Virtual booth sponsorship

Wondering how to display sponsors for an event when it’s virtual? Provide them with virtual exhibition booths! Here, they can showcase their products or services, interact with attendees, and collect leads. You could offer 1:1 video meetings for their booths as well!

Gamification sponsorship

Gamification is great to engage your attendees while offering sponsors brand exposure at the same time! With an event management platform like EventMobi, you could promote your sponsors through gamification by:

• Offering branded challenges
• Staggering gamification points to match sponsor investments
• Using scavenger hunts to deliver leads to exhibitor and sponsor pages

Sponsored refreshment gift cards

Offer sponsors the opportunity to provide attendees with virtual refreshment gift cards! It’ll let your virtual attendees feel like they’re getting hor d’oeuvres delivered directly to their home or office. Besides visibility, this helps create a positive association for brands as well.

Sponsored contests

Engage sponsors by creating sponsored contests or competitions during the virtual event. You can use their products or services as prizes.

Virtual community space sponsorship

Establish a virtual community space where attendees can network, connect, and share ideas. With EventMobi, this space could offer sponsors:

• Branded live stream sessions, webinars, and live product demos
• Dedicated sponsor Video Libraries
• Virtual Exhibitor Booths complete with 1:1 Video Meetings
• Sponsored event game challenges
• Banner ads and sponsored messages

Virtual event app sponsorship

A mobile app makes virtual events easy to navigate and keeps attendees connected. With EventMobi, you could help boost sponsors’ visibility through your event apps by:

• Using banner ads to highlight your top-tier sponsors
• Promoting networking with virtual exhibitor booths
• Leveraging live polls and surveys to gather feedback
• Introducing sponsors through Sponsor Profiles
• Connecting sponsors with attendees through 1:1 Appointment Booking

Social media filter sponsorship

Social media filters are an easy way to promote your event while featuring your sponsors! Collaborate with sponsors to create branded social media filters or frames to use during the virtual event so your attendees can rep your event in style.

Virtual happy hour sponsorship

Just like with an in-person event, sponsors could host happy hours or networking sessions for virtual events from the comfort of their own spaces. 

Trade Show Sponsorship Ideas

Trade shows provide valuable opportunities for businesses to showcase their products and services. Take a look at these two event sponsorship ideas for trade shows:

Trade show session sponsorship

Allow sponsors to present educational sessions or workshops. Provide branding opportunities during these sessions to help your sponsors demonstrate their relevance to the industry.

Trade show technology sponsorship

Collaborate with sponsors specializing in event technology solutions. They’ll have a chance to present their products and services to exhibitors and attendees.

6 Sponsorship Ideas for Fundraising Events

Fundraising events rely heavily on sponsor support. To best secure sponsorships for your fundraising events, consider these sponsorship ideas:

Auction item sponsorship

Invite sponsors to donate high-value items or experiences for fundraising auctions. Then you can provide branding opportunities for these sponsors during the auction.

Silent auction sponsorship

Get sponsors to cover the costs associated with organizing a silent auction. Offer branding opportunities during the auction and recognition for their support.

Gift matching sponsorship

A matching gift program is an effortless way for nonprofit donors to maximize donations! You could partner with companies that offer gift matching programs to multiply the impact of donations received. Best of all, this will also encourage your audience to donate to your cause.

Volunteer recognition event sponsorship

So many fundraising events wouldn’t be possible without volunteers. Why not collaborate with sponsors to host a special event or ceremony to recognize and appreciate event volunteers?

Donation station sponsorship

Your attendees need a place to actually donate to your cause. Give sponsors the chance to brand and support donation stations at your fundraising event!

Cause marketing sponsorships

Your cause is worthwhile, and you can find sponsors who know that too! Cause marketing allows your organization to connect with a corporate partner who wants to demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility. 

How to Thank Sponsors for An Event: 5 Ideas

Expressing gratitude to sponsors is crucial for building long-lasting relationships! Here are a variety of ways to show your appreciation:

Personalized thank-you letters

Send personalized letters to sponsors to thank them for their support. Take the time to highlight the impact their sponsorship had on the event’s success in these letters! If you want to go the extra mile, handwrite them and get them signed by your organization’s leaders.

Fulfill on sponsor benefits

Your sponsors have held up their end of the bargain, so make sure you put together a sponsorship fulfillment checklist and start checking off those boxes! Keeping sponsors in the loop at every step is another great way to build trust, and you can sweeten the pot with analytics (E.G. how many people liked a sponsored post, viewed a banner ad)

Reception thank you

Host a special reception or dinner to thank sponsors. This is an opportunity for them to network with other key stakeholders as well!

Post-event report

Track and report on the ROI of your event and sponsorship efforts. This helps sponsors know how their support has paid off and can encourage them to collaborate with you again. 

Some event management platforms allow you to track and report on your analytics. EventMobi, for example, offers different ways to measure your event analytics like:

Whether your event is virtual, hybrid, or in person, your sponsors will have a clear idea of the benefits of your partnership.

Extra benefits for repeat sponsors

Offer additional perks or benefits to sponsors who consistently support your events, such as discounted sponsorship rates or priority access to future opportunities.

Get Your Dream Sponsors With These Creative Event Sponsorship Ideas

By now, you should have all the tools you need to:

• Effectively approach potential sponsors
• Create attractive sponsorship packages
• And offer compelling benefits that align with sponsors’ marketing objectives

If all goes well, you’ll form strong relationships with sponsors who can provide ongoing support for your organization’s events!

To best offer sponsors what they deserve, you need a versatile event management platform like EventMobi. Every year, EventMobi helps thousands of attendees meet & engage with awesome sponsors, in-app and on the event floor. We offer…

…and everything else you need to create sponsor value that will help your events flourish.

The post 66 Creative Event Sponsorship Ideas to Help You Secure Your Ideal Sponsors appeared first on EventMobi.

The good news is that many last minute event changes can be prevented and, with careful planning, some changes can be anticipated and managed. Here are 12 tips that will keep you ahead of any curve balls.

1. Build in a Back-up Plan for Replacing Keynote Speakers and Entertainers. 

When booking keynote speakers through a bureau, include a clause that covers providing a replacement speaker or entertainer if there is a last minute cancellation. As the date approaches, the bureau can easily confirm availability and provide you with a list of speakers and entertainers on their roster who can pinch hit at the last minute.

2. Have regular check-point meetings with your event stakeholders.

3. Brainstorm and identify the areas that are most prone to last minute event changes and move those items later in your project plan. 

For example, you can pretty well predict that there will be last minute cancellations by some event participants, delays due to traffic or late flights, particularly in the winter, and 11th hour changes in the agenda. Handle the need to pull outdated agendas from participant materials by accepting this as a reality. Book the printer to print and collate any handouts or other printed material that includes the agenda, on the morning of the day before the session is scheduled to begin. If you do it earlier it is guaranteed that there will be re-work. Have a team on hand to place and position this material late on the day before the meeting or event

Going paperless and providing the agenda through an app or online can eliminate the mad scramble in reprinting material when there are last minute changes.

4. Formulate back-up plans for every area of the programming and logistics that are prone to last minute changes.

5. Corporate event planners should make it a practice to include the sponsoring executive in key meetings.

Many clients will resist this but many meeting hiccups are created by executives who are brought into the loop at the last minute. The sponsoring executive should participate in the initial project meeting to communicate his or her vision clearly. He or she should also sign-off on content, the agenda, entertainment, and even the timing for catering service. Many times when an event planner has arranged to begin service when everyone has arrived, an executive will step in at the last minute and insist that service begin immediately. If you don’t have buy-in from the senior executive, everything is up for grabs and last minute changes are guaranteed.

6. Re-engineer Your Agenda. 

Build margin into your agenda, set-up, and logistics. Delays in arrival due to heavy traffic, inclement weather and flight cancellations or delays, are quite common. You will need that margin so that you can slide content to later time slots if there is a delay in the start of the meeting or conference.

How to Build Margin into Your Meeting

• NEVER overpack an agenda. Add at least 15 minutes more than you think you need to each session.
• Rope off a reserved row or set a couple of reserved tables near the entrance to ensure that latecomers are not disruptive or embarrassed.
• Some participants will arrive extra early to be guaranteed a seat near the door so you also need to allocate space for them.
• Set one or two extra tables near the door and mark them as as reserved. Some participants and dinner guests just show up so you also need to make a plan to accommodate them. Advise participants who arrive early that these are extra tables.
• Provide an informal arrival lunch as an easy transition into the agenda. A buffet format can easily accommodate staggered arrivals.
• Start your agenda early to mid afternoon on day 1 to give participants time to arrive, relax, and even get settled into their rooms if possible.
• Instead of beginning with a general session or keynote, launch the meeting or conference with structured networking, cracker barrel sessions, brainstorming, or in conferences sessions in breakout rooms.
• Before the closing keynote, schedule another session in breakout rooms for brainstorming, networking, or strategizing an implementation plan.

7. For corporate clients, confirm the final date for rooming lists and the penalties that apply if there are last minute cancellations.

Always build in a buffer and set the deadline a couple of days before you need it so that you don’t receive the rooming list at the 11th hour.

8. Set a deadline for receiving notifications of cancellations.

Stipulate that, after that date, the client is responsible for cancelling directly with the hotel and copying the event planner on the cancellation notification.There will always be last minute cancellations from corporate clients. Placing the responsibility for handling them with the client will eliminate what is a major source of last minute scrambling.

9. Send a communique to participants a week before the event and ask them to advise you immediately if there are any changes to their travel plans or the length of their stay. 

Remind them to let event organizations know about any special meal requirements. That way you can make adjustments at a less than frantic pace.

10. Bring the speakers in 2 nights before they are required.
Flying speakers in at the last minute is asking for headaches due to the inevitable flight delays.

11. Schedule the final checkpoint meetings with the entire team 1 week and 2 days before the event.
This will help you identify any hiccups and develop a strategy to manage them.

12. Form a SWAT team by allocating some members of the event planning team to deal with last-minute emergencies and come up with solutions.

This troubleshooting task force should be composed of members of your conference planning sub-committees who have been involved throughout the event planning process. Clear their calendars during the last 2 days leading up to an event and during the event, Their role should be to troubleshoot and problem solve and they need to be empowered to make fast decisions.

BONUS TIP – Take it in stride. Accept the fact some event changes are unavoidable.

Keeping your Cool When Faced with Last Minute Glitches

• Take a deep breath.
• Alert the troubleshooting taskforce.
• Brainstorm and implement solutions.
• A member of the taskforce should contact and involve all directly affected parties.
• Be honest with participants about the event changes, why they are necessary, and  what you are offering as an alternative.

From the School of Hard Knocks

Magic Johnson, who was the advertised marquee speaker for MPI WEC 2017 conference, had to cancel at the very last minute. MPI posted a video on Twitter at 2 AM on the day he was to schedule to speak. They announced that headline entertainment and other content would fill the gap.

The post Don’t Get Caught in Last Minute Madness: 12 Tips for Preventing Last Minute Changes at Your Event appeared first on EventMobi.

• Financial: The most widely-known type of sponsorship is a company donating money to fund an event. In exchange, the event organizer helps promote awareness of the sponsor by including their branding in marketing and event materials.
• In-kind: The sponsor will donate goods or services to your event, instead of providing funds. For example, a catering company might provide food and drinks, helping you reduce spending in this area.

While sponsors clearly provide valuable support for your organization’s events, establishing a successful partnership can be difficult. Not only must you identify businesses that are willing to sponsor you, but you must also find one that makes the process easy.

In this guide, we’ll cover six signs or characteristics of effective corporate event sponsors. Whether you’re hosting a product launch, school fundraiser, trade show, or another event entirely, we’ll help you identify sponsors that are sure to support you. Let’s dive right in!

1. Alignment of Values and Goals

Ideally, your sponsor won’t just partner with you for the marketing perks. They should genuinely care about your event’s success and want you to meet your goals. Therefore, seek sponsors that align with your mission, values, or goals for a smoother partnership.

An effective sponsor will align with either your overall or event-specific goals. For example, if your event’s purpose is spreading the word about your product, you may have trouble finding a sponsor specifically interested in promoting your new product. However, if your business’s mission is to bring sustainable goods to consumers, you can more easily identify organizations with similar ideals and reach out to them for sponsorship.

2. Financial Reliability

Since most corporate sponsorships provide monetary support, your partner should be financially reliable. Usually, that means you’ll look out for consistently profitable businesses with positive cash flow. You can usually discover this information in financial statements corporations publish for their stakeholders.

This isn’t to say that small businesses are not valuable partners—just because a business isn’t able to provide a large amount of funds doesn’t mean you should overlook their support. In fact, if your organization or event is on the smaller side, you may have difficulty securing a sponsorship from a large, well-established business.

Design sponsorship packages that accommodate many sponsorship levels to invite support from organizations of all different sizes. For example, you might create the following packages:

• Bronze: If an organization provides the equivalent of $1,000 in sponsorship, you’ll include their logo on your event site.
• Silver: If an organization provides the equivalent of $5,000 in sponsorship, they’ll get all the benefits of the bronze package, a social media shoutout, and a speaker slot on one of the event’s panels.
• Gold: If an organization provides the equivalent of $10,000 or more in sponsorship, they’ll get all the benefits of the lower packages, as well as its branding included on all event materials and a thank-you in the end-of-event speech.

With sponsorship packages and tiers like these, you can accept support from organizations no matter their size and profitability. Remember that the key is reliability, so make sure businesses you partner with have a positive reputation in their community and the greater industry.

3. Clear Communication

Think about the last time you worked with an uncommunicative vendor. Maybe a caterer took a while to get back to you about meal options for your event, or a performer showed up late and didn’t let you know. Not only is this unprofessional on the vendor’s side, but it’s stressful for your event staff.

While sponsors don’t have a traditional vendor relationship with your organization, a lot of communication still needs to take place for a successful partnership. For example, you’ll need to discuss:

• Details of the sponsorship
• Event information, including schedule, target audience, and more
• Marketing strategy
• Sponsor engagement opportunities, such as panels and product demonstrations
• Event planning progress, including any roadblocks

As you begin connecting with potential corporate sponsors, look out for how communicative they are. Does the main point of contact respond promptly? Do they schedule regular check-in meetings to ensure the partnership is going smoothly? Do they update you on any obstacles they’re experiencing on their end?

Transparency is an important component of any partnership—both organizations need to feel that the other is acting in their best interest. With clear communication, you can avoid misunderstandings and frustration in the event planning and sponsorship process.

4. Audience Alignment

Another common way for businesses to support the events they’re sponsoring is by promoting the event to their unique audience. This allows your organization to connect with more individuals who may buy your products, donate to your mission, or support your organization in other ways.

However, not everyone will be interested in your event or your organization—for example, if your association is hosting a conference to help medical professionals network, local homemakers probably won’t be interested. That means you need to work with a sponsor whose audience is similar to or includes yours.

Look for partners whose audiences align with yours in:

• Demographics
• Location
• Income level
• Lifestyle
• Interests

When your sponsor helps you promote your event, their audience will learn more about your organization and what you do. Having shared audience characteristics improves your chances of securing more registrations for your event and makes it easier for you to engage attendees with what you’re doing.

5. Strong Marketing Strategies

It’s not enough for a potential sponsor to have an audience that aligns with yours—they also need robust marketing strategies to maximize their outreach. Ideally, your sponsor should take a multichannel approach, sending promotional messages through these channels:

• Their website
• Email newsletters
• Social media
• Direct mail
• Text messages

Check out the sponsor’s digital marketing efforts and evaluate how effective they are based on how frequently they send messages and the levels of engagement they receive on social media platforms. After you’ve formed a partnership, you may ask them for a look into their marketing data to help you pinpoint which channels will be most effective at securing registrations for your event.

Not all sponsors will include marketing as part of their support, but the most effective ones will, as they understand how thorough promotion can only benefit your event.

6. History of Corporate Social Responsibility

Securing sponsorships can be more difficult for associations, nonprofits, and other mission-driven organizations, than for other entities. Since your organization doesn’t operate in the for-profit sphere, sponsors may stand to gain less from a partnership with you than with another business.

That’s why one of the signs of an effective event sponsor is a history of corporate social responsibility (CSR) or activities and initiatives that demonstrate a commitment to improving the business’s community. For example, Ben and Jerry’s supports a variety of movements that seek to eliminate injustices in its communities.

According to FundraisingIP, here are three top CSR programs businesses may implement:

• Matching gifts. In this program, the business matches donations its employees make to mission-driven organizations, usually at a 1:1 ratio. For example, if an employee donates $10, the company will donate $10 to the same organization.
• Volunteer grants. When an employee volunteers a set number of hours at a nonprofit, the business will donate to that nonprofit. For instance, the policy might be that after an employee volunteers for 30 hours within a calendar year, the company donates $50 to the nonprofit.
• Sustainable business practices. These practices vary from business to business but may include offering holistic compensation, respecting work-life balance, staying open to feedback, and reducing negative environmental impact.

Previous successful sponsorships are another marker of CSR. In particular, keep an eye out for businesses that have worked with organizations or on events similar to yours. For example, if your school is taking Funds2Orgs’s suggestion and hosting a shoe drive fundraiser, you would look for businesses that have previously partnered with schools or supported drive-style events.

When researching this information, directly checking the company’s website is a great place to start. Companies participating in CSR are usually proud of it and feature related information about their policies, previous partnerships, and more. For instance, in addition to outlining its values on its website, Ben and Jerry’s also includes links to its foundation, which provides grants to fund organizations across the country that are working for progressive social change.

When soliciting sponsorships, research businesses that are local to your organization, work in a similar vertical, and have previously partnered with similar organizations to yours for the best chance of identifying valuable potential partners. As you begin interacting with them and sending sponsorship proposals, remember the key characteristics above to help you decide if the partnership is worth pursuing.

The post 6 Signs You Have Found an Effective Corporate Event Sponsor appeared first on EventMobi.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through how to plan a conference from A to Z. We’ll cover everything from budgeting and marketing to finding sponsors and speakers to reporting and analytics. 

What Does It Take to Plan a Conference?

The first key to success is to start early! But how long does it take to plan a conference? That’s like asking “How long is a piece of string?”–the answer varies in each unique case. 

Consider the size and scale of your conference to help you determine how much prep time you’ll need. A good rule of thumb is to begin planning a simple conference at least 6 months out and to give yourself a year to plan a large-scale conference with thousands of attendees. 

Now let’s look at the fundamental elements you need to consider when planning a conference:

A clear goal

What do you want to achieve with your conference? For example, conferences can provide attendees with valuable knowledge and networking opportunities, but they can also be a great way for your organization to promote your brand and generate leads.

So define whether the purpose is to educate attendees, provide networking opportunities, promote your brand, or generate leads. Start with a well-defined goal and the rest of your plan will unfold more easily.

Knowledge of your audience

Who is your audience, what are their needs and how should you tailor your conference to suit those needs? Answering these questions is critical to the success of your conference! 

For example, knowing how to plan a business conference is quite a bit different from knowing how to plan an association summit. Focus on communicating the benefits of your specific conference in a way that’s relevant to your audience, so you can maximize attendee registration and participation. 

A reliable team

Planning a conference is not a one-person show. Rather than attempting to plan an event on your own, bring together a team of professionals and volunteers you can rely on. 

Having a competent and diverse team is critical to your conference’s success. Make sure you understand the skills and experience of each member, assign tasks accordingly, and regularly keep each other updated on your progress!

A strong brand

Ensure your conference aligns with your organization’s branding—this includes your brand elements like logos, colors, and fonts as well as your messaging. A strong, consistent brand image immediately sets the tone for your conference and helps build confidence and trust in your brand among your attendees!

An event tech stack

Whether you’re hosting an in-person, virtual, or hybrid conference, tech’s going to play a crucial role. Choose the right event tech tools to help you streamline different aspects of planning and executing your conference, like registration, check-in, networking, panel discussion, and more.

How to Plan a Successful Conference: 15 Things You Need

Now that you’ve set up a good foundation for your conference planning,  Here’s a list of the 15 things you’ll need to pay attention to when planning a conference:

Budget

Your budget will dictate many of the other decisions you make about your conference—remember to establish a budget early on!

Marketing plan

Your marketing plan outlines how you’ll reach and persuade your audience to attend your conference. This might include digital marketing channels like email marketing, paid ads, or content marketing on your website.

Event tech

Event apps and tech can help you with everything from registration, check-in, networking, and more!

Venue

Choose a venue that is the right size for your event and has the amenities you need, like A/V equipment and catering facilities. Make sure to have a venue map on display at the event (or in your app!) so attendees can find their way around.

Sponsors

Relevant sponsors can help offset the cost of your conference and provide value to attendees in the form of discounts, free products, or exclusive content. 

Exhibitors

Exhibitor booths allow companies to show off or demo relevant products and services to attendees. 

Speakers

Speakers are one of the biggest draws for attendees! Invite speakers who are experts in their field and can provide attendees with valuable insights. 

Workshop, panel, or breakout sessions

These are a great way to provide attendees with in-depth knowledge on specific topics while allowing attendees to interact with each other and network. 

Agenda

Your agenda should outline the schedule of events, including speakers, workshops, and discussion panels, plus time for breaks and networking.

Event management system

An event management platform like EventMobi brings together many of the steps and tools you’ll need to pull off a successful event. This includes everything from designing a custom event app and simplifying attendee registration to post-conference surveys and analytics.

Registration system

Make sure you have a smooth and easy registration process set up! If you have a website for your conference, the registration form can be embedded on the event website. 

Badging solution

Whether you want a DIY badging solution, on-demand printing at your event, or pre-printed badges delivered in advance, it’s important to figure out badging logistics and choose a solution that fits your budget, event size, and timeline.

Check-in

What type of check-in experience do you want to create for attendees when they arrive for your event? With the right technology, you can offer a range of hassle-free check-in solutions that get your attendees in the door in a flash–like self-service check-in kiosks or QR code check-in.

Engagement

Foster attendee engagement with networking tools, gamification, live polls, surveys, and appointment booking.

Analytics

Make sure you always look into post-conference analytics and reporting to know what’s working and what should be improved. 

Now that you have the overview, let’s take a look at the breakdown of these steps to planning a conference!

Step 1: How to Plan a Conference Budget

According to Knowland’s 2023 State of the Meetings Industry, increasing event expenses is one of the biggest concerns for event organizers! Effective conference budget management is essential to prevent financial surprises. Here’s a simple process to plan your conference budget.

• Set financial goals for your conference. Prepare a profit and loss budget and predict as accurately as possible if the conference will result in a profit, loss, or break even.
• Determine your fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs do not change based on the number of attendees and are calculated as a total amount. Variable costs change based on the number of attendees and are calculated on a per-person basis.
• Identify your sources of revenue. Examples include advertising, management fees, registration, sponsorship, etc.
• Create a conference budget proposal. This is a document or presentation you’ll put together to convince your stakeholders to sign off on. 
• Review and track your conference budget. Meet with your company’s accounting or financial officer to review your conference budget. 

For more details on planning a conference budget, check out our ultimate guide to event budgets. 

Step 2: How to Develop a Marketing Plan for Your Conference

With a strong marketing strategy, you can get your audience to not only take notice of your conference, but to actually register, attend, and participate! Here are a few tips for developing a successful marketing plan for your conference:

• Identify your target audience. Who are you trying to reach? Once you know your target audience and where they hang out, you can develop marketing messages that they’ll see and appreciate.
• Create a website for your conference. Your website is a central hub for all information about your conference! Be sure to include information about the speakers, agenda, venue, and registration process.
• Consider organic content marketing. Social media, blog articles, email —these are great ways to reach your audience and get them excited about your conference! 
• Run paid ad campaigns. Paid advertising can help you reach a wider audience and generate more leads for your conference. Consider running ads on social media, search engines, and other relevant websites.
• Measure your results. Keep an eye on which marketing channels are getting the best results. Which marketing campaign worked best with this audience? What should you do differently next time?

If you’re organizing a conference for your association, you can always fold your conference marketing plan into your association marketing strategy!

Step 3: How to Find & Secure a Memorable Venue 

Conference event planning always involves a choice of venue, ideally a memorable one! Before you start shopping around, make a list of your must-haves and nice-to-haves—that way, you know what you are willing to compromise on, and what needs to be available. This could include:

Not sure where to start looking for venues? Take inspiration from conferences held by other organizations in your space, or look at event listings in your area. Once you’ve narrowed down your options, reach out to your most promising options and compare quotes. Remember to ask about the following: 

That’s how to plan for a conference venue that meets all your needs! 

Oh, and if you’re wondering how to plan a virtual conference? Think about how you use your branding and event virtual space to make sure even your virtual venue makes an impression on your attendees!

Step 4: How to Secure Event Sponsors

Securing the right sponsors can make or break your event — and the right sponsorship levels can exponentially raise your chances of success!

To secure amazing sponsors for your conference, follow our tips:

• Come up with sponsorship levels. These provide potential sponsors with options to support your conference depending on the associated perks. You can even catch your sponsors’ attention with unique sponsorship level names!
• Create a sponsorship deck. This deck should outline the benefits that sponsors will receive, such as branding exposure, speaker opportunities, and access to attendees.
• Target the right sponsors. Identify companies that are relevant to your target audience and that would be interested in sponsoring your event.
• Reach out to potential sponsors early. This will give them time to budget for your event and give you time to develop a sponsorship package that suits them well.
• Follow up. After you have reached out to potential sponsors, be sure to follow up with them regularly to check in and answer any questions they may have.

Step 5: How to Find Speakers for Your Conference

Having the right speakers at your conference will captivate your audience’s attention and make your event truly memorable! Here are a few tips to help you book amazing speakers in no time:

• Be active in your space. By staying in the loop, you’ll know who’s making waves and who would make a fantastic addition to your conference.
• Look at past events. Review the speakers who performed exceptionally well at previous conferences. Past success could be a good indicator of a repeat performance!
• Survey attendees and members. Ask your attendees who they want to hear from. Not only does this generate ideas, but it also builds excitement for your event.
• Network, network, network. Never underestimate the power of a solid network. You never know where your next great speaker recommendation might come from.
• Post a call and advertise it. If you’re open to applications, post a call for event speakers and advertise it widely! 
• Local and industry publications. These sources often feature thought leaders and influencers. Plus, they could offer a wealth of topics and issues relevant to your audience.
• Partner recommendations. Partners can offer valuable insights and suggestions. They may know of great speakers who align with your event’s goals.

And if you’re still wondering how to secure a great speaker,  check out these tips on how to successfully find a speaker for your event! 

Step 6: How to Plan a Conference Workshop, Session, or Panel

Conference workshops or breakout sessions are key to facilitating important conversations, networking, and skill-building! They break up the pace of the conference day and diversify the attendee experience. 

So how do you organize a conference session? Follow our tips: 

• Provide a framework or outline. This helps you share your goals for the session with attendees. Make sure participants know what’s expected of them—and how to time the components of the session.
• Appoint breakout leaders. Identify leaders before breaking into groups, or ask the groups to elect one amongst themselves. 
• Facilitate introductions. This is a great time for an icebreaker question, or even an activity if time permits! 
• Dive into the activity. The reason everyone’s here!
• Wind the session down. Provide some light guidance on how groups should wrap the session amongst themselves before returning to the main room.
• Reunite and share findings. Everyone will be eager to share what they learned! Have a plan for how best to discuss the conference breakout session once everyone’s come back together.
• Ask for feedback. Find a way to collect feedback efficiently (like through live polling) and implement those suggestions in the next session you host.

For more tips on how to plan a conference workshop that works for your audience, check out this list of 36 conference breakout session ideas.

Step 7: How to Plan a Conference Agenda

Your conference agenda, or your conference schedule, helps guide your attendees throughout the event. To create a conference schedule, make sure you include the following:

Consider the balance of your conference program and include a mix of keynote speakers, workshops, or panel discussions. Always remember to be flexible and test your agenda beforehand, including running it by your hosts! Things don’t always go according to plan, so be prepared to make adjustments to your agenda as needed.

Step 8: How to Choose an Event Management Tool

The right event management tool can take a ton of pressure off your shoulders! Here are a few factors to consider when choosing an event management platform:

• Features: What features are important to you? Do you need a tool that can help you with registration, check-in, scheduling, and more?
• Budget: How much are you willing to spend on an event management tool?
• Onboarding and support: Does the tool offer onboarding and support? This is important, especially if you are not familiar with event management tools.
• Ease of use: How easy is the tool to use? You want to choose a tool that is easy to learn and use for both yourself and your team.
• Integrations: Does the tool integrate with other tools that you use, such as your CRM or email marketing software?
• Onsite/hybrid capabilities: Does the tool have the capabilities to support onsite, hybrid, or virtual events?
• Great reviews: Read reviews from other users to get their feedback on the tool. This can help you to make an informed decision!

Looking for an easy way to plan on-brand, on-budget conferences that your attendees will love? Book your personalized demo of EventMobi today!

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Step 9: How to Run Event Registration Smoothly

A smooth registration leaves a great first impression on your conference attendees. Here are a few tips for running event registration smoothly:

• Choose a user-friendly registration platform. There are a number of event registration platforms available. Choose a platform that is easy to use and that offers the features that you need.
• Make it easy for attendees to find the registration page. Promote the registration page on your website and social media channels. You can also send out email invitations to potential attendees.
• Collect the information that you need. When attendees register, be sure to collect the information that you need, such as their name, email address, and affiliation.
• Send out confirmation emails. Once an attendee has registered, be sure to send them a confirmation email. This email should include important details about the event, such as the date, time, location, and agenda.
• Offer multiple payment options. Make it easy for attendees to pay for their registration by offering multiple payment options, such as credit card, PayPal, and invoice.

Step 10: How to Manage Conference Badging and Check-in

A smooth and efficient conference badging and check-in process helps you maintain a professional impression in your attendees’ minds. 

Here are a couple of tips to ensure your badging and check-in process is as smooth as possible:

• Create the ideal check-in experience.  Prevent long lines and wait times at the check-in desk with a check-in app or branded self-service kiosks!

• Set up multiple check-in stations. This will help to reduce wait times for attendees.
• Test your badging and check-in solution. Before the event, be sure to test out your badging and check-in tool to make sure that it is working properly.

One of the simplest ways to manage badging and check-in is by integrating with your event management platform! For example, EventMobi’s drag-and-drop Badge Designer lets you create custom, branded badge designs that you can choose to print yourself, send to a third-party printer, or have printed and shipped right to your door.

Step 11: How to Foster Engagement

Nobody likes a boring conference. With an all-in-one event management platform like EventMobi, there are endless ways to foster attendee engagement at your conference! Some examples include:

Step 12: Use Reporting for Your Event

Track and analyze your event data so you can measure the success of your conference and improve future events! 

With an event management platform like EventMobi, you can track data on attendance, interest, and action. Gain insight into which elements—video sessions, booths, networking activities, or games—were most valuable to your audience and use that knowledge to run future successful conferences.

Planning the Perfect Conference Starts Months in Advance

Conference planning is a complex yet rewarding journey. The strategy you choose and the decisions you make months in advance will shape your success on the event day. By following the tips in this conference planning guide, you can run successful conferences that inform, engage, and impress your attendees!

From huge conferences to smaller meetings, EventMobi makes event management simpler than ever. Book your demo today!

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The post How to Plan a Conference: 12 Steps for a Memorable & Successful Conference appeared first on EventMobi.

What are corporate sponsors really thinking?

I’ve interviewed a lot of corporate sponsors over the years. Sponsors have expressed concerns like:

• “Recognition is probably the least important driver of sponsorship value.”
• “Our company markets 365 days a year; our conference sponsorship is only 3 days a year.”
• “For the money, time, and energy [the sponsorship involves], I can create other opportunities.”

Now associations have a new challenge: During the more than two years that associations have been forced to cancel their conferences and expos – or present these events virtually – due to the pandemic, sponsor companies were pursuing alternative ways to market their products and services.

Companies have generated their own outreach and created lead lists with social media; presented educational content via company webinars on Zoom; and posted case studies and guides on their company website. Companies have also partnered with trade publications and for-profit webinar and expo producers.

It’s no longer “a given” that companies that sell products or services to an association’s members will sponsor the association.

Recommended Read: Looking for detailed advice on designing an event sponsorship package that will be competitive in today’s market? Download the free Sponsorship Strategy Guide to learn how!

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Survey Reveals the State of Sponsorship Engagement

The Partnership Professionals Network and Dynamic Benchmarking partnered on a survey of association sponsors. The results – released in January 2022 – reveal some interesting insights.

Companies reported they are not achieving their sponsorship objectives; only 21 percent are achieving their objectives “most of the time”. One reason sponsors’ objectives aren’t being achieved is because associations don’t know sponsors’ goals; only 21 percent of the companies said “most” of the associations they sponsor to understand their goals.

The third related factor leading to sponsor dissatisfaction is that sponsors report only 30% of associations are asking sponsors for feedback on sponsor packages.

Taken together, these survey findings indicate a disconnect between associations and sponsors.

Why do Companies Sponsor Associations?

How can we alter these challenges to create successful sponsorship programs? One way is to understand why companies sponsor associations. 

Interviews, focus groups, and conversations with sponsors during the past decade consistently demonstrate that companies seek to derive three value propositions from sponsorships. 

• Companies want to create business development and growth. This can take the form of access to a segment of the association’s membership or conference attendees; opportunities to generate leads; and driving traffic to the company’s website.

• Companies want brand exposure and differentiation; they don’t necessarily want brand exclusivity, however, they want to be viewed differently than their competitors that are not sponsors. This can take the form of brand awareness to position or reposition the company; distinguishing the brand from its competitors; and establishing credibility by being affiliated with the association.

• Companies want to be portrayed as thought leaders. This can take many forms, such as featuring sponsors’ educational content; including sponsors as faculty on webinars and workshops; interviewing sponsors on podcasts; and partnering with sponsors to produce research.

In addition, there are ways to achieve all three company value propositions, such as arranging for top-tier sponsors to attend brainstorming meetings with the association’s board of directors; organizing focus groups or roundtable discussions of members for sponsors; holding briefings for sponsors with the association’s staff; and featuring sponsors on social media posts.

10 Ways to Structure a Sponsorship Program for Success

Based on what we know about sponsors’ concerns and why companies sponsor associations, we can structure a sponsorship program for success. 

1. Members’ first

While a successful sponsorship program must meet the needs of sponsors, association sponsorship programs first and foremost must be in alignment with the association’s mission and the needs of its members.

2. Year-long:

While there will always be interest in “one-off”, transactional sponsorships of things like logos on name badge lanyards, many companies are more interested in year-long, integrated sponsorships instead of a series of tactics.

3. Customized:

Each company that might be interested in sponsoring an association has different business objectives and marketing goals. Therefore, customized sponsorship programs are of far greater interest to companies than standard Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze sponsorship levels.

4. Transition:

Companies are unlikely to be top-tier sponsors if most of the sponsor benefits are logo placements, visibility, and a shout-out from the podium at the annual conference. The goal should be to transition from these transactional benefits to transformational benefits.

5. Content:

There is a value other than revenue for associations to have sponsors. Companies have a wealth of market research, trends data, case studies, best practices, etc. that can be of value to the association’s members. This content can be bundled in a year-long, customized sponsorship package.

6. Educate:

Companies should be advised to use their sponsorship to educate members. A slogan to use as a guide is, “Educate to sell, don’t sell to educate”.

7. Conversation:

Historically, many associations have developed a prospectus with levels of sponsorships or lists of sponsorable items. Often the result is few top-tier sponsors and some low-fee sponsors. For companies that have been – or have the potential to be – top-tier sponsors, it’s best to have a conversation. Marketing agencies have exploratory meetings with prospective clients to identify each company’s needs; then the marketing agency develops a customized set of services for each prospective client. Associations should do the same: talk with each company about its marketing goals and challenges, how the company wants to impact the association’s members, and how the company defines a successful marketing initiative or sponsorships; then develop a customized sponsorship proposal.

8. Budget cycle:

Companies are more likely to find room in their marketing budgets for sponsorships if associations talk with the company when it is making budget decisions. Have conversations with company executives when they are developing their marketing budgets (not when the association wants companies to sign up or renew). 

9. Internal support:

Successful sponsorship programs have the support of the association’s board and staff. Companies are less receptive to associations that have one or two staff people “dialing for dollars” and more interested in associations in which the entire organization is providing value to sponsors.

10. Service:

Year-long, customized sponsorship benefits should be delivered purposefully. This is done most effectively when there is a single designated account executive at the association to service the relationship with each sponsor.

A Note About Virtual Conferences

While many associations have been challenged by the rush to virtual during the pandemic, most associations acknowledge that some type of virtual education will be part of their offerings in the future. 

Virtual conferences can offer significant value to sponsors because of the ability to derive detailed information on each attendee, which sessions they attend, which documents they download, etc.  These data are useful to sponsor companies that want to identify the segment of members who would be most interested in the company’s educational information. 

How Much to Charge Corporate Sponsors/Partners

It is important to cover the association’s costs: hard costs, staff time, etc. (However, if the association’s costs are high and value to the sponsor is low, it will be difficult to cover the association’s cost with the sponsor fee.)

Sponsor fees should be based on the return on investment (ROI) for each company. I once worked with a sponsor that was a bank; the marketing VP told me that if the bank obtained one new building financing from a member as a result of the sponsorship, that would cover the $100,000 sponsor fee for the year. 

Other companies might have a more “general sense of success”. Or the determination of value might be based on “moving the needle” on corporate social responsibility. 

When I have interviewed sponsors during the past decade, I ask the question, “if the association provided more sponsorship value, would your company pay more?” I consistently get the same responses:

• One-third say “yes”
• One-third say “maybe”
• One-third say “I’m not sure”
  

I seldom get a “no” response, even when companies are paying $50,000, $100,000 or higher sponsor fees.

Striving for the Win-Win-Win

Successful association sponsorships are a win-win-win, providing:

• Content that members need
• Value for each corporate sponsor
• Revenue for the association, plus membership and sponsor growth
  
  

Bruce’s Bio

Bruce Rosenthal has advanced corporate partnership programs for more than 20 years. He is a strategic advisor, consultant, and educator to associations and not-for-profit organizations, creating corporate partnership programs that increase revenue, add membership/constituent value, and foster organizational sustainability.

Recommended Resource: Are you looking for cost-effective, easier ways to build and manage your events? Watch 8 short videos to learn how to deliver events in any format that engage attendees and offer sponsors more value—no matter your team size or budget!

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The post Structuring Association Sponsorship Programs to Win appeared first on EventMobi.

Virtual event design may work differently from on-site event design, but the visual elements are no less important. Read on to find out why being able to customize your virtual event platform is a must, and discover how you can design a visually compelling online event experience with EventMobi’s event design and branding tools.

The Benefits of Virtual Event Branding and Design

Events are one of the most powerful tools for increasing brand awareness, as they offer unlimited opportunities for creating touch points between attendees and the brand.

At on-site events, the venue itself can be leveraged in a variety of ways to create brand visibility. This could include elements such as screens and projections, banners or roll-ups, down to details such as ensuring all of the chairs are your brand color.

In fact, branding plays a critical role in the attendee experience. When your guests first arrive, they should immediately feel that they have come to the right place and become immersed in their surroundings.

At virtual events, this is no different. Since your event platform serves as the ‘venue’ for your online event, it is vital to consider what custom branding capabilities are available when searching for the right tech provider to work with. For your attendees to feel truly immersed in your event experience, a generic-looking platform with your event’s logo in the corner just won’t cut it. You’ll want to leverage your brand colors, fonts and imagery to create a unique look and feel for your event that will wow attendees the moment they first log on to your virtual event platform.

By branding the home screen, menus, and pages of the virtual event platform in addition to your live streams and videos, you can easily create impactful brand exposure opportunities throughout your event.

Are you planning a virtual event?

Download the free Virtual Show Flow Template so you can build your run of show like a pro!

How to Get Started Designing Your Next Virtual Event

If you’ve never hosted an online event, or have only worked with a platform that offers limited branding options, you may be surprised to find out how impactful it is to create a branded event experience. EventMobi’s Virtual Event Platform offers you and your team full creative freedom to design the online event experience of your dreams. Here are some of our key features for virtual event design:

Create Unlimited Custom Pages with the Page Designer

EventMobi’s Page Designer has a complete selection of drag-and-drop widgets that make it easy to get started.

Your home page is the first thing attendees see after logging into your virtual event space via their computer or smartphone. This is your chance to make a truly great first impression, so let your imagination run wild! Using the Page Designer, you can create the virtual event design of your dreams:

1. Edit the home page background by either selecting a color or uploading an image.
2. Choose a widget type – this can be a banner or image that links to another section, or a dynamic widget showing the attendee’s personal agenda, the gamification leaderboard, countdown to the event date, etc.
3. Adjust the look of your widget – depending on the widget type, you can upload a background image or select a background color, insert overlay text, link to a different section, and more.
4. Simply drag your widget to the desired position on the home page. You can also adjust the size by clicking and dragging the bottom right corner of the widget.
5. You can switch between desktop and mobile view to ensure a great attendee experience on any device – which is especially important if you are running a hybrid conference (for which we recommend checking out our hybrid event platform).

Simply drag and resize widgets to create your page design.

The Page Designer will allow you to create unlimited custom pages, so you don’t need to stop at your home screen. You can use this tool to create beautiful full page designs to highlight different aspects of your event, organization, or sponsors.

Update Your Colors & Fonts On Every Page

Easy-to-use branding tools include a color picker for section backgrounds and text.

While the home page is a key aspect of your virtual event design, attendees will spend the majority of the event watching live streams or using networking features. To make sure your brand is present wherever they go, you can design your menus and sections to match your event theme. Simply adjust the background and text colors using the Branding tools, or those with some knowledge of CSS can use the Advanced Designer to import additional web fonts.

Customize Your Menus & Sections

Consider using an image as the left menu background for a cohesive and striking design.

Every event is unique, which means you’ll have your own ideas for what you’d like to highlight on high-traffic pages. With EventMobi, you have full control over what items attendees see on the home screen and menus. You can create your own sections, and customize names so they are most relevant to your audience. You have the option to choose a solid color for your menu background, or use an image for an even more creative look.

Showcase Your Sponsors with Logos & Banner Ads

If you have sponsors at your online event, there are numerous ways to offer them brand visibility. Not only can you feature sponsors on your home screen, you also have the option of inserting clickable banner ads into the left-hand menu, which guarantees prime visibility. These banners can also be in a GIF format showing rotating sponsor logos and messages. Of course, your own event logo can be prominently placed on the home screen, left-hand menu and loading screen as well.

You can include sponsor logos and banners on the home screen and at the top of the left menu.

Brand Your Live Stream & Video Content

Your live stream or pre-recorded video content is the heart of your virtual event, so your brand should be front and center here. Using EventMobi Studio, the platform’s built-in live streaming tool, you can add custom-branded backgrounds, logos and title overlays to your speaker live streams. If you’d like to take a hands-off approach and use advanced live stream production techniques (think branded motion graphics, tickers and transitions), check out our GoLive! Production Services – our team is ready to make your brand shine!

Get Expert Help with Your Virtual Event Design

Our design team can create your fully branded home screen design for you.

If you’d like to push your virtual event design even further but don’t have a graphic designer on your team, you can add our custom design service to your software package. Clients who purchase this option will be assigned a dedicated graphic designer to create a totally unique look for their virtual event platform.

Great Virtual Event Design will Create the Best Attendee Experience

If you want your attendees to feel immersed and excited when logging onto your virtual event platform, you will need to design the digital space to match your event theme and brand. This means branding capabilities should not be an afterthought, but one of the top priorities on your list when choosing an event tech provider.

The post Virtual Event Design: How to Create a Beautiful, Branded Event Experience appeared first on EventMobi.

Your agenda is arguably one of the most important areas of your event app because it allows you to share critical details about event sessions and activities. A well-organized and detailed agenda can make all the difference in how attendees find their way to your sessions, and how they will engage within them. Here are five ways to get the most out of your event app agenda:

1. Create tracks to help attendees find the sessions that are of most relevance or interest to them.

Tracks can bring ease of navigation to the event agenda by outlining the types of sessions or activities available by topic. A better way to think of tracks is as a means to categorize your sessions and activities outside of date and time. This makes accessing information not only easy but also intuitive to your attendees.

When creating your sessions and deciding which tracks you should create, consider the following:

1. Is there an overarching category that a series of sessions can be organized into?
2. How would you expect to search for and/find sessions in the agenda?
3. How can you make navigating to the content easy and intuitive for your attendees?

Here are a few interesting ways that our customers have used Tracks to organize their sessions in the past.

2. Create personal schedules to outline what sessions or activities an attendee is expected to participate in.    

Personal schedules within the event app help to define what sessions or activities an attendee is expected to be present for. This feature helps to make communicating any session requirements very clear, especially when it comes to:

• Qualifying for continuing education credits
• Sessions with a set capacity
• Private sessions only available to select attendees

Attendees can access their personal schedules from the right-hand menu of the EventMobi app, known as the Attendee Dashboard. If personal schedules apply to all of your sessions then you may want to consider creating a Link section type that will bring users directly to this area of the dashboard. In this case, you may also opt to disable the option for attendees to add and remove items from their schedules. You’ll find this option available within the Settings area of the Sessions Library.

Recommended Resource: We’ve put together a selection of amazing event app designs to inspire you. Check out the best event app designs we’ve created for our clients!

3. Establish roles to display who is facilitating your sessions.

Roles help to identify who’s involved in making the session happen. This can be used to identify people who are facilitating, presenting or sponsoring the session. A few common roles that we see are:

• Speakers
• Moderators
• Panels
• Sponsored by

Roles can be assigned to any attendee profile, so you’ll want to make sure that you have added this content to the People library before assigning roles to sessions. In the event that you are looking to use roles to highlight your sponsors and partners, you will want to consider creating a profile for these companies within the People library in addition to the Companies library.

4. Engage the audience using live polls and Q&A.

Incorporating audience response features into your sessions can help increase engagement by making your attendees active participants in the content that is being shared through your event app.

Live polls are a great way to pulse check the audience, gather popular opinions, or allow voting during a session. Attendees will find the live poll feature available within the session details and can submit their responses in real-time. The results can then be displayed live to the audience.

Alternatively, you can allow the audience to connect with your speaker by enabling our Ask a Question option. This feature allows the audience to reach out to the speaker with questions they have related to the topic or content.  Questions are gathered anonymously from the app and encourage even the shiest of personalities to contribute and participate. These questions can then be upvoted and/or displayed to the audience.

5. Share resources related to the session content.

Don’t let the knowledge sharing stop when the session ends. Including resources such as documents and external links to provide attendees with additional information on the topic at hand can offer them something to reference after the event has ended. Making this content available at the session level keeps all relevant information easily accessible to the attendee from a central area.

To make gathering these resources a breeze, use the self-edit email option for any profiles you have assigned the role of Speaker to. Using this option they can add any relevant powerpoint slides, documents or links to the session details as they update their profile details.

In Conclusion

Getting the most out of your event app agenda doesn’t mean that you have to use every feature available. Knowing your audience is key when it comes to deciding which options will be best suited for your specific event. Keeping in mind your overall event objectives, and maintaining a focus to offering an intuitive flow in accessing session content is what will allow you to pick and choose the features that will add the most value for your attendees. We hope that some of these suggestions have helped to show you the possibilities available, and in shaping the event app experience that you wish to share with them.

Recommended Read: Learn how to determine which event app is the best for your needs

The post EventMobi Best Practices: How to Get the Most Out of the Agenda Feature in Your Event App appeared first on EventMobi.

This eBook features:

• Key Terms and Definitions

• Types of Tools

• 15 Questions You Should Ask Your Tech Provider

• Tips for Speakers and Hosts Working from Home

• Engagement and Networking

• Monetization and Sponsoring

The post Online Events Made Easy: Your Guide to Virtual Events appeared first on EventMobi.