How to increase sponsorship sales at events

During The Meetings Show, Querine hosted a 20 minute campfire session on How to increase Sponsorship Sales at Events? Event organizers from a wide variety of backgrounds were in attendance, and all had their own opinion on sponsorship sales. During this session we shared experiences, tips and challenges around several key questions:

What do you do to help your sponsors meet their company ROI goal? Do you ask your sponsor what their goals are? What do they find most relevant? Have you thought of new concepts to meet their goals?

Main take-home messages

1. Technology becomes more and more important, not only for audiovisual promotions during presentations, in websites and apps, but also to facilitate meetings between sponsors and relevante contacts.
2. Customization is paramount to sponsors. So, you should be flexible with your sponsor packages. Ask your sponsors what their goals are at your event, whether that be creating brand awareness or getting leads, get to know them and customize the packes based on their needs!
3. Use tracking tools for statistics on and off the exhibition floor. Tools like Clik and Poken are great for statistics regarding exhibit visits, but there are also event tracking tools that work prior to the event, to guarantee qualified meetings, like NetworkTables.
4. Create relevant topic tables for in-depth discussions.  These could be roundtable sessions, or campfire sessions as we were all attending right then and there. Additionally, make sure that the moderators of the sessions are able to get all the info they need to follow up with a meeting afterwards.
5. Time is limited for your sponsors, prior to and during the events. Make sure you have a good and efficient meeting tool that saves your sponsors time.
6. Evaluate with your sponsors and visitors, not only through standardized questionnaires, but also by having face-to-face dialogue with them.

For Querine, working for an event networking tech tool, these recommendations were the best she could hear. However, she still had to come to know these people and find out more about them before she could say “I have the solution for you!”

Can you imagine how great it would have been had she known in advance who would be sitting at my campfire, received their motivation for joining and found out some more about them? If this would have been the case, she would have been able to prepare herself better, save time during the short sessions and get straight to the point. Additionally, she could’ve been enabled to accept or decline people’s meeting requests based on their motivation and background, which can be highly important in maximizing the meeting’s potential.

My advice to event organizers

• Keep Campfire sessions intimate. Querine learned from other attendees that they had problems participating in the discussion due the size of the group. For that reason, she asked the doorman to not let more than 10 people join my session, as it would decrease the quality of the conversation.
• Give attendees the opportunity to pre–register for sessions and allow them to give a motivation on why they want to join. In this way, attendees and hosts can better prepare themselves for the meeting.
• Give hosts the opportunity to accept or decline people based on relevancy.
• Let sponsors pay to host a campfire session. Why? Because if they know in advance who will be at their session, they can promote their session online and connect with relevant attendees prior to the event. With such a scheduling practice, pre-event engagement results in valuable qualified leads for them.

Interested  in learning how you can promote campfire sessions at your event, on your website and among your database in a very easy and structured way? Plan a call here or email Querine at querine@networktables.com!

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FAQ

How can event organizers effectively track the ROI of sponsorship sales at events?
Event organizers can effectively track the ROI of sponsorship sales at events by setting clear objectives with sponsors, utilizing tracking tools such as unique discount codes or custom landing pages, and conducting post-event surveys to gather feedback on sponsor visibility and impact.

What are some common challenges that sponsors face when trying to meet their company ROI goals at events?
Some common challenges that sponsors face when trying to meet their company ROI goals at events include difficulty in measuring the impact of their sponsorship, lack of engagement from event attendees, and competition with other sponsors for visibility and attention.

How can event organizers ensure that campfire sessions remain engaging and productive for attendees?
Event organizers can ensure that campfire sessions remain engaging and productive for attendees by selecting relevant and dynamic speakers, encouraging audience participation through interactive activities or Q&A sessions, and providing opportunities for networking and discussion among attendees. Additionally, organizers can gather feedback from attendees to continuously improve the format and content of campfire sessions.