This document provides tips and strategies for growing conference sponsorship revenues. It discusses evaluating each sponsorship element to ensure attendee value. Sponsors should focus on enhancing the attendee experience rather than just promoting their brand. The document also recommends defining top sponsor targets, using leadership relationships, offering premium bundles customized for different sponsor levels, measuring sponsor activation, and ways to extend the sponsorship runway.

1. Presented by Dave Lutz & Donna Kastner
Velvet Chainsaw Consulting
Secrets for Growing Conference
Sponsorship Revenues

2. Learning Objectives

6. 2012 North American
Sponsorship Spend: $19 B

10. Offer too many things
and quality suffers

11. Attendee Value?
Scan items and ask:
• Does the attendee value
this sponsorship?
• Does it enhance their
experience?
Let’s look at examples…

18. Win – Win - WIN

19. Kim Skildum-Reid:
It’s no longer ‘If you love the event, you
should love our brand.’
Or ‘Pay attention to us (and our logos)!’
Instead it’s… ‘We know you love this event
— we love it too! — And we’ve thought of
a few ways to make it even better for you.’

20. Major Focus on the Attendee Experience
Make best parts better
Make the worst parts suck less

21. Bucket By Objective

26. So What?
Does the attendee value this item?
• YES - Carry On
• NO – 86 It
• NOT SURE?
Remove or Add to Bundles
Evaluate Each Sponsorship Element

27. 27
How do we set pricing for
Sponsorship?
- Market Based
- Value Based
- Cost Plus

29. No budget
Not a fit
Something else
When sponsors say NO,
what reason do you
hear most often?

30. Organize around your best customers
and their goals, not your products.

31. Segmentation:
Define Top Targets

32. Budget Spender vs. Budget Maker

33. Leverage
Leadership
Relationships:
Match
Power
with
Power

35. Premium Bundles

36. Precious Metals are so
yesterday…
• Terrawatt (exclusive)
• Gigawatt
• Megawatt
• Kilowatt

37. Segmentation:
Define Top Targets

38. Smart Application of Time/Resources
Transactional
EVERYONE
ELSE
MID TIER
(50-100
Companies)
TOP
TARGETS
(10-25
Companies)
Consultative

39. SELL: Key Takeaways
• Define Top Targets
• Tap Leadership Relationships
• Discovery
• 3 Options, Recommend 1
• Premium/Custom Bundles
• Sponsor Segmentation

41. Sponsorship Leverage
(aka Activation)

42. “Leverage – also known as
activation… is what a sponsor does
with a sponsorship after the deal is
done and is the most critical factor
in getting a good result from an
investment.”
Kim Skildum-Reid
The Corporate Sponsorship Toolkit

43. Understand Their Leverage Plan

44. Blended Exposure via Print & Digital

45. Measure & Document Activation
eyeballs
clicks
conversations
views
metrics
sound bites
feedback
stories
actions
data
opportunities

46. Extend the Runway

47. 47
Quick brainstorm on best
ways to extend the runway

48. PROMOTE DELIVERSELL
Let’s Recap

50. • Kristina Alexanderson
• Janine
• Wen Nag (aliasgrace)
• 401 (K) 2012
• Mat Packer
• FateDenied
• La Citta Vita
• Peasap
• Domiriel
• Georgios Karamanis
• medically_irrelevant
• Ssoosay
• S.Yoo
• Dominic Alves
• Victor 1558
• Greychr
• Adelle & Justin
• Enokson
• Kevin Krebs
• Dell
• Piutus
• James Yu
• Yooperan
• Whatsername
• Kevin Dooley
• Jon Ovington
• VoyagaAnatolio
• Ltmdraw.blogspot.com
• Floeschie
• amanda tipton