Author: Ian McGonnigal

How to Build an Effective Event Sponsorship Strategy – 5 Ideas
When creating an event sponsorship strategy there are a few critical things to keep in mind. It’s not just about the event sponsorship prospectus. In fact, the event prospectus is the least important element of your sponsorship strategy. Here are five ideas to make the sponsorship strategy for events and the event experience resonate.

1. Attendee Experience First

The integration of partners and sponsors into an event needs to add attendee value at all levels. Think about:
- Session topics that align with overall event content
- Sponsor speakers who are content experts, not salespeople
- Expo experiences that showcase brands that fit and add value
- Operational elements (hospitality, transportation, way-finding, apps, etc.) that help attendees in a meaningful way
- Useful give-aways that add value to the event experience and beyond, and won’t end up in the garbage
- Avoiding a carnival atmosphere where every single element is sponsored – Logos everywhere – you don’t want your event looking like a NASCAR stock car, it detracts from the attendee experience
2. Partner Integration – Then Sponsorship

When planning the content strategy, messaging and experience for the event, consider which partners matter most to your story. Integrate them into the overall event experience organically and authentically. Consider:
- Keynotes where their executives speak side-by-side with yours
- Fireside Chats and panel discussions that allow them to showcase the relevance of their solutions and relationship with your company
- Workshops and breakout sessions that allow them to go deeper
- Digital content (event website, social media, email marketing, event app, etc.) that includes their voice and dovetails into the event experience
- Brand experiences (expo or otherwise) that engage, educate, and entertain attendees
- Exhibit space that illustrates their contribution to the content and master brand
- First right of refusal on sponsorship packages that showcase their relationship and help them accomplish their objectives (not just top tier – this will depend on the partner and relationship)
3. Give Sponsors What They Want

Sponsors apply the same criteria to selecting which events to participate in as any brand should. It needs to provide ROI. According to Skift 25% of events don’t offer any ROI analytics. Make sure you design the prospectus so it adds value to sponsors, just as you design the event to add value to attendees.
- Awareness – Not just logos, but deeper. Provide platforms for sponsors to share their products, services, solutions, and case studies.
- Access – Design agendas in ways that give sponsors access to attendees wherever possible, but keep #1 in mind while doing so.
- Speaking Opportunities – Create opportunities for sponsors to tell their story in a meaningful way. This is especially powerful if they can do this alongside your brand.
- Demand Generation and Leads – Give them access to attendees, and attendee data within GDPR guidelines. Facilitate lead introductions where possible.
- Limit Everything Else – Understand the need to monetize, but make sure you are adding to the experience, not creating waste.
4. Don’t Forget About the Costs of the Sponsorship Program

Before you count your money, remember that each and every element in your prospectus will cost money to produce. Signage, videos, digital marketing, F&B, transportation, stage time, real estate, etc. all require an investment in time, human resources, and money to bring them to life. Not to mention the cost of sponsorship sales! Design the offering so that each element has a profit margin. Manage the sponsorship prospectus like a P&L

5. Event Sponsorship Strategy as Part of a Broader Monetization Strategy

Very few B2B events are fully monetized. In fact, if you are recovering 50% of the costs through registration and sponsorship you are in the top tier of most companies. In the majority of cases, Sponsorship will recover 10%-20% of event costs.
- Align everything to your event strategy. It’s not just about the event experience. Your attendee acquisition plan, registration approach, partner integration plan, and sponsorship strategy are all critical parts of your broader event strategy, making it possible to achieve your business objectives.
- Consider your budget. Ensure you are spending on attendee experience first, partner integration second, and sponsorship third.
- Conduct a market review. Examine peer and competitive events. Take note of the different tiers of registration fees. Try to find out how much of potential registration revenue is “comped”. Examine their sponsorship prospectus. What’s being offered? What’s the pricing? What’s selling first? What’s selling out? What’s not selling? Which companies are participating at what level? Also, be honest with yourself – is the size, content, and experience of your event congruent with the event you are comparing against?
- Build a registration strategy and pricing model that makes sense for the audience and is competitive with peers and competitors.
- Create an event sponsorship prospectus that adds to the attendee experience, gives partners what they want, and ties into the event strategy. Think beyond the typical platinum / gold / silver / bronze levels. Provide meaningful value to sponsors at all levels. Break the mold. Be unique. Experiment.
All told, stepping back and thinking beyond the event sponsorship prospectus will make your event far more effective. The overall event sponsorship strategy will surely come to life, ensuring a better attendee experience, drive partner and sponsor value, enhance relationships with partners, and assist in meeting event objectives and monetization goals.
03/15/2023
The Power of Positive Energy in Event Marketing
I have this friend in the event marketing industry. She is one of the most positive, uplifting people I know. Everything she does is full of life, and vibrance, and positive emotional energy. In fact, I don’t think there has ever been a photo posted of her where she’s not smiling excitedly at the camera. And, she brings this positive energy to her business. I am fortunate to have spoken along her side, shared ideas with her, and watched her business grow. She is an inspiration, and the inspiration behind this post.

When it comes to building a powerful brand, there is one key ingredient that can make or break your success: positive energy. A survey conducted by Hubspot found that companies that consistently produce positive content are 67% more likely to generate leads than companies that don’t. Additionally, A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that positive emotions can lead to increased sales.

This is especially relevant for event marketing, experiential marketing, or building a strong brand experience. After all, the main reason companies invest in events is to ultimately drive commerce. But what does positive energy really mean for event marketers?

First of all, everything you do should be about creating an enjoyable experience. This starts long before the event occurs by building a positive team environment – a community, and ensuring processes are not just designed to eliminate friction, but contribute to an overall positive operating environment. Beyond building a positive working relationships and environments, here are some ideas on bringing the positive energy into the event experience.

Pre-Event Communications

For the event landing page, calls for speakers, pre-event emails, social media posts, and advertising, use visuals that evoke energy and emotion – vibrant colors, motion, attendees, speakers, and staff having a good time. Authenticity is key. Use real people who have attended your event in the past wherever possible. Also using upbeat language is critical. Break out the thesaurus and use some fun adjectives and adverbs. Not everything is “very”. Remember, this thread of positive energy should be woven through promotions, registration, attendance assurance, and check in. Don’t forget about speaker management and sponsor programs. The same positive energy should be evoked throughout every relationship and every facet of the event.

Positive Energy During the Event

It’s important to create an atmosphere that leaves people feeling energized and excited about being part of the experience. This can be done by:
- Using upbeat music during registration, receptions, brand experiences, keynotes, etc.
- Providing fun games and activities for everyone to participate in throughout the event
- Creating exciting, immersive environments through positive imagery, video, copy, and architecture
- Facilitating as many opportunities as possible for attendees to engage with each other, the event content, speakers, experts, and brands that participate in the event
- Surprising and delighting attendees with unexpected experiences that add whimsy and value to their day
- Using interactive brand experiences wherever possible to entice attendees to learn, engage, and become a part of the story
- Creating space in the agenda (over-programmed events can be stressful)
- Including wellness activities as part of the event experience – anything that gets people to move
- Inspiring sharing through brand activations like photo, video, and other engaging content so attendees spread their joy all over social media – #hashtags are a must
- Using the event app to distribute joy through gamification, positive messaging, and facilitating engagement and interaction
Don’t forget to capture all these positive moments in photos, videos, stories, posts for next year!

For speakers and sponsors, keep them engaged throughout the event as well. Support them, visit their booths, attend their sessions, send attendees their way, make introductions, give them kudos, and celebrate their participation and success.

Training for Positivity

It’s the people who make or break an event. I’m not just talking about the keynote speaker. Look for positive personality attributes for talent in every role, from speakers, to brand ambassadors, to F&B staff, to bus drivers, to registration desk staff. Insist on the same from sponsors. Consider including training on evoking positive energy, like being more proactive in engagement, smiling, and having fun working the event. Encourage staffers to let their personalities shine, joke around, laugh, and dance.

Post Event

Exude the same level of positive emotional energy at the event close. Yep, everyone is exhausted, but it’s critical to end the event with an indelible experience. This will be the last thing they remember as they travel home. Leave them singing, dancing, educated, entertained, and energized. As my manager told me when I was training how to be a grill cook in high school, “No one wants the last bite of their sandwich to be just bread.” Bring your attendees joy from end-to-end.

In post-event communications, keep the positivity train rolling. Apply the same focus to energetic and emotional visuals and upbeat language. Recap what made the event great. Underscore the highlights. Celebrate the attendees. Motivate them to come back and bring their friends. And above all, be grateful for their participation. Not only will this increase email and social engagement rates, but it will impact long-term event (and community) success.

The importance of positive energy for event marketing cannot be overstated. According to a study conducted by Eventbrite, events that have a positive energy are more likely to have higher attendee satisfaction and event ROI. Beyond this the business impact is real. Statista reports, businesses with positive energy outperformed their competitors by as much as 33 percent in yearly sales revenue. So don’t be afraid to go all in on positivity. Not only will it ‘positively’ impact your event experience, but your bottom line as well.
03/08/2023
Six Event Portfolio Trends for 2023

As COVID-19 has moved from a pandemic to an endemic state, we find our society and the events industry forever changed. Some event portfolio planning elements are gone, some have been added, and others continue to transform and evolve. We’ve identified six real-world trends trends that will impact event portfolio planning this year. Additionally, we’ve added a few words of advice to help you take advantage of these opportunities.

1. Improving Travel Sentiment

According to a survey by American Express, 86% Americans were spending as much as they did on travel in 2022 as they did pre-pandemic. And while this number is sure to differ country-to-country, travel sentiment continues to be on the rise. This is a positive sign for event organizers as travel restrictions have been lifted and attendees feel comfortable getting back out there again. We’ve already seen some large events return to pre-pandemic levels, and others continue to gain ground. However, there are factors which continue to contribute to attendee selectivity when it comes to participating in events. Fear of Going Out (FOGO), ever-increasing demands on professionals’ time, and corporate budgets which are frozen or reduced. Companies should be as selective as attendees are when considering which third-party events to participate in, and ensure proprietary activities provide attendees with things they cannot get anywhere else to ensure attendance of the right audiences.

2. Localization of Events

Due to the pandemic, many event planners have had to get creative with their event locations. And it looks like this trend is here to stay, at least for the next few years. According to a Cvent survey, 62% of event professionals say they believe that localization will be a big trend in 2023. The workplace is distributed. People are operating closer to home, supporting their local communities, and building their networks locally. Consider building an events portfolio that includes, or even focuses on smaller, more regionalized events. Look to your customer lists, or known industry hubs to decide where to start, and grow from there.

3. Event Consolidation

As companies look for ways to reduce costs and streamline processes, event consolidation is becoming more popular than ever before. Budgets are tight in the anticipation of a recession. According to a study by The Trade Group, 70% of surveyed organizations have consolidated their number of global trade shows over the past three years. Global and field marketing groups are working together. BUs are collaborating more. Consolidating events means consolidating teams, enabling companies to focus their efforts on fewer shows which result in higher ROI for each one individually. Look for ways to put your target audience at the center of the discussion. Build participation, content, and experiences from there – collaboratively.

4. Event Subscription Models

Event subscription models have been gaining traction as a way for companies to engage with customers on an ongoing basis throughout the year. According to Forbes Insights data, 40 percent of B2B marketers said they intend to use subscriptions more often this year while only 4 percent plan on using them less often or not at all — a clear indicator that this trend is here to stay! Consider using subscription models to build the proprietary side of your event portfolio and bolster participation in virtual, hybrid, and live events.

5. Hyper-Targeting Audiences

In order for event portfolios to remain competitive and successful long-term, it’s essential that they’re creative when it comes to hyper-targeting audiences. By leveraging data-driven insights and technologies like AI, organizers can customize event portfolios and experiences alike. Using audience types, demographics, psychographics, techno-graphics and needs will ultimately lead to higher engagement levels from attendees and greater ROI overall for these events. Look to target your most important audiences first – those that have a direct impact on revenue – and architect an event portfolio specifically engineered for them.

6. Managing Customer Relationships Across Marketing Channels

Finally, event planners need to make sure that they are effectively managing customer relationships across all marketing channels. This means building out integrated strategies across different event and experience platforms (virtual, hybrid, in-person), traditional (email, print), and digital (website, social media, SEM, SEO, etc.) Doing so will help ensure that your target audience is receiving consistent content about your brand’s offerings no matter where they are engaging with your company.

Event portfolio planning continues to evolve as human behaviors, society, and the business landscape does – not to mention current event industry trends. It’s important for event planners and executives alike to pay close attention to these key trends as they continue to strategize on how best to leverage these opportunities moving forward into 2023 to maximize return on investment. To take full advantage of this evolution, it is crucial that teams stay current with industry trends while also tapping into available resources like: industry associations, event and experiential marketing agencies, technology solutions providers, or of course, expert consulting services 😉 wherever possible. With this supportive community in place, you can increase your chances of success as you plan, manage, and optimize your event portfolio.

03/01/2023