An Exploratory Insider Glance into Sponsorship at nwPlus
Organizing and running events take tons of resources, time, and energy. Take an exploratory glance into how sponsorship at nwPlus works!
Organizing and running events require tons of resources, time, and energy. To ensure that our hackathon club is supported with the necessary funds and resources, the sponsorship team’s outreach workflow works on full capacity year-round. Cold-calling, sliding into LinkedIn DMs, and sending plenty of emails are in the everyday routine of members of the sponsorship team.
At nwPlus, we have seen tremendous success in garnering interest in our events. Our events scale exponentially with more support for increased attendee capacity, more prizes, and more workshops every year. A large factor for this would be the increasing amount of resources that the club has access to.
Without further ado, let’s take an insider glance into sponsorship at nwPlus.
Sponsorship Related Stats behind recent nwPlus events
nwHacks 2021 (Virtual Hackathon)
- #️⃣ 12 Sponsors
- 🤑 $CAD 91,210 in Prizes
HackCamp 2020 (Virtual Hackathon)
- #️⃣ 7 Sponsors
- 🤑 $CAD 2,700 in Prizes
- 🎁 $CAD 1200 Donated to Charity
cmd-f 2020 (In-person Hackathon)
- #️⃣ 34 Sponsors
- 🤑 $CAD 3,940 in Prizes
Our Workflow and Tools
Our team uses Slack for communication, Notion for organizational collaboration, and Zoom for meetings.
- Notion has been pivotal to our success. We use Notion to keep track of all sponsor contacts, sponsor statuses, outreach statuses, statistics, and meeting notes.
- Slack has been significant in keeping our entire team connected, informed, and engaged. nwPlus has a decentralized hierarchy in which anyone can contribute to the conversation and access all channels. This open culture allows members from other teams to chime in with valuable feedback.
- Zoom has been pivotal in continuing our weekly team meetings. The sponsorship team has weekly meetings to discuss objectives, deliverables, and status updates.
So, what is the process? Here’s a quick tl;dr:
- Determining value propositions
- Building the finalized sponsorship package
- Outreach workflow
- Proposal / Invoice / Deliverables
- Deliverables / Engagement during Event
- Post-event deliverables
Determining value propositions
Before any outreach, a significant amount of preparation goes into working with the event logistics team to determine all types of deliverables and tiers offered to our event sponsors.
Deliverables could include sponsor booths, resume banks, social media marketing, shoutouts, etc. Essentially, they are perks that sponsors would obtain if they decide to sponsor. We further divide each deliverable into tiers. Sponsoring certain tiers would provide the sponsor with all the deliverables within that tier.
Here are some of the sponsorship tiers and deliverables that were offered for nwHacks 2021.
Our sponsorship team meets with the logistics team of interest for each event and creates the initial deliverables and tiers. In addition to the deliverables and tiers, a value proposition must be made for each event. Sponsors need to know why they should sponsor, and we need to work with the logistics team to provide that why.
The value proposition should include the following elements:
- Introduction of the event/club
- Reasons why they should sponsor the event/club
- How they can sponsor
- Tiers/deliverables and sponsor options
- Contact information
All five elements of the value proposition are compiled in a sponsorship package finalized by all logistics teams and the sponsorship team.
The finalized version is then sent to the design team for beautification before it is sent out to potential sponsors.
Building the finalized sponsorship package
When creating the sponsorship package, it is important to provide all necessary details and information concisely.
The sponsorship team introduces the event and/or club briefly so that the potential sponsor can know what the event/club is about at a glance. We break apart extensive information into easy-to-skim points to get the key information across quickly.
Next, we make sure to provide the tiers, deliverables, and the necessary information such as the dates or event description. We ensure that we clearly state the different types of tiers for each event and provide a contact method.
With a finalized sponsorship package completed and approval from the logistics teams, we are ready for outreach.
The Outreach Workflow
The workflow for outreach is relatively straightforward. At nwPlus, the sponsorship team reaches out to potential sponsors on both LinkedIn and via email. Notably, the team reaches out to individuals working in Talent Acquisition.
Every outreach is documented in our Notion outreach database and updated accordingly. During this initial contact, we ensure to introduce ourselves, establish what we are looking for, provide the event's information, and attach the sponsorship package.
Usually, potential sponsors that may be interested ask for additional details. We usually schedule calls and answer all emails as our main means of communication.
Once a lead decides to go forward with sponsoring, a sponsorship onboarding cycle is initiated. We go through a process consisting of the proposal, the invoice, and the deliverables for every interested sponsor.
The proposal is a simple document that summarizes the exact tier and deliverables that the sponsor will receive if they sponsor at the specific tier that they are interested in. This proposal is emailed to the potential sponsor, and amends can be made. Once the sponsor has approved the proposal, an invoice is generated and sent.
The final step would be to work with the sponsor to get all information for their specific tier's deliverables. These could include working and coordinating with logistics on boothing times, obtaining sponsor prize details, determining workshop details, etc.
At this stage, ongoing communication is essential, and logistical changes need to be communicated as soon as possible. We continuously update the sponsor on the event status and coordinate with logistics to finalize the event schedule.
Deliverables / Engagement during Event
During the event, we ensure that all deliverables are met and that the sponsors have all the information required for their deliverables.
ie. If they are boothing, be sure to let them know the time/location, etc., and provide support.
A quick summary of typical deliverables for an online hackathon event (HackCamp, nwHacks, cmd-f) are:
- Mentors/Recruiters organization: Ensure that sponsor mentors and recruiters can navigate all event pages, are familiar with the schedule, and with event activity hours.
- Virtual Boothing: Ensure sponsor representatives have the correct URLs, Zoom invites, permissions, and are familiar with the event timeline.
- Workshops: Ensure all workshop leaders have the proper access, and resources to run their workshop.
- Q/A online sessions: Ensure there are no issues with streaming setup if the online session is to be streamed. In addition, be sure to check that the host is ready to funnel questions to the company representatives.
As a sponsorship coordinator, it is also important to be prepared for any unexpected situations that may occur.
- Be prepared to ask questions to avoid awkward dead silences when attendees don’t have any questions in the Q/A or in virtual boothing sessions.
- Be sure to actively engage with the sponsor representatives and check in on them throughout the event. Their satisfaction is incredibly important especially if you would like them as a sponsor again for future events.
Post-event deliverables
Now that the event is complete, our sponsorship team follows up with all post-event deliverables, a satisfaction survey, and a quick inquiry asking if they might be interested in future events.
It is crucial to maintain communication with sponsors both during and after the event to ensure that they had a positive experience.
Some post-event deliverables usually include:
- Resume bank
- Sponsor Prize Winners List
- Winners’ contact information
- Survey on Sponsor Experience
Takeaways
Sponsorship is a crucial department for any event or club. Though it may be intimidating to reach out, cold call, or email, having a defined workflow and process simplifies it greatly.
Key takeaways are to ensure that the value proposition and sponsorship package clearly showcases relevant information. Be sure to place sponsor satisfaction as the priority and ensure all deliverables have been fully shipped.
With a clear process established, sponsorship isn’t that bad! Now, go forth and begin outreach~
Thanks for reading!
