A Match Made in Heaven: Sponsorships and Virtual Conferences
What to offer sponsors when organizing a virtual event
Sponsorships. Phew. That seemingly simple word can be downright terrifying for a virtual conference organizer. It may sound scary, but sponsorships are a reality we must face in today’s virtual conference world.
We’ve talked a lot about the structure of a conference, but not much about why and how to attract sponsors. It may be a challenge, but this is real world stuff right now. Not that we’re begging you to skip ahead, but at the end of this article you will find a downloadable template that you are welcome to use freely for your sponsorships pricing presentations. But I beg you, stick with me and read this article in its entirety. I guarantee it will help you succeed. If you do choose to skip to the end for the template, you’ll lose 5 points (in a game that doesn’t actually exist) — so no cheating!
So, back to sponsorships: They are one of the key pillars in organizing any commercial event. For many events, such as conferences and trade shows, the majority of monetization often derives from sponsorships — not tickets. Of course, getting sponsors onboard is an uphill task for most, no matter what type of event you are running.
For in-person events, the rule book has been written. With these events, at least you know what you can offer sponsors, and sponsors know what they want: Physical branding, booths, networking opportunities and so on. But in the new world of virtual events, most of this is unknown. This creates yet another hurdle for both the organizers and the sponsors themselves. To put it quite simply, one side doesn’t know what to offer, the other side doesn’t know what they want.
So what to do? First off, remember that the philosophy behind sponsorships should stay the same. Whether we are talking about an in-person event or a virtual event, sponsors must be integrated in the event in a way that feels very organic to the attendee while offering a return on investment for the sponsor. Now that everything is virtual, ROI is totally trackable, including analytics and data. Sponsors will expect you to track all the data and share it with them after the event. You must use this to your advantage to build a case that justifies sponsorship prices. Stick with me here: Data is the key.
Some of these options are the same as your in-person events and can be transitioned to virtual conferences. On the other hand, some of these may be completely new to you — particularly if you typically organize in-person conferences. These options will require a little more creativity on your part because that’s where we are in the world right now. Right now, we’re all having to pivot. That means we must be willing to experiment and try new things.
Throughout this post, I have compiled a list of virtual event offerings that we at Shift use regularly. I know a lot of you use different technologies for streaming, and I kept that in mind as I wrote this post. I believe almost all of these offerings are tech-agnostic, so you should be able to use them regardless. With that said, put on your big girl and big boy panties because we are off to the virtual conference races.
1.) Tickets
I know a lot of virtual events do not charge for tickets, nor do we at Shift. But there are virtual events that still charge for tickets, either for all tickets or for some sort of premium access. If you do charge, one of the easiest things you can do to offer value for your sponsors is give them tickets as a part of their package. Why do tickets work? Because a sponsor can calculate their return of investment (ROI). For example, if a virtual/premium ticket costs $50 per person, and you give them 10 tickets as a part of the package, they’ve already gotten an “ROI” of $500.
Though charging for tickets is not for every event, it is worth considering. After all, this does buy a commitment that the attendee will show up, versus a free event where you’ll get inflated sign ups but only a portion of turn ups.
2.) Logos
Logos, logos, logos. Sounds old school, right? Well, it’s not. Although a lot of sponsors will say “I don’t care about including my logo” it remains one of the most impactful (and also one of the cheapest) things you can do. Even if there is no direct ROI for putting up a logo, there is branding value.
First, there’s value in showing that the sponsor’s company is “big and powerful” enough to even sponsor an event. Secondly, they can show off their position and perception among competitors and peers. There are many things you can offer with logos, and for the most part this is a direct copy (or pivot) from in-person events. Logos are also the first tier of brand-event affiliation. Do some research. What type of brands would want to be associated with your event? You’re welcome :) Trust me on this.
a.) Logo on Website
Include a logo in the sponsor section of your website. This is the standard, but it is a must. Make sure to offer multiple tiers (higher and lower).
b.) Industry Exclusivity
You can also up-sell by offering Industry Exclusivity. What this means is that no other company from their industry will sponsor your conference. For instance, if Bank of America was a sponsor, you would not include any other sponsors from the banking industry. You can also add their logo again a second time under other industry titles. For example,“Banking,” “Finance” or “Financial” Sponsor.
c.) Section Sponsor
Even though there is no physical real estate to sell to your virtual event sponsors, there are still are some uber-premium spots. For example, you could have the following:
· Chat Sponsor: Include their logo on top of the chat box.
· Stage Sponsor: If you have multiple stages, their logo and name can be the stage name.
· Network or Break Sponsor: Their logo would show while it is network or break time.
· Waiting/Loading Rooms Sponsor: Before the event even takes place, there’s an opportunity to get a sponsor’s logo or message in front of attendees.
· Stream Sponsors: This could be a logo during talks or during a break or anywhere as long as it is in the actual stream.
3.) Social Media Promotion
Social media is one of the most powerful free tools in your tool box. Find appropriate hashtags and conversations and become a part of them. Either exclusively or along with the other sponsors, this is a very easy and cheap thing to add, and it will give your sponsors something to brag about. Lastly focus more on the Social network that is more appropriate for our audience, for our Developer events it’s Twitter, for others it might be Instagram, Facebook or some of the others.
4.) Press Release Mention
Ah yes. The humble press release cannot be discounted because it can have impact — depending on your overarching goals. It’s a simple and easy pivot from in-person events, but it still has value — especially if you have a lot of high-quality media partners. It costs you nothing to add mention or quote from your sponsors to a press release. For example, “This event would not be possible without the help of company XYZ.” Or if you want to use a quote: “’At this event, we will discuss TOPIC which is of most pressing matters,’ said NAME from XYZ.”
*Please note that you shouldn’t put all your sponsors in the press release. If you do that, the press release will be all about the sponsors and not you. But for your higher tier sponsors, it is most definitely a win.
5.) Marketing Email Callouts
If you are not using email as a way to market to or inform your audience, you are losing eyeballs and audience members. Start doing this asap. Like today. You will thank me.
When informing your audience of your new event, your speakers and the value you are creating, it’s ok to mention your sponsors somewhere in the marketing email, even if it’s just a logo. It won’t make you look bad. Of course, we can go beyond that and do a little featurette about the sponsors in the newsletter (which you shouldn’t do often). But if it’s part of a broader email, it shouldn’t hurt your audience and it will be good for your sponsor. This type of promotion is called native advertising, which can be controversial, but is also impactful.
6.) Lotteries and Prizes
You can use lotteries and prizes as another way to mention a sponsor’s name. Your MC or whoever is hosting will say, “And now for a little prize from XZY.” You also can use it as a way to keep people glued to their seats (if the prize is worth it.) You can do something simple like: “The fastest to type “Microsoft” will win $50 Azure credits.” Or you can do something more challenging and meaningful such as: “We will give clues throughout the event and the last one will be during the closing ceremony.”
In any case, have fun with these, as both attendees and sponsors will love it. It creates emotion and engagement.
7.) Digital Goodie Bags
It’s a virtual event, so why not offer some virtual goodie bags with virtual gifts? There are services for this, but it can just be an email with a personal note and links to sponsors’ virtual items.
Think stickers for chat platforms, credits for hosting, or discount coupons for SaaS offerings. If you have sponsors for your virtual event, it is more than likely that they will have something digital to offer :)
8.) Real Goodie Bag Packages
Before the event, you can ship FedEx boxes all over the world. The package can include workbook materials and sponsored props for the event. For example, you could include a sponsored “Do Not Disturb” sign like the one outside of a hotel room, but yours would say “🤫at a Conference.”
10.) Video Advertisements
And they said TV was dead! They were wrong. Well, sort of. Video advertisements are making a comeback with a bang, as I’m sure you have seen on Youtube, Facebook and other video services.
As I mentioned in my previous post “How to Create a Kick-Ass Virtual Conference That Gets Results,” if you do have breaks, please use them. This is the perfect time to run a good old video ad from your sponsors.
11.) Banners
Much like video ads (although not so old), banners — those things from the internet of ‘90s — are also back again! I’m not saying fill you virtual event website full of ads, but if you are discreet about it, you can fit a couple of banners on the website without ruining the attendee’s experience.
The key here is that the banner should be well designed and offer something in line with the talk, or at least the event as a whole. As with everything we discuss, creating value is key.
12.) Speaking Slots
Speaking opportunities are things dreams are made of for sponsors. Trust me, they will absolutely LOVE them. But, you have to be careful. You do not want your speakers turning these opportunities into advertisements for their companies.
If you do too many of these, your conference will just turn into one big advertisement and your attendees will lose trust in you and your message. So be careful and reserve this for your premium packages. Keep them short and sweet and keep the number as low as possible. If not, offer the sponsor the opportunity to craft a presentation with your content team lead that suits both their marketing needs and your messaging objectives. At the very least, make sure you indicate clearly in your prospectus that any topic from the sponsor has to be approved by the organizer. This means they can speak, but at least you get to control some of the content integrity. Make an effort to show that you mean well for everyone. But your first responsibility is to your audience.
If you are running a multi-day online event or even a single day with different themes, open up the opportunity for a track sponsorship where they own a few hours or sessions of the content. Besides having them speak, you can also include them as part of the content curation process. For example, be TED Talks, not just a speaker at TED Talks.
Also, for lower tier sponsors, offer the option to moderate a panel or breakout session or interview a speaker. This will give them almost the same visibility as a speaking slot, but it won’t take up an actual slot.
13.) Unique Email to Attendees
This one, like the speaking slots, is a tricky one. Don’t use this unless absolutely necessary, and if you do, try to make sure whatever is being sent in the email is of actual value to the attendee. Try and tell a story, deliver an emotion or at the very least offer something like a prize or a discount code so that your mailing list is somewhat motivated to engage. This way, you are able to balance both sides.
Work with the sponsors to ensure the email is well designed, well-targeted and brings value to the audience. Otherwise, you will annoy your valuable attendees, they will end unsubscribing, you will lose opportunities and you will feel sad. We do not want anyone feeling sad.
Now that we have gone through the “easier” offerings let’s get into the advanced stuff: Data.
Offering data is nothing new. Organizers have offered data for in-person events for years. It’s key to audience development, marketing and strategic planning. But behold! The advantage of a virtual-only event is that they are optimized for data analytics. You can literally track everything (given the right platform and/or some good developers), such as clicks, impressions, comments or any other relevant actions the attendees of your event may be taking.
Tracking this data not only allows you as the organizer to make your future events better, but it also allows you to offer hard data to sponsors about the success and value of your event. This is pure gold.
On that note, here are some ideas of what you can offer you sponsors: Survey response data from attendees, poll data, lead information.
Offering data is definitely something I would advise. But honestly, I don’t have all the answers yet, and I definitely will be spending more time on this part of the event. It’s clearly the future. On this topic, I will report back. But in the meantime, trust me: Data is the key to any event.
That’s a Wrap
Virtual events may not offer the same sponsorship opportunities that you’re used to with in-person events. Even so, there are a lot of ways to leverage virtual events that will offer amazing ROI for sponsors and also provide actual value to the attendee. One of the main things online events can do is attract a more targeted or larger audience to your event as compared to a physical event. It’s your responsibility as an organizer to share these perks and educate your sponsors about what online events can offer.
Let’s take a look back:
Three decades ago (maybe even longer), you had to educate sponsors about this thing called the “exhibitor booth.” That’s become the norm now.
Two decades ago, you had to share with sponsors the benefits of being on a panel as a thought leader rather than giving a speech on stage. That’s become the norm now.
A decade ago, you had to guide sponsors about using a mobile app to generate business matching leads and hold meetings instead of collecting 500 irrelevant business cards. That’s become the norm now.
Online events are going through this evolution now. Sponsors will always be around, and there will always be sponsors looking for opportunities to put their brand out there. It’s our responsibility to show them how.
Sponsors have a duty to get something in return for their sponsorship. So be nice and work with them! After all, they are just doing their job as well. And don’t forget to be creative, experiment, and try new things. No fear!
Most importantly, and I say this all the time: Don’t turn your event into an advertisement. You will lose your audience, which is the most valuable part of your conference. Sponsors may come and go, but your audience, your community is (hopefully) forever. Always remember to strike a balance between the attendee experience and your commercial goals. And don’t forget what you stand for because your audience and sponsors can smell bullshit a mile away.
Thanks again to the people that helped me with this article. You’re amazing, and I could not do this without you; Amy Cosper for her help with setting the tone of this article and to the amazing Gabriel Yang of Blockshow for contributing and ironing out some of these ideas. 🙌
As promised, here is the link to our downloadable template for sponsorships. Feel free to use this as you see fit!
