Show Me the Money: Using Sponsorships, Exhibitors and Others to Fund Your Programs

Transcription

1 Show Me the Money: Using Sponsorships, Exhibitors and Others to Fund Your Programs By: Mary Dilworth Colorado Bar Association CLE Kanice Spears State Bar of Texas Presented at: ACLEA 47 th Mid Year Meeting January 22 25, 2011 San Francisco, California

2 Mary Dilworth Colorado Bar Association CLE Denver, CO Mary Dilworth is the Marketing Manager for Colorado Bar Association Continuing Legal Education, a non profit organization of the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations. She has over twenty years of marketing experience in a number of industries and has also worked with law firms to help them direct their marketing activities. Mary was the Director of Marketing for the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations for eight years and is on the board for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association and has served on the boards of the Business Marketing Association and the Direct Marketing Association. Kanice Spears State Bar of Texas Austin, TX Kanice Spears is the Department Manager of the Event and Sponsorship operations for the State of Texas BarCLE. She is directly responsible for the events planning team and operations, scheduling, contract negotiations, and facility logistics of approximately 150 seminars with a contracted value of four million dollars annually. These annual meetings range in size from as large as 1800 and as small as 20 people per meeting. She is also responsible with enhancing revenue by contracting vendor exhibitions and soliciting participating law firms to subsidize seminar related events. Kanice received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1999 and a Masters in Public Administration in 2001 both from Texas State University. She earned her Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) Certification in September, Kanice is presently a proud member of Meeting Planners International, The Texas Society of Association Executives (Young Professionals Committee), and the Junior League of Austin.

3 Show Me the Money: Using Sponsorships, Exhibitors and Others to Fund Your Programs ACLEA 47th Mid Year Meeting San Francisco, CA IDENTIFY EVENTS STARTING FROM SCRATCH Identify the events where you would like to have sponsors o Ample Space? o Number of Attendees o Is There Time/Opportunity for Networking POTENTIAL SPONSORS Create a list of potential sponsors for CLE program or event Advertisers of bar publications View other legal publications for advertisers View other general/business publications for advertisers National Companies/Organizations o Legal Research o Insurance Companies Use relationships that you have established with Course Directors and planning team members Talk with attorneys on planning committee: Who targets them? Most conferences will be practice area specific and attract different categories of sponsors General business/lifestyle companies: o Health Clubs o Automobile dealerships o Jewelers Most likely you have been contacted in the past about sponsorships, even if you don t start doing them right away, keep a contact list Target new companies, who have sponsorship/advertising dollars Database is key! / Tracking, Tracking, Tracking from year to year

4 WHAT MOTIVATES COMPANIES TO SPONSOR/EXHIBIT? What do they get out of it: What is the ROI? More direct contact, better chance at face to face contact and establishing a relationship Can reach new audience/potential customers Can collect business cards/contact info Sponsor knows who the audience will be and the approximate number of attendees Creating a partnership that otherwise might not have occurred both parties can benefit Creating new promotional opportunities Potentially creating a new identity or image for the parties involved A chance to demo/show their product o Can touch and feel product good for tech products! Direct opportunity to find out what potential customers know about them Feedback o I ve never heard of you o I don t know what you do o I ve heard of your company, I don t know much about your product o I know a few people who use your product 2

5 EXPECTATIONS/WHAT THEY DESERVE Good location at conference: Access to attendees Location is important, don t put exhibitor tables in Siberia Invite sponsors/exhibitors to all events: Receptions, lunches, breakfasts, and if appropriate, can attend the programming Develop message to attendees on how important the sponsors are Have attorneys on the planning committee stop by to say hello Have your Executive Director/leadership stop by the tables (if in attendance) and thank them. Messages from the podium. Encourage attendees at every chance to stop by the exhibitor tables Develop your own incentives for attendees to stop by the tables o An ipad drawing for stopping by all the tables! The attendance to be close to what was estimated. Be up front, if you don t know or if it s a new program Signage and Verbal recognition A good value for Increased Levels of Sponsorships 3

6 HOW TO PRESENT YOUR CASE/WHAT TO OFFER Develop a quality package, invest a little time/effort o Offer a hard copy Direct Mail package o Online version Levels o Platinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze o Sponsorship of Specific Events: Lunches/breaks/receptions o Sponsor Flash drives, conference bags, lanyards, Golf tournament goodies o In Kind sponsorships: printing, advertising Offerings Can include: o Complimentary registrations o Discounts on registrations for others in company or clients o Different types/location of signage: PowerPoint slides/print signage o Better location at conference based on sponsorship level o Logos/Company name on CLE website/ s o Letter/flyer in course materials o Exhibit table o Attendee lists ADDITIONAL: o o o Arrange for golf foursomes at golf outing Facilitate introduction: Dinner arrangement with prospective client and sponsor Wine Tasting participating in 4

7 Potential Speaking Opportunities ALTERNATIVES/PACKAGES If company would like to sponsor several events, offer package price Depending on how your association is structured, if you can offer additional incentives: Advertising in bar publication Section membership lists MAINTAIN Keeping them Happy Remember that although this is a business deal it has to be a managed in order to maintain the relationship. Think creatively. Look for additional ways of building the sponsorship relationship. 5 Review progresses as it develops, and at the end, decide if you want to take the relationship forward into the future. If you want to continue the relationship, plant the seeds before the sponsorship ends; the success of the existing sponsorship will be the deciding factor. Ask for Feedback after the event Give sponsors lots of notice: Prepare early so they can budget for event each year Put Schedule on website for annual conferences with sponsorship packages

8 Negotiate on price of sponsorships? 6