Help On Getting WordCamp Sponsorships

[ScottHack]

On the other side of the coin. I'm a WordCamp organizer ( second year http://www.wordcamplouisville2011.org ) and we did our event last year without any sponsors. Completely self funded and from ticket sales. We ended up NOT losing money, and were able to donate small amount < $100 to a local charity. Looking back, I wish we had kept that as seed money for this year. Anyone have experience with professional panhandling? I'm looking to get sponsors this year, but I'm a little out of my element. Should I email? Can I ask for product donations that we can sell to fund? Thoughts? Ideas on who to talk to?

-Scott

[Jeffro]

I've moved your post into it's own thread so that you can easily get feedback related to the topic instead of the previous forum threads. I'll make note of this post on twitter later today and see if we can't find some help for you.

[OneFineJay]

Start *EARLY* with requesting sponsorhips, and the most important thing to remember about them is that getting them is just like any sales project. Pricing tiers, local vs. national sponsors, etc. You and your fellow co-organizers will have to be able to present a convincing argument to have people donate money to the event, mainly in terms of benefits. What will visibility in the market that's coming to visit will bring them? How much visibility will they get?

As for the approach: just like with regular sales, cold-calling a company might not be a good idea. Use the people you know and spread the word. Even a smattering of $75 sponsorships—ticket included—will help with getting together the money for everything.

[Siobhan]

I agree that you'll need to have different tiers - a level that appears to companies with loads of money who want their logo on everything, and smaller businesses who want to just be part of it. Maybe something inbetween. You should also see if people want to donate time/resources etc instead of money. A local restaurant, for example, might provide food, or a bar might provide an after party venue. You could also see if you can find a local business to provide the wi-fi. Make a list of everything you need and see if you can get it for free in exchange for advertising opportunities.

Have you taken a look at how other WordCamps are doing it? WordCamp UK has a wiki with historical information about planning to get sponsorship and who they approached:

http://wiki.wordcampuk.org/2008_sponsorship_ideas
http://wiki.wordcampuk.org/2009_draft_sponsorship_pack
http://wiki.wordcampuk.org/2010_sponsorship

Also, I believe that Seth, who developed Event Espresso, gives it to WordCamp organisers for free - http://eventespresso.com/ You could see about using that for your event management. I've been using it and it's pretty good.