Creating Opportunities for Sponsors and Enhancing the Attendee Experience

Some of my colleagues and I had the opportunity to attend the GPPCMA (Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Professional Convention Management Association) Education Day on September 15 at the Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack and the topic was sponsorship. The first two presentations were interactive with teams answering several questions about building sponsorship and enhancing attendee experience.  

Top questions and ideas:

What are three new sponsorship ideas?

1. Sponsors can take advantage of many current sponsorship opportunities that are currently offered and enhance them. Sponsor can support a break, but also hand out sponsored coffee mugs during the break. The sponsor has the opportunity to talk to attendees and the attendees get to meet the sponsor and receive the sponsored coffee mug while getting a drink.

2. many meetings have branded hotel keys, but instead of attendees using them to get in and out of their room, sponsors can add a perk credit to the card. For example, adding a complimentary coffee per day by scanning their room key at the hotel coffee shop.  

3. Hosting a sponsored reception? Have your sponsor creative a special drink and name it. The drink is served during the reception and gets their name out there. You can also use this idea for Wi-Fi. If you have sponsorship for your Wi-Fi, have the sponsor name be the user and password to access it.

How can you to enhance attendee experience?

1. You need to make it fun. An idea was to have a coloring station. This allowed for people to be nostalgic and to network with people around them. It takes the pressure off of walking into a networking reception and having to go up to someone. Attendees can sit, color and talk to those around them.  

2. One of my most favorite ideas that came out of the session was to have a 15 minute volunteer zone in the exhibit hall. Attendees can volunteer putting bagged lunches together, packing book bags with school supplies or giving blood. This is a way to get attendees give back to the local city they are visiting.