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Brian: This is a great topic to be rethinking, particularly as the economy rebounds. I hope you get some rgeat ideas posted in the comments.

I think one option is for the association to flip the sponsorship process from "here's a list of packages you can select" to "let's meet and discuss your long-term goals in our community and the type of financial investment you'd find attractive."

By understanding what a sponsor is trying to achieve, we can probably identify more meaningful ways to engage them financially that meet their goals and those of the association.

Brian -- Ah! And here's the rub: we need our sponsors (sometimes more than they need us), yet we want to keep our educational events (if not the rest of the conference) in line with our goal to provide unbiased, useful training.

Scaling sponsorship amounts based on attendance (projected or actual), multi-year commitments, and other options that connect the ROI securely to measurable outcomes are great ideas.

As to the last suggestion -- our members always said that they get enough sales on the job and came to our events to learn something, so we tried (with uneven results) to make sure any sponsor-led roundtable discussions focused on non-sales conversations.

Engaging their input for meeting space, F&B, etc. is an iffy proposition in my book, so I'm interested in hearing how others respond.

Thanks for introducing this topic! It will be great to hear how others are balancing on this tightrope!

Sponsors are the first to talk about ROI and we always want to satisfy that. However, I would ask them what their expected ROI is and how they determine that. So many groups talk about ROI and the only way they have to define it is by the amount of business they got from a certain sponsorship. Most of the time there is not a direct correlation.

I have seen some associations offer a workshop, or webinar on how to determine ROI from sponsorship for their sponsors. Offering these kinds of workshops for your sponsors is a great way to add value to their involvement with your association. IEG offers these kinds of workshops, but their are consultants and such out there that do as well.

There is a lively discussion on sponsorship currently occurring on Chris Brogan's blog.

You have to read the comments, not just the post.

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/what-sponsors-want/

You should ALWAYS meet with the sponsor to discuss its needs before submitting a proposal. Don't just present a company with a menu of options. Each sponsorship proposal should be customized to meet the prospective sponsor's needs. Don't offer pre-packaged bundles of benefits - each sponsor has different needs and may not want the benefits the way you've bundled them.

Don't offer money-back guarantees. This is a business deal and the association and sponsors should come to an agreement about the content of the sponsorship. If it doesn't yield results, then somebody's expectations were not realistic.

Be honest with the sponsor, offer only what you can deliver, and deliver what you offered.

Brian, great to see the discussion and feedback.

As a sponsor of many industry organizations for the past many years, I have a different take that is more in line with some of the other comments.

Most sponsors don't sponsor based on attendance, or leads generated. In many cases, we provide sponsorship because we understand how it helps the association executive or corporate attendee grow in their role and improve their professionalism. That makes the industry better, which is better for all of us long term. In that sense, a sponsorship is an investment.

Many sponsors also choose to be a sponsor because the aims and goals of the organization align with the goals of their organization. Some organizations provide a "halo effect" around your brand because of the alignment. It lifts both organizations, so there certainly is some public relations focus there.

Access to customers or industry leaders often is greater when you are a sponsor than when you are not. It provides you an opportunity to understand the direction of the industry, and the customers, and you can often work side-by-side with those leaders shaping the direction of the industry. That provides valuable insight for your own business planning, so there is an organizational/business process reason for a sponsorship.

Certainly, there is the sales and marketing side where you can feature products and services. In many cases, you are not actually "selling" on the show floor, but creating brand awareness, gaining customer feedback, receiving market information from customers on trends in their business. These serve to introduce some relationships, and strengthen others. Where you are a sponsor and an exhibitor, there are traffic benefits, and often times there is exposure to a higher level decision maker who comes by to thank you for a sponsorship that they understand funds their continued education. These all eventually lead to business relationships that result in revenue.

So, I hope this helps to share my view with you on why in my career we have chosen to sponsor, and the many areas of a sponsors business unit affected by a sponsorship. I know that selling sponsorships is hard work, and it's easy to see it as a pure dollars and cents discussion. However, I believe if you look beyond the leads/attendance/refunds approach, you will achieve greater success by understanding the overall benefit the event provides to your customers.

Brian & all - these are great comments. We've done a lot of work in the last 2 years at my organization to define ROI for our sponsors while at the same time implementing a 'moves management' strategy to get them to increase their levels of support. It is a fine line to walk between increasing expectations along with increased $'s. I am always VERY clear with new sponsors that they are not to 'expect' a certain % of sales revenue for participation. I try to get them to look at their involvemnet holistically - they sponsor, advertise in our magazine, attend events and LEARN more about our members and their needs through a full-year process. I share a lot of information about our demographics, readership and direct member participation to make sure that they fully understand who they are marketing to. I was reminded recently of a very important philosophy in fundraising - that you always have the option of saying 'no' to a gift if the intention is not in line with what you're able to offer. By sitting down and truly getting to know where the sponsor is coming from you can better tailor a program or opportunity to what's going to best serve their interests - in the short term and the long.

Thanks for posting this comment - great discussion.

Thanks all for the great comments, this is excellent food for thought!