Northstar

www.travelweekly-asia.com 12 | ITB ASIA OFFICIAL DAILIES feature Event sponsorships are an excellent opportunity for both the company hosting the event and the potential sponsor – if the two are properly matched. To get some guidance on how to create such win-win partnerships, Andrea Doyle spoke with sponsorship expert Sylvia Allen. President of marketing and public relations firm Allen Consulting for 37 years, she has produced more than 5,000 events during that time and raised millions of dollars in sponsorships for her clients each year. She is also the author of How to Be Successful at Sponsorship Sales and A Woman's Guide to Sales Success. According to Allen, there are 10 do's and don'ts any event organiser should keep in mind to get the most out of their sponsorships. 1. DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE "Plan your sponsorship sales early and understand that 50 percent of sponsorship dollars are allocated in the fourth quarter of the year preceding your event," says Allen. "The next 25 percent are allocated the first quarter of the year of your event and the rest is doled out over remainder of the year." 2. DON'T PUT A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE Don't go after a sponsor just to go after a sponsor; the sponsor should match your meeting. To be successful, you must have satisfied sponsors who stay with you. Servicing is 90 percent of the equation; sales is only 10 percent. 3. CREATE AN ASSET INVENTORY LIST Let your sponsors pick what they want. Do not create packages "that consist of gold, silver, or bronze levels," as Allen puts it. "That is so old hat, so passé. Customising packages is imperative to success. 4. KNOW THE TRUE MEASURED MARKETING VALUE OF YOUR ASSETS Measured marketing value is simply the value to the buyer of the marketing elements versus the cost, which is the concern of the seller. For example, poster production and distribution is very inexpensive but has tremendous value to the buyer because of the impressions created. 5. DON'T TAKE 'NO' FOR AN ANSWER If you hear "no," you haven't completely explored what sponsors need. 6. NEVER PRE-JUDGE A SPONSOR'S BUDGET Their budget is not your decision, it is theirs. 7. ALWAYS WORK WITH THE TOP PERSON Start with the president and then work your way down. "It's easier to roll a stone downhill than it is to push it uphill," says Allen. 8. MEDIA COVERAGE IS KEY Be sure to get your sponsors extensive media exposure whether through social media or traditional outlets like print, radio, and television. 9. OPERATE WITH HONESTY AND INTEGRITY Don't ever make numbers up. Not only must you be honest with the numbers, but with the media coverage you receive. 10. SELL ALL OF YOUR EVENTS If your company holds multiple events, sell them across the board. BEST PRACTICES FOR MEETING SPONSORSHIPS Certain's repositioning is an obvious example, but the trend is pervasive. Customer demand for Salesforce integration with many technology platforms has intensified in recent years. And in May, at Marketo's annual user conference, the Marketing Nation Summit, app developer DoubleDutch launched its Live Engagement Platform, which provides Marketo and Salesforce integration and is focused on efficiently providing attendee engagement data to marketers, helping companies to convert sales leads. That said, there are, undoubtedly, countless corporate planners with minimal connection to marketing executives, at companies where the organisational structure has less overlap. Certain's Peter Micciche believes it's just a matter of time before that changes, however. "The trend is only going to become more prevalent," Micciche notes. "I see this as a tremendous opportunity for event professionals to increase their value to their corporations by being active partners with sales and marketing. They can now come to the table with technology and say to their sales and marketing executives, 'We can focus your efforts in a way that was never before possible.'" Virtual reality comes of age "Everyone has been talking about virtual reality for the last year or two," says Wilson Tang, vice president of Digital Experience at Freeman XP. "This year, the investment is starting to pay off." A big reason for that: lower costs, both for VR production and the equipment people need to use it. In April, at Tianguis Turístico, an event that showcases the Mexican tourism industry, attendees could experience many of the exhibiting destinations via VR headsets. For example, at a display promoting Tuxtla Gutiérrez, a city in the Mexican state of Chiapas, attendees could use the technology to fly through Sumidero Canyon, skimming the river while surrounded by dramatic landscapes. The virtual adventure came courtesy of drone-shot video footage. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority likewise is banking on virtual reality as a sales tool. "We have so much to offer in Las Vegas, and people around the world don't know about most of it," says Nick Mattera, the LVCVA's senior director of digital engagement. "We want to take the experiences and put them where people can touch them every day." That means uploading 360-degree video excursions to GeoVegas.com, where anyone can explore Vegas restaurants and other venues from their desktop computers, accompanied by audio commentary from experts on-site. For more immersive experiences, users are encouraged to download a free Vegas VR app from either the Apple App Store or Google Play, which can be viewed using a smartphone and any inexpensive VR viewer such as Google Cardboard. While the current crop of Vegas VR options primarily involve tourist attractions and popular restaurants and venues, Mattera says the LVCVA currently is filming meeting spaces and activities. Eventually, he says, "you might see a ballroom, and then use augmented reality within the app to show different room setups." Beacon best practices During PCMA's Convening Leaders gathering in Vancouver, British Columbia, last January, a group of planners, convention centre operators and tech suppliers met to discuss location-based technology — namely beacons. One supplier noted that a big benefit of the technology is the low cost of the hardware — small devices, or beacons, which when placed around a venue can communicate with smartphone apps to pinpoint locations and help attendees to navigate the space. The Global Beacon Alliance, as the group is now called, is striving to create standards and best practices. "We want to avoid the confusion and gouging that occurred with implementation of WiFi," says Toby Lewis, CEO of U.K.-based event management company The Live Group and chair of the Global Beacon Alliance. "We need a body that can provide independent information, help create standardisation and best practices on usage, and provide a meeting place for app providers, venues and event planners." The group went public with its mission in April. The best-case scenario: Major venues around the globe that use the technology eventually will register the beacons with the Global Beacon Alliance, giving event organisers a central location where they can access beacon information and then activate them for their specific events. BY ANDREA DOYLE PHOTO CREDIT: ISTOCK Expert Sylvia Allen offers 10 tips on getting the most from sponsorships CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10.

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