Trade shows and conferences are energizing experiences that bring attendees together to learn more about their greater industry, form vital networking connections, and engage with products and services from top vendors in their field. Hosting a successful trade show event or conference requires your organization to secure sponsors to set up booths, provide upfront funding, and help market your event.

With proper event planning and management practices, you’ll host events that benefit everyone involved—your organization, attendees, and sponsors. However, to secure sponsors, you’ll need a comprehensive toolkit of outreach and management resources.

In this guide, we’ll help you prepare to meet with sponsors and manage these engagements by sharing five event toolkit essentials you should have on hand and how to create or obtain them.

1. Outreach Emails

You’ll likely connect with sponsors through a variety of channels, including in-person introductions, social media interactions, and cold calls. To host an engaging event with a wide range of activities for attendees to enjoy, you’ll need several different sponsors and likely end up leveraging all of these outreach methods and more to find them.

One tried-and-true outreach method is the humble email. Emails are a standard outreach method for a number of reasons, such as the ability to send them en masse, communicate instantly, and customize the content to your needs.

For your first round of outreach emails, Bloomerang’s guide to sponsorship letters explains the core elements you need:

  1. Introduction. Provide a brief overview of your organization and the reason for your outreach. Describe who your event’s core audience is so sponsors see immediate value in partnering with you.
  2. Description of campaign/event. Share details about the event you want the sponsor to support, such as its theme, location, date, and an estimate of the expected attendance.
  3. Sponsorship opportunities. Discuss how sponsors can participate in your event. For a trade show, you’ll likely highlight exhibitor and marketing opportunities, such as featuring the sponsor’s logo on your program guide.
  4. Sponsorship levels and associated perks. Be specific about what sponsors can gain from supporting your event. If you have sponsorship tiers, list them here.
  5. Contact information. Include the name and contact information of the team member who oversees sponsors. If you don’t have a point person for sponsorship acquisition, consider appointing one as soon as possible.
  6. Closing. Thank the company for their consideration. If you need to hear back from them by a certain deadline, include that here as well.

Use these elements to create an outreach email template. Then, customize it to include details relevant to each sponsor. For example, along with addressing each sponsor by name, you might also mention which of their products and services you believe will appeal to your event attendees.

2. Pitch Deck Template

Some potential sponsors may ask you to pitch your request to them. A pitch deck template is your go-to document for navigating these meetings and should also serve as a general messaging resource for your marketing team.

Remember that a pitch deck isn’t just a collection of information about your organization and event. It’s also a tool to generate excitement and tell your organization’s story. While you should include data points and statistics, your focus should be on presenting an engaging value proposition.

A few key elements of a pitch deck for a sponsorship opportunity include:

  • Introduction and vision. Explain your event and your organization’s goals for it. Keep this section to a one or two-sentence elevator pitch, such as “Our team at [organization name] hosts an annual trade show that aims to unite professionals from across our entire industry to engage in skill development and learning opportunities.”
  • Target market. Share a profile of your average attendee. This information will help sponsors determine if their product or service’s audience aligns with your organization’s.
  • Revenue or business model. Describe how your event will function to generate revenue for sponsor participants. For instance, you might include data about the number of tickets you sold last year or estimates of how many new customers past sponsors acquired.
  • Team. Detail who will be running your event and why they are trustworthy individuals for each task. For example, you might share that your event coordinator has overseen your trade shows for the past five years.

While your presentation will bring your pitch deck to life, ensure it can also stand on its own. Some sponsors may want time to consider your proposal and may request a copy of your pitch deck for their own reference or to present to others within their organization.

3. Benefit Packages

Standardized sponsorship tiers and benefit packages will streamline negotiations with sponsors. Your packages will depend on your organization’s size, industry, event, and revenue goal.

For example, a small nonprofit association might offer primarily modest marketing opportunities, whereas a nationwide trade association with multiple active chapters might promise promotion to highly targeted audiences of prospective customers.

Despite the difference in scope, most benefits will likely be various marketing opportunities. For example, you might promise sponsors:

  • Featured logos in marketing materials
  • Push notifications and banner ads on your event website and mobile app
  • Increased table space
  • Promoted demo opportunities and product showcases
  • Direct attendee communication opportunities

Remember that even sponsors at your lowest level should receive some compelling benefits. For example, you might promote your exhibitor resource center, which makes setup easy, or emphasize your audience’s spending power and interests.

4. Booth Management Tools

Your booth management tools empower your staff to create a show floor plan, a daily calendar, an exhibitor directory, and more. These features allow you to streamline the event experience for guests and sponsors alike. Plus, many trade show software solutions also provide tools that help sponsors manage their booths.

For example, you might invest in a platform that has a point-of-sale credit card processor or one that allows sponsors to take control of their booth setup, including the ability to reserve space on your showroom floor. These tools help sponsors not only manage their event day operations but also make connections with their members, allowing them to continue securing sales and expanding their audiences.

Look for event and booth management tools that integrate with your membership software. As Bloomerang’s nonprofit membership software guide explains, “Integrations are essential for streamlined workflows and reducing data silos, so ensuring that your membership management platform can mesh seamlessly with your other tech tools is key.”

5. Event Mobile App

Launching a mobile app can improve the event experience for staff, attendees, and sponsors. A mobile event app allows your sponsors to:

  • Send push notifications to attendees.
  • Ensure attendees can find them through a showroom floor map.
  • Promote their products and services through banner ads and splash pages.

Ahead of your event, encourage attendees to download your mobile app. Share how it can help them navigate your trade show, create personal schedules, and discover every activity you have planned. This also gives you more time to promote sponsored ads to your attendees ahead of your event.

Sponsors are a core part of any successful trade show, and your organization can form successful partnerships with the right tools backing your efforts. Start crafting your event’s pitch so you can create outreach templates, and invest in software that ensures the event day runs smoothly for everyone involved.