23. Virtual Event Sponsor

Just as you might want to reach a wider audience by including a virtual component in your exhibit program, so might your show organizer. The fact is most association annual meetings attract only a small percentage of their membership. The American Dental Association says that less than 10 percent of its members attend the annual meeting. Many reasons factor into this, including budget cuts, increases in workloads, illnesses, family obligations, disabilities, and more. The for-profit shows have the same problem. They are able to attract a large number of quality attendees, but how many quality attendees cannot be there for one reason or another?

Yet, the annual meeting is one of the benefits of membership that associations are promoting. This is where much of the education occurs, and they are starting to realize that there is no reason why members who cannot physically attend the show should miss out. Associations are also starting to realize that it’s their responsibility to provide alternatives to their members. Adding a virtual component isn’t just a dream—it’s now the best way to reach the broadest audience possible.

And it’s not just their regular member bases associations are trying to reach. Many association and for-profit shows are trying to reach a new audience and even their student demographic. These students are digital natives who are more comfortable getting their information online. As a matter of fact, they usually expect things to be available online. Just as associations are grooming future members, you could also be grooming future customers.

Adding a virtual component to a show is something many organizations want to do, but it is yet another line item on their expenses. By putting together a virtual sponsorship package in which you are a feature sponsor, both you and the show benefit from the broader audience. The best part is that the show organizer already owns the large database for marketing. This takes a large marketing burden off of your shoulders. The benefits you receive are access to a targeted global audience, real-time interaction with customers and prospects, and another opportunity to showcase your company’s talent.

If you were already considering doing a high-end virtual production as part of your exhibit strategy, you should look into this type of sponsorship. Helping to fund a show scale hybrid event will incur more expense, but the benefit increases exponentially. Now you are not just reaching an audience you have access to for marketing, but are also reaching a huge audience the show organizer has access to. While you are making a bigger investment, your return on investment (ROI) can see a huge jump due to all those eyeballs focused on you. The other benefit is that although you as a sponsor want to be part of the planning process, much of the logistical work will be taken off your shoulders.

Here again, I am giving you a lot of information, much of which will be the responsibility of the show organizer to carry out. One of your roles is to work with the show organizers to ensure they are doing things correctly. You can’t stand back and cross your fingers hoping they get it right. Your name is all over this sponsorship, and if it fails, you will be front and center of that failure. This is not going to be a small investment, so I suggest making sure someone from your company is part of the show organizers’ planning team. By playing an active role in the planning process, you can ensure your name will be on something you and the show organizer can be proud of.

Getting the Show Organizer On Board

If your show organizers already include a virtual component, you’re already way ahead of the game. You won’t have to sell them on the benefits of a hybrid event. You will still want to work closely with them to plan the virtual component, but you can skim through this bit. If, on the other hand, your show organizers are not already doing this, or if they’ve tried it in the past and deemed it unsuccessful, you need to get prepared to sell them on the idea. The failures of the past could be a result of poor planning and design, or just lousy marketing. That happens quite a bit, but now you can reassure them this year will be different because you are there to help them.

What you also need to do is show them how it will benefit the organizer and the attendees. Your pitch could include the following points that are important to a show organizer:

• Attendee marketing and conversion

• Increased audience and member benefits

• Increased revenue

• Expanded content creation

• Beating their competition

• Adding value for exhibitors

You already know why getting your company in front of a larger audience is worthwhile for you. A virtual sponsorship can be a huge benefit to the show organizers, but it also requires a lot more work on their end to do it right. You might have to convince them that it’s the right thing to do. Let’s take a look at why these benefits are important to the show organizer, so you can make a very convincing argument.

Attendee Marketing and Conversion

Some show organizers are afraid that if they add a virtual component to their event, it will cannibalize their onsite attendance. Experience shows that the opposite is actually true. Creating a hybrid event by adding a virtual component to a show actually gives virtual attendees a taste of what they are missing. Virtual attendees usually have access to only a small selection of educational sessions and keynote events. When they see the high quality of education that is being delivered, they make in-person attendance at the show the next year a higher priority.

This is further highlighted by those attending virtually listening to what the attendees are saying about the show via social media. If attendees sound like they are having a great time, this sweetens the pot even more. I’ve attended many events virtually and had great interactions with other virtual attendees through chat tools available via the virtual platform. So I still got to do some networking, but a common conversation was how we hoped to meet in person at the event the next year.

According to an INXPO Cisco Live case study, 31 percent of their virtual attendees said they were more likely to attend the in-person event the next year as a result of participating in the hybrid event. In early 2012, the Professional Convention Managers Association (PCMA) reported that “more than 300 registrants this year indicated they were influenced to attend face-to-face by their previous participation in a PCMA virtual or hybrid meeting.”

Increased Audience and Member Benefits

Ask the show organizer how many members actually attend the annual meeting. More importantly, how many members do not attend. Many member organizations have an obligation in their charters to educate their members. It doesn’t specifically say only members who can attend the annual meeting. However, this is where most of the education occurs. By opening its conferences to a virtual audience, the organization is still able to deliver on that promise to attendees who are unable to make the event. It’s showing members that they are important to the organization and that the organization will do everything in its power to ensure its members are getting the best education available in the industry.

Aside from the organizations current members, how many people are out there who the organization would like to recruit as members. Even for-profit shows can benefit by extending their audiences. Organizers are probably drawing only a small percentage of the people they are actually marketing to. By making some of the show’s premium content open to a non-member virtual audience, they’ll be giving them a taste of the benefits their members receive. They’ll also be giving them a taste of the benefits of attending their show next year.

Increased Revenue

If the show organizers are providing a quality virtual event experience, there is no reason why they cannot charge for access. Although they cannot charge the same amount for a virtual show pass, because the attendees are not getting all the benefits of attending in person, they can charge its true value. Virtual attendees are benefiting from the education, after all. They can also receive continuing education unit (CEU) credits for their time online in many cases. This is a fact that should be promoted heavily in the marketing of the virtual portion of the event.

The show can also generate revenue by offering fee-based on-demand content for the virtual audience members. Fee-based on-demand content can also be offered to the face-to-face audience so they can see what they missed. The show could also make money on rebroadcast and repurposing fees.

The virtual event platform also opens up advertising and branding opportunities the show organizers can sell. Just make sure you’re getting your name and message in the best spots. This becomes a more and more appealing opportunity to potential advertisers as that virtual audience keeps growing each year and word spreads beyond their members.

Expanded Content Creation

You can record the live sessions that you make available to the virtual audience and post them online throughout the year. Now you’re expanding the audience even further. People who could not attend, either physically onsite or live virtually, can view these recorded sessions on-demand at their leisure. Even attendees onsite might have missed some of the sessions due to a conflicting session in the same time slot. They can catch these on-demand sessions as well. An on-demand archive is especially valuable for those seeking continuing education credits.

Recently, a conference made its sessions available a couple weeks after the conference as a rebroadcast of the event with a twist. The organizers invited the speakers back to participate in live online chats during their sessions. These sessions were shown at a specific time, and attendees were invited to log on and participate in a Q&A session right there with the speakers. I found this to be a great value-add over straight-up on-demand viewing.

Beating the Competition

No matter the industry, show organizers are all competing against other shows, and member organizations are competing for memberships. No one corners the market on trade shows. Adding a virtual component to a show puts show organizers and membership organizations in a much stronger position over their competition.

For instance, if I have my choice between two competing shows this year, everything else being even, I’ll choose the show that’s close to my home on the East Coast. But, if the West Coast show has a hybrid component, I’ll attend both—one as a virtual attendee and one in person. If I’m trying to choose between two organizations to join, I will probably pick the one that has a hybrid event. That way, I know if I can’t make the event for some reason, I can always catch it online.

Added Benefits to Exhibitors

As I said earlier, I am not a fan of the virtual trade show component of virtual event platforms. The problem is that they are trying to duplicate the live environment online instead of making a unique experience that fits an online audience’s needs. Until they get this part right—and I think eventually they will—organizations are not going to be able to really profit from a virtual trade show component that many of these platforms provide.

Advise your show organizer in creating an engaging online marketplace for both the exhibitors and attendees. The more robust this component of the virtual experience, the more time potential buyers will spend there which means more buyers will be exposed to your messaging and branding. As the virtual sponsor, you will, of course, also be included in this experience. Here are some ideas to present to the show organizer to create an experience that benefits both the attendee, your company as the sponsor, and the other exhibitors.

Build in commercial breaks into the online experience, but instead of just posting a “We’ll be back in five minutes” message on the screen, include one or two short videos. These videos could be marketing messages that focus on your value proposition or customer testimonials. During longer breaks, when those who are attending the show in person are at lunch, the organizer could schedule live exhibitor interviews and product or service demos. Most platforms have a networking lounge or chat room feature. Have different exhibitors sign up to moderate chat discussions. As the sponsor, you can negotiate first choice on all these different enhancements.

Ingredients for Success

Much of what I’m going to discuss here we’ve already covered in Chapter 13, “Live Stream Your Message,” but because we’re looking at it in the context of a virtual event sponsorship, it’s important to understand how it relates specifically to the needs of the show organizer. The most important aspect is knowing the level of support you will receive from the platform vendor (or not receive) and the ability (or not) to customize the platform with the branding of the show and of your company as the sponsor.

It’s likely the show will do most of the coordination of this sponsorship. Because your name will be attached to it, you must insist that certain key ingredients for a successful event are included. If you cannot be sure these things are going to be taken care of, I advise you to rethink your investment. You do not want your company’s name attached to a product that is not up to par or is hastily thrown together. Make sure the following key ingredients for success are being addressed by the show organizers:

• Planning approach—Are they planning the hybrid event as one event with two different audiences, or are they just tacking on a virtual component with little thought for the remote audience?

• Usability of the platform—Is the platform they chose easy to access on different operating systems, computers, and devices, and is navigation once signed-in intuitive?

• Camera crew—Have the show organizers hired a camera crew that has experience in shooting live events where they switch back and forth between shots and zoom in on the action?

• Streaming provider—Have the show organizers selected a streaming provider that has an excellent reputation with immediate technical assistance should things go wrong?

• Virtual emcee—Will the show organizers be hiring or appointing a virtual emcee to represent and guide the online audience? Do they have experience in virtual or hybrid events, and do they have the key skills necessary to do the job?

• Content selection—Are the organizers using speakers with online experience? If not, do they have a training program for speakers who will be presenting sessions that will be streamed live?

Also, do you have the opportunity as a sponsor to have one of your sessions (if you are presenting) included in the live stream? If your competitor is going to be part of the live stream presentations and you are not, decide whether you still want to sponsor, or perhaps whether you can use it to your advantage in the long run.

If the show organizers have already started planning the virtual event before you were approached or you did the approaching, you want to make sure these questions are answered to your satisfaction. If they have not addressed any of these issues yet, you want to find out how much influence you can have in these areas as a sponsor. Also, decide how many resources you can devote to the project. Only you can determine whether you have the confidence the organizers will deliver a high quality, engaging event you want to put your name on.

Marketing the Virtual Event

Although you might not be immersed in the strategic and logistical planning of the virtual event, you should be very involved in its marketing. You should take your share of the responsibility to ensure as many targeted buyers as possible are attending the event so that you get exposure to this valuable demographic. Don’t go off and do your own thing, though. Work closely with the show organizer so that you are putting out a consistent message.

The virtual audience is not going to need the same amount of advance time to plan to attend the event as the in-person audience does. There are no flights and hotels to book and no time out of the office to request. If there is a fee for the virtual portion of the event, it is likely not going to need the multiple levels of approval that attending an event in person would need. If there is no charge for attending virtually, even that comes off the table. Your heaviest marketing to this group will occur during the two to four months leading up to the live event.

Depending on the marketing goals of the show organizers, they might want to start promoting the virtual component closer to the event date, hoping to get more registrants to come onsite. They might be afraid that if they announce the virtual event too early, some attendees who are on the fence might opt not to attend in person but participate virtually instead. If onsite attendance is not their highest priority, they might want to start promoting the event earlier. This is particularly true if they are using the virtual component to expand their audience or provide continuing education to their membership base.

Once you and the show do start marketing, you need to be constant. Every communication the show organizers send out, every press release they issue, and every advertisement they buy should include the virtual portion of the event. And, it goes without saying, your sponsorship of this virtual event should be featured prominently in the headline. You are going to want to send the same communications out to your database of customers, potential customers, and your own media and blogger contacts. Communicate your sponsorship to all departments in your company so that they can spread the word any time they have contact with customers and prospects.

Because of the online environment of a virtual event, it is natural to promote it using social media. Create branded shortened links that people can use to quickly register for the event and then access the event at any point during the broadcast. Ways to share the experience should be built right into the registration system and platform so that the people who are attending can easily let their followers know about it. This use of social media opens the virtual event to people who might have never heard of the show.

Registration for the virtual event must be incorporated into whatever registration system the show is using. Even virtual attendees must register so you can collect attendees’ contact information and any demographic information that is important to the organizer and you the sponsor, but the registration process should be much less taxing than the regular registration. Remember, people might have heard through social media that a prominent speaker is about to take the stage (virtually and literally). You want to make their registration process quick and simple, so they don’t miss any of the presentation.

Be sure there is an option to share the registration link so word can spread easily through social media and email. You and the show organizers will want to attract as many people as possible to the online event. You should send registration information to your entire database of customers and prospects inviting them to join. Your sponsorship can include a certain number of “free passes” to the virtual event to give to your customers if a fee is associated with it.

Be sure the virtual event schedule is posted online and can be easily found. Virtual attendees will want to know the speaker lineup before committing. It’s also good to include a time zone conversion tool on the web pages that contain the virtual schedule. If the keynote speaker goes on stage at 2:00 p.m. PST, viewers in New Zealand are not going to want to figure the time zone conversion for themselves. You need to make it as easy as possible for all your virtual attendees to arrive on time and not worry about missing a key session they were looking forward to.

Preparing the Virtual Attendee

There is no such thing as making it too easy for your virtual audience to attend the event. Upon registering, they should receive confirmation that includes a clickable link to the event platform. The confirmation should also include step-by-step instructions for logging in, where to go for technical help, a link to test their systems prior to the event, instructions for participating in the online chat, and instructions on how the Q&A feature works. As a sponsor of the event, I would also like to see a short welcome message from your company incorporated into this confirmation.

This same information should be sent to them a week before the event, then the day before the event, and then a couple hours before the event starts. Why so often? Because many attendees will inevitably lose the first email under a mountain of other emails. They will realize 15 minutes before the event begins that they need the link to log in to the event. Instead of trying to find the email buried under weeks of emails in their inboxes, they can quickly find the one sent right before the event. Again, a message from the sponsor should be included on every confirmation or reminder message. I would even include a link to a landing page on our website set up just for this sponsorship or event.

Also be sure the organizers have an obvious link on the homepage of the event website to access the virtual event. Attendees might go directly to the event website to try to access the event. I was recently registered for a virtual event, but the organizer had sent only one email with the link to access the event upon registration. Unfortunately, the sender name was not the name of the event and I could not find it. I went to the event website, and try as I might, I could not find a link anywhere. I logged onto Twitter to ask the platform provider for assistance, and it took five hours to get a response (they did not have a virtual emcee). By this time, I had missed half of the program and was very frustrated. I could do an entire case study on what not to do from that one event alone. As the sponsor, be sure you are watching social media and the chat stream for frustrated viewers, and jump in if their questions are not being addressed immediately.

The start time for the virtual audience should be at least 10 minutes before the presentation time. This way, when attendees log in to the platform, the virtual emcee can give the virtual audience a tour of the platform. She can show the virtual audience how to change the screen views, how to participate in the chat, and how to use the Q&A function. She should also tell viewers whom to contact if they need technical assistance. This is the first real impression the virtual audience gets of the event and shapes their opinion of it as the day unfolds. This process should be repeated throughout the event for those just joining.

She should also include an introduction to your company as the sponsor of the event. Create a script that does not just name you but includes a sentence about why you felt it was important to make the event available to those who could not attend in person. This should be a quick one- or two-sentence introduction.

By now, the online attendee has been exposed to your company as the sponsor at least 5 to 10 times. You can see why it is so important to want to attach your name to an engaging, well-run virtual event. There will be no question as to what company helped make their experience possible—let’s just ensure it’s a positive one.

As a virtual event sponsor, you are providing networking opportunities and education to an audience who would not otherwise attend the trade show. Your company gains exposure not just to the several thousand attendees who are at the show, but also to an even larger potential audience around the world. You are solving a large problem for many of your customers and prospects who want the benefits of being at the show, but whose circumstances have left them stranded.

You can assist the show organizers in creating something that stirs the virtual audience to the point that they do everything in their power to attend the live event next year. You are showing those who cannot attend in person that you understand their need to network and be educated and that you are going to provide them with a way to do just that.

An engaging virtual event experience is one that will leave a positive lasting impression not just of the event, but of the company who sponsored it.

Summary

A virtual event sponsorship is something to consider if you are already doing a bang-up job reaching the in-person audience through your booth participation and you want to reach an ever larger audience. It’s also a great way to expand on a virtual component in your booth. If you are doing this level of engagement in your booth, you might be able to leverage this type of sponsorship to get more bang for your buck.

Just make sure you are working closely with the show organizer to ensure they are planning and executing an event you want your name on. Although you might not have a lot of say over the vendors they choose to hire, with the knowledge you now have about what makes a virtual event successful, you will know whether they are vendors you trust to carry out the job.

Be actively involved in the marketing of the virtual event. The more of your target market this event attracts, the better investment it is for your company. Part of the marketing is the registration process. This is where you as the sponsor and the show organizers set the stage for what the audience can expect. You want to make sure the registration process and the instructions for log in are as easy to follow as possible. There should be options built in all along the way for attendees to share the registration and event links with their networks, encouraging their colleagues to join them.