Leveraging Tradeshow Speaker Sponsorship

When you sponsor a tradeshow speaker, promotional benefits can extend far beyond inclusion in program materials, having your name on a sign at the event, and/or a mention in the speaker introduction.

Following are helpful tips to make the most of your speaker sponsorship and garner a greater return on your investment.

Tips to Fully Benefit from Tradeshow Speaker Sponsorship

Meet with the speaker in advance to share information about your company and its niche in the marketplace.

Discuss the benefits you offer and why customers choose your products or services over the competition. Provide printed materials and online reference information as follow-up to your conversation.

Ask the speaker if he or she is open to including a mention of your company during the presentation. Perhaps using your products or services in an example or case study may help emphasize a key point of the presentation theme.

Identify other ways to use the keynote presenter at the event. You may opt to have a hospitality suite and invite clients to meet the keynote speaker and enjoy some one-on-one conversation. Or, see if he or she is willing to spend some time at your booth to meet prospects and customers.

Integrate information about your speaker and his or her message in your tradeshow display. In addition, relate your strategy for booth giveaways with your tradeshow speaker sponsorship.

Request from the speaker articles, excerpts or autographed copies of books to give to key prospects who come by your booth. Promote in advance to conference attendees that these will be available when they visit your booth.

Use your website, newsletters, email communications and social media to promote the sponsorship before, during and after the event.

Include information about the keynote presenter on your site with links to books and articles written by the speaker, along with conference information and times when the speaker will be presenting and visiting your tradeshow display.

Leverage the speaker’s comments and your sponsorship in your post-event marketing. This may include:

Emailing a summary of the speaker’s message to current customers and leads generated from the show, as appropriate
Featuring highlights from the presentation on your website
Posting a video of the presentation (or a link to it) on your YouTube channel, social media accounts, and newsletters to clients and prospects.

For additional tips on benefiting from event speaker sponsorship, see the article links below.