The World's Fastest Show

Time lapse video of the 2010 Greenbuild International Conference & Expo exhibition hall at McCormick Place in Chicago, November 17-19.  Watch it here.

Sponsorship Corner: GridWise® Global Forum

Recently, we helped launch a new event, the GridWise® Global Forum, co-hosted by the GridWise® Alliance and the U.S. Department of Energy, with the mission of tranforming the electric grid to achieve a sustainable energy future.

Our first job was to create a sponsorship program from the ground up. We organized the program based on tiered levels of Silver ($10k), Gold ($25k), and Platinum ($50k), as well as individual sponsorship items. We worked closely with the staff of the Alliance to develop a program that offered the potential sponsors a variety of options at different price points.  "Starting from fresh and developing the sponsorship program was challenging.  We appreciated the experience and the feedback that we received from Corcoran," stated GridWise Alliance Director, Becca Dietrich.  We then hit the phones to get the message out about the conference and the sponsorships available.  Sales veteran Matt McLaughlin was responsible for tracking down decision-makers via cold calls and following up on leads from GridWise Allaince board members.

Being a start-up conference, Matt found that potential sponsors required more education about the event itself and how the Forum could be differentiated.  Matt also had to work with potential sponsors to encourage them to reallocate budgets that were already in place for the year.  Although time was not on our side, we had the advantage of touting high-power speakers and the help of the Alliance board and staff to rally support for the conference.

After sponsorships are sold comes the detailed work of fulfillment and relationship management, spearheaded by Mark Michalik, sponsorship manager.  Mary works individually with each sponsor to ensure they receive each and every benefit promised, and that sponsors are represented appropriately in conference communications and on-site.  She works with tried and true suppliers to order fulfillment items such as lanyards, keycards, and totebags, so she knows items will be delivered to the conference on-time and on-budget.  Mary also goes to the conference site to ensure every last detail is accounted for and to ensure sponsors are pleased with the investment.

"Fulfillment is key, both before the conference and on-site.  We make every effot to make sure that sponsorships are fulfilled in a way that works well for the sponsor and the conference.  Assuring that sponsors are well-informed months prior to the conference and that we both are informed of the sponsor's needs and expectations is the key to a successful conference for everyone," advises Mary.

"Mary's communication with the sponsors was absolutely essential to their satisfaction with their investment in the Forum," noted Becca.

Through sponsorship program development, diligent marketing by seasoned sales staff, constant follow-up, relationship management, and sponsorship fulfillment by our dedicated Sponsorship Manager, Mary Michalik, our experienced team is fully committed to making each of our shows a success.