Do you produce events? Trade shows? Conferences? Are you maximizing your revenue? If you think you are, maybe you should still read on because I think you will find a few nuggets below.

Having spent the vast majority of my career in the events and show management industry and in talking to other show management professionals, keeping up with and coming up with innovative sponsorships can be a challenge. 

In my last role, I had a great vendor with whom, when he was in town, I would go to dinner and “talk shop,” specifically about what creative things he was seeing in the industry. We would then either replicate or innovate on those items to create new value, exposure and experiences for our exhibitors, sponsors and attendees.

What I have tried to do here is to provide some sponsorship ideas that I have implemented at my events while pulling together some other creative ideas and offerings that can be found at trade shows across many industries. 

Some of these ideas may not work for your event or industry but perhaps will spark some creativity with you and your team to create new innovative offerings that will allow your shows to grow, your clients to get more value/exposure and provide your attendees with new experiences.

The Essentials: these are sponsorships that most shows will have and if you don’t, then why not?

• Badge Lanyards – I would recommend a double-attach point (keeps it from flipping around as much as a single attach point) with a break-away clasp in the back for safety reasons
• Delegate or Attendee Bags – Sponsor/s logos on the bags along with the show logo.  Try to offer bags that people will use more than just at the show
• Entrance Units – Either to the conference and/or the exhibition (more on this later)
• Banners Outside/Inside the Facility - Sponsor messaging on as large as possible
• Standing Meter Boards – Standard meter boards with 1-side or 2-sided printing (more on this later)
• Coffee Breaks – You are serving coffee anyway, so give the sponsor good value and exposure
• Lunches – Again, you are doing these functions anyway and if you can’t get the full cost covered with the sponsorship you can get some of it off-set, but regardless, make sure you are giving the sponsor good value. You don’t want to be penny-wise, pound foolish.

Depending on your event, the size, the venue, the industry and audience, there are many other sponsorships to offer. Below are 83 ideas for you to consider.

1. Mobile Device Charging Stations – There are standing displays where you can sit with your phone or lock it up and come back later, and there are portable chargers for attendees to walk around with and then return to the base when their devices are charged.
2. Escalator and Handrail Runners – If your event is on multiple levels, these can be very attractive, as attendees are up and down these multiple times a day.  
3. Digital Entrance Units – Get away from the static entrance units and go with digital units where you can sell multiple rotating sponsorships, as well as also having the show graphics with different looks on the same unit. This is eye candy for the attendees. You can charge more because they are getting more. We had multiple individually sponsored exhibit entrances and offered the digital option instead of the static option – more exposure to the sponsor and more visually appealing to attendees.
4. Column Wraps – If you are in a building with columns, then sell a sponsorship for one or more of these. Depending on the size of the column, you can also sell digital column wraps.
5. Receptions – Depending on the industry and size of the event, you may not cover the full cost of the reception but if you are going to get it sponsored, then make sure the sponsor is getting good value/exposure for what they are paying.

Due to the limitations of space, I have reached the size limit of this post, however, if you would like the entire list, I am happy to send it to you. Please email cwm432@gmail.com with your name, company and email address and I will happily send you the full PDF of all 83 sponsorships to consider. I guarantee you there are some listed that you have not thought about!

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