How to Get Sponsors for an Event (Using Real Sponsorship Data)
To get sponsors for an event, start with the companies that already sponsor events like yours: pull the sponsor lists of five to ten comparable conferences, rank the companies that appear on several of them, price your packages against what those conferences charge, and pitch each company with the events it already paid for.
Start with companies that already sponsor events
Of the 11,409 companies listed as sponsors at the conferences we track (each with a website on file), 1,389 (12%) sponsored two or more different conferences, and the median conference with a sponsor list names 6 sponsors.
| Company | Conferences sponsored | Industries |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | 60 | 18 |
| 51 | 17 | |
| Amazon | 32 | 13 |
| IBM | 32 | 14 |
| Deloitte | 30 | 18 |
| Meta | 22 | 15 |
| Siemens | 20 | 12 |
| NVIDIA | 19 | 10 |
| Accenture | 18 | 8 |
| Intel Corporation | 17 | 11 |
Counted from the sponsor lists of 1,070 conferences on ConferenceDB, every edition on file, updated daily. Companies at the most conferences · What sponsorship packages cost
Who sponsors events like yours?
The companies already on the sponsor lists of conferences in your industry. A company that paid to sponsor a comparable event has already found budget for events like yours. The table above shows how many sponsors put money into more than one conference: those repeat sponsors are the first names to call.
Find them by industry on the ranked lists, such as the top healthcare conference sponsors or the companies at the most conferences, and on the sponsor and exhibitor lists of each conference page, for example CES.
How to build the prospect list
- Pick five to ten conferences that draw the same buyers you do: same industry, similar size, same region. Browse conferences by industry and place.
- Open each one's sponsor and exhibitor list and copy the companies into a sheet, with the level each one bought where the list shows it.
- Sort by how many of your comparable events each company appears on, and start with the companies on two or more of them.
- Check its company page, for example Salesforce, to see every conference it has sponsored or exhibited at and whether it came back the next year.
The sponsor finder does steps 1 to 3 for you: pick your industry and city, or type your conference, and it ranks the companies by how many comparable conferences list them.
Exhibitors are prospects too
Companies that buy booth space at trade shows in your field already budget for events and send people to them. Add the exhibitors of your comparable shows to the sheet after the sponsors. Where to get trade show exhibitor lists compares the free and paid sources.
What to charge
Price your packages against conferences of your size and industry. The prices organizers publish are collected on what conference sponsorship costs, with medians by level and industry, and each conference page lists its own packages. What each level usually includes, read from real prospectuses, is on what each sponsorship level includes.
Who to contact at the company
Look for whoever runs field marketing, event marketing or partnerships; at a small company, try the head of marketing or a founder. Find the person on the company's own site or LinkedIn. ConferenceDB lists companies and never publishes named people's contact details. The paid tools that sell contacts are compared on conference sponsor databases.
How to pitch
Open with the overlap: name the conferences the company sponsored this year and show that your attendees are the same buyers. Then give the company what it needs to decide: who attends, with roles and company types; your packages and their prices; and the date your program and signage go to print.
When to start
As soon as your date and venue are fixed. A conference page shows which companies have already signed up for the next edition of a comparable event, so you can see who is committing to events while you pitch.
Where ConferenceDB fits
ConferenceDB is the free database I built for this job: sponsor and exhibitor lists read from each conference's own pages, who came back from the last edition, and the packages organizers publish. It does not sell contact data or introductions. If you need emails, or a marketplace where brands look for events to sponsor, the paid tools on the sponsor databases comparison do that.