Event organizers wanting to learn and leverage exhibition sponsorship practices can take advantage of the B2B Exhibition Sponsorship Playbook series produced by Center for Exhibition Industry Research.

Providing a comprehensive overview of B2B expo sponsorship practices in North America, the new five-part series compiles and compares organizer and exhibitor practices. It also includes industry benchmarks and insights on how stakeholders can refine their programs to enhance success.

Unveiled on Oct. 28, Part One: What Organizers Offer Compared to What Exhibitors Buy takes a deep dive into the vast array of sponsorship options and details on which are most commonly sold by organizers, compared to those most frequently purchased by exhibitors. The study also reports differences within key demographics for each stakeholder group.

“Results indicate a vibrant market for sponsorships, with an average contribution of 19.5 percent to a B2B exhibition’s gross revenues and a marketplace where 83 percent of exhibitors have invested in sponsorships in the past two years,” said Nancy Drapeau, vice president of research for CEIR. “The benchmarks [in the report] can help both stakeholders compare their practices to determine how they can refine programs and investments moving forward.”

Released on Nov. 25, Part Two: Sponsorship Sales Process – Customer Satisfaction, Package or A La Carte? Self-Serve or Staff-Assisted? provides an inventory of how sponsorships are sold and purchased, as well as insights on how event organizers can boost sponsorship buyer satisfaction.

“The second report in this series uncovers a perception gap relating to satisfaction with the sponsorship sales process,” Drapeau said. “Though a majority, 53 percent of sponsorship buyers are satisfied with their purchases, [while] 40 percent are neutral – they cannot say if they are satisfied or not. By comparison, most organizers believe sponsorship buyers are satisfied, at 73 percent.”

Topics covered in this report include the rate of sponsorship sales and purchases via packages and ala carte, sponsorship collateral approaches, the timing of sales compared to purchases, and satisfaction with the sales process and how to boost satisfaction rates. 

The remaining reports in the five-part series will be published in the next several months. They include: 

• Part One: What Organizers Offer Compared to What Exhibitors Buy
• Part Two: Sponsorship Sales Process – Customer Satisfaction, Package or A La Carte? Self-Serve or Staff-Assisted?
• Part Three: Evaluating the Outcome of Sponsorship Sales and Purchases
• Part Four: Future Outlook for Sponsorship Sales and Purchases
• Part Five: Who Are Non-Buyers and What May Prompt Them to Buy?

 According to CEIR officials, the research compiled in the series is the result of industry-wide support from the ASAE, IAEE, SISO, Canadian Association of Exposition Management and PCMA. 

Leading general service contractors Fern, Hargrove and Shepard Expositions provided support for the exhibitor side of the study.

In-depth surveys were conducted by CEIR in the first quarter of this year followed by online survey polling in the spring of 2019. Hundreds of show organizers and exhibitors participated. 

To learn more about the B2B Exhibition Sponsorship Playbook series, go here.

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