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Permalink Reply by Mimi on August 12, 2010 at 6:47pm

Great question. I was asked by a company about what the cost is for a conference. I had no clue and told him so. I would love to be sponsored by a number of companies to make it to a bloggnig conference, but I have no idea how to go about this either.

Obviously people have done it, but HOW?! =)

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Permalink Reply by Aimee on August 12, 2010 at 6:55pm

Well I have the estimated cost posted on my page dedicated to getting sponsors on my site but not sure how to approach companies I have worked with.

Mimi said:

Great question. I was asked by a company about what the cost is for a conference. I had no clue and told him so. I would love to be sponsored by a number of companies to make it to a bloggnig conference, but I have no idea how to go about this either.
Obviously people have done it, but HOW?! =)

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Permalink Reply by Jerri Ann on August 12, 2010 at 9:10pm

I have pitched this topic as a speaker to every single conference known to mankind lately and have never been accepted. I think it would be a huge session if a group of people who specialize in this kind of thing could go over some tactics that work and some that don't. Apparently not enough people are interested in having a little "get a sponsorship" session because it has yet to be chosen....go figure..I don't know.

I have helped lots and lots of people put letters together depending on the situations. Maybe it hasn't made to be a session topic for some reason that I don't really understand but feel free to email me anytime and I will see if I can guide you in the right direction. I'm not an expert, but I've written my share of pitch letters before and I can share the ones that work pretty good and the ones who didn't even get me a "no" from folks.

One example is this, I happen to be very very very rough on keyboards. External keyboards for desktops and even keyboards on laptops don't generally last very long. I pitched a ton of companies about letting me see if their keyboards can withstand "ME". Out of about 50 or 60 letters, I didn't even get one company responding with a "NO". That was obviously not a very good letter.

Honestly, I am more insulted by getting no response at all than getting a no, thank you, we aren't interested. Anyway, let me know if you have any questions, I'll offer up as much as I can. jareason@gmail.com or The_Jerri_Ann on Twitter or Jerri.Ann.Reason on skype and JerriAnnReason on facebook

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Permalink Reply by Shelley Frady on August 26, 2010 at 1:16pm

I really need help in this area and have lots of questions. I really need to attend a conference and learn all I can.

My questions are:
How do you approach a company?
What sort of companies do you approach?
What should sponsorship cover, conference only, or hotel and travel too?
What do they expect in return?

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Permalink Reply by Aimee on August 26, 2010 at 2:09pm

Well I sent out a letter that I think was a good one. I have not received a response as of yet but this is what I included. I told them what I was writing about, what the conference is about, how I can be a asset to there company. I also reminded them of work I have done in the past for them. I also let them know that it was negotiable for full sponsorship. I am going after companies that i have worked with.

Hopefully this will help!

Aimee

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