Page 93 - DMGT304_EVENT_MANAGEMENT

Event Management

Notes main stage above the head of the performing artist, you must first confirm with the artist that
this is acceptable.

Notes It is unacceptable to renege later on your commitment to the sponsor. It is always
best to under promise and over deliver when stating the benefits of sponsorship. Exceeding
the sponsor’s expectations is how you turn a one-year sponsorship into a five-year plan
with options to renew forever. Every sponsor has a hidden agenda. It can be as simple as
the chairman of the board wanting to meet his or her favorite celebrity or as complex as
the sales manager’s bonus and promotion decision resting on this particular sponsorship
activity. Ask the sponsor’s representative what else you need to know about the needs of
his or her organization as you design the sponsorship measurement system. For example,
if the sponsor’s representative is in the public relations department, his or her interest
may be in seeing lots of ink and television time devoted to the name of the sponsor.
Therefore, you will want to measure these outcomes carefully to assist your sponsor.
Remember that you may sign a sponsorship agreement with a large corporation or
organization, but the day-to-day management of this agreement is between people. Find
out what these people desire and try to provide them with these outcomes.
Although communications between you and your sponsors is critical to your success, perhaps
even more important are the internal communications between the event manager and his or
her operations personnel. You must first confirm that your personnel will be able to support
sponsorship activities at the level required by the individual sponsors. Determine if you have
sufficient internal resources to satisfy the requirements both in contract as well as implied to
ensure the well-being of your sponsor’s investment.

Example, if your sponsor wants a hospitality setup arranged at the last minute, do you have a
catering operation that can handle this request? One way to ensure that the sponsors’ needs are
handled expeditiously is to create a written system of orders, changes, and other instructions
that clearly communicate those activities required by your sponsors.

Prior to distribution of these forms, have the sponsor’s representative sign one copy. Then have
the event’s representative initial approval before forwarding it to the appropriate department
or team leader.

4.6.7 Evaluating Sponsorships

To secure multiple-year sponsorships it is important that you develop and implement a system
for measuring the sponsor’s activities. First, decide what needs to be evaluated and why. The
answers to these questions typically may be found in the goals and objectives of the sponsorship
agreement. To collect these data, conduct sponsorship evaluations that are comprehensive in
scope. You may wish to interview the sponsors, your own staff, the sponsor’s target market, and
others to solicit a wide range of opinions regarding the effectiveness of the sponsorship.
Furthermore, you may wish to include in the event survey-specific questions about the sponsor’s
participation.
Finally, ask the sponsor for tracking information regarding sales that have resulted from the
sponsor’s participation in your event. You may measure the sponsor’s public relations benefits
by measuring the number of minutes of television and/or radio time as well as the number of
inches and columns of print media that was devoted to the sponsor’s products or name.
Ask the sponsor how he or she would like to see the data you have measured presented. Some
may prefer an elaborate in-person presentation using video clips and slides; others will prefer
a simple summary of the goals, objectives, and outcomes that were achieved. Make certain that

88 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY