The Power of Sponsorships – Maximizing your return from event marketing

TSEA (Trade Show Exhibitors Association) is pleased to announce their third educational meeting for members and potential members to be held on May 15^th, 2008 from 8:30am to 11:00am at the International Centre, 6900 Airport Road, Ontario Room - Hall 1 Entrance

 

The speaker is Dwayne McKillop a Senior Partner with Understanding Your Business Inc. www.uyb.ca, a well known professional event sponsorship agency. Dwayne's team has represented, produced and sold for thousands of event properties worldwide including consumer and tradeshows and professional sport events such as the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.

Dwayne began his career in the event industry with the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the world's largest producers of boat shows. After three seasons, Dwayne moved to dmg world media, to work on the development of an internal sponsorship and sales program as the VP of Sales. After 9 years, Dwayne once again challenged himself by joining Exposoft Solutions as the Chief Operating Officer.

 

Dwayne is a sought after presenter who speaks at many conferences and conventions throughout the year and has worked on events all around the world.

The agenda is as follows:

 

8:30am – 9:00 - Coffee and Networking

9:00 - Presentation

10:00 - Questions and Answers

10:30 – 11:00 - Networking

 

In one hour Dwayne will focus on key issues that are important to exhibitors considering adding sponsorship to their exhibit marketing strategy

 

• What is the value of adding sponsorship to your exhibit marketing

• How to equate the sponsorship offerings to your exhibiting objectives

• How to negotiating a sponsorship package

• Key steps to implement a sponsorship program

• How to measure ROI of the sponsorship program

Please forward this email to your colleagues. There is no charge for this session

RSVP:

 

Barbara Siskind, Marketing Director

International Training and Management Company

barbara@siskindtraining.com or call 416-783-5200

 

If you'd like to learn more about TSEA please visit their website at www.tsea.org.

 

A special thank you to the International Centre for providing us with the room

Leadership Shift at Vancouver CCFormer PavCo exec plans to market venue to European groups

By Stephanie Corbin -- Tradeshow Week, 4/28/2008

A leadership change may mean more European association tradeshows and conventions could be heading to the Vancouver (B.C.) Convention & Exhibition Centre in the future.

In January, Warren Buckley returned as CEO of venue operator PavCo, which manages the VCEC and other venues in British Columbia. Buckley spent more than 18 years with PavCo before moving to the Suntec Singapore Intl. Convention & Exhibition Centre in 2002.

He said one of the first actions he's taking now that he is back with PavCo is rolling out a new marketing focus directed toward attracting European show and convention organizers to Vancouver.

The shift comes after the recent departure of former VCEC President Barbara Maple. Buckley said Maple's departure was due to "organizational changes" the convention center is undertaking.

"Vancouver has had a history of attracting (European associations)," he added. "I think it's just time to go after that more aggressively."

The convention center is expected to complete its current expansion next March, in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The venue will grow to 388,000 square feet of exhibit space, from 108,000 sq. ft., and add an additional 61,000 sq. ft. of meeting space for a total of 86,000 sq. ft.

Naomi Wagschal, president of the Canadian Assn. of Exposition Management and business manager of meetings and exhibitions for The College of Family Physicians of Canada, said the new marketing strategy isn't surprising.

"As our convention centers expand ... they're going to be looking at the global market and not just North America," she added.

And with the stringent visa restrictions the United States currently has in place, Wagschal said it's easier for international attendees and exhibitors to travel from other countries to Canada.

Buckley said by June he hopes to have a sales representative in Brussels or London to sell the center in the European market.

"We're meeting with some of the German messes and halls over there (to see what they're looking for)," he added.

Until now, the convention center had been mostly marketed to the U.S., Buckley said, where about 70 percent of the current international business comes from.

That's because most of the large association business attracted to the destination is from the U.S., said Richard Yore, director of sales, meetings and conventions with Tourism Vancouver. "I'm not quite sure the mix would shift," he added of the new marketing strategy.

Yore said most international associations don't have meeting planners, which are common in U.S. associations. For the city to bid for the overseas association shows and meetings, the destination needs to have a local host who volunteers to help organize the event, he added.

"The main focus for us is working with our local community," Yore said.

Cliff Wallace, president of UFI, the Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry, said the Vancouver center's entry to the international exhibition market would be a positive move.

"Vancouver would be a welcomed addition to UFI's membership – joining Toronto as our other UFI member – and will most definitely benefit from UFI's extraordinary global network of the key decision makers in the industry," Wallace said. "I know Warren is very forward-thinking, and I can imagine him working with Toronto to draw more international attention to both markets and Canada."

Buckley said his experience in Singapore will help with the VCEC's new marketing focus.

In Singapore, the center partnered with the German messes and "most of our international conventions came out of Europe," he added.