Start From Your Own Numbers
Most sponsorship price lists start by copying another event. That rarely works, because another event's prices reflect its audience, its costs and its history with sponsors, none of which you share. A price you can defend comes from your own numbers, and there are three of them.
| Number | What it tells you | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to deliver | The floor: below this, the package loses money | Quotes for signage, food, AV and printing, plus staff time |
| Value of the parts | The ceiling: above this, sponsors are better off buying items one by one | Your own booth price list and a la carte prices |
| Revenue target | Whether the whole ladder pays for what the budget expects from sponsors | Your event budget |
Every package price should sit between its floor and its ceiling, and the ladder as a whole should reach the target with room to spare. The sections below take each number in turn, then put them together in a worked example.
Step 1: Cost Every Benefit
List every benefit in the package and what it costs you to provide. Include the obvious costs, such as banner printing, hosted food and drink, and AV for a sponsored session, and the hidden ones: a booth you could otherwise sell, staff time for artwork approvals, and the cost of an email slot you would otherwise use for your own registration push.
- Physical items: signage, printing, branded giveaways, furniture and power for a sponsor lounge
- Hospitality: meals, drinks, reception space and passes that carry a catering cost
- Space: a booth or activation area included in the package, at the price you would have sold it for
- Media: email sends, app ads and social posts, which cost little in cash but use limited slots
- Staff time: artwork chasing, fulfillment checks and the post-event recap
Step 2: Value Each Benefit
Sponsorship valuation puts a price on each benefit as if the sponsor bought it on its own. The most reliable reference is your own price list: what a booth of that size and location costs, what you charge for a single a la carte item such as the lanyard or the coffee break, and what an exhibitor pays for extra passes.
- 1
Use Prices You Already Charge
Booths, extra passes and a la carte items already have prices. Use them as they are, including premiums for corner or front-row spaces.
- 2
Value Reach Against the Alternative
For logos, emails and app ads, ask what the sponsor would spend to reach the same number of your attendees another way, using figures from their own media plans or from your past sponsors. Use your real attendance and email list sizes, not estimates you cannot show.
- 3
Add a Premium for What Is Scarce
Category exclusivity, a speaking slot and a name on a stage or the event cannot be bought anywhere else. Price them as a premium on top of the parts, not as a line with a cost.
The table below values a Gold package for a regional home show. Every figure is an example to show the arithmetic, not a market rate: replace each one with your own price list and quotes.
| Benefit | Cost to deliver | Value if bought separately |
|---|---|---|
| Premium 10x20 booth in the entrance row | $300 | $3,200 (the booth price on your own list) |
| Logo on four entrance banners | $480 | $1,000 |
| One sponsored email to attendees | $50 | $750 |
| Six passes with lunch | $270 | $600 |
| Introduction of one session | $0 | $500 |
| Total | $1,100 | $6,050 |
Here the floor is $1,100 and the ceiling is $6,050. Pricing the package at about 85 percent of its parts gives roughly $5,140; rounded to $5,000, it is clearly better value than buying the items one by one, and fulfillment is 22 percent of the price, inside a quarter.
Step 3: Set an Even Tier Ladder
Once one package is priced, build the others around it so each step up is a similar multiple of the one below. An even ladder keeps any one level from looking like the bargain or the overcharge. Our guide to event sponsorship levels covers which benefits belong at each tier.
| Level | Price | Available | Revenue if all sell |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum | $10,000 | 2 | $20,000 |
| Gold | $5,000 | 6 | $30,000 |
| Silver | $2,500 | 10 | $25,000 |
| Bronze | $1,250 | 20 | $25,000 |
| Total | 38 | $100,000 |
Check each level against its own floor and ceiling the same way as Gold. If Platinum's parts are only worth $7,000, the step from Gold needs a benefit worth paying for, such as category exclusivity or a welcome address, not a higher price on the same items.
Step 4: Test the Ladder Against Your Budget
A ladder that only works if every package sells is a risk. Take the revenue your budget needs from sponsors and see what share of the ladder has to sell to reach it. In the example above, a budget that needs $60,000 from sponsorship is covered if 60 percent of the ladder's value sells.
- Compare that share with last year's sell-through. If you sold half your packages last year, a plan that needs 90 percent this year is a hope, not a budget
- Ask which level each of last year's sponsors would buy at the new prices. If most land on one level, the levels around it are probably mispriced
- Decide your discount policy before you start selling: early commitment, multi-year terms and non-profit rates, each with a limit
- Keep a la carte items for sponsors whose budget sits below your entry level, priced so they do not undercut a tier
Pricing booths and sponsorships together helps here. A package that includes a booth should be priced from the same booth list exhibitors see, and the booth revenue calculator shows what the floor earns at different prices and sell-through rates before you decide how many booths to fold into packages.
Discounts, In-Kind and Renewals
| Situation | How to price it |
|---|---|
| In-kind sponsors | Value what they give at what you would otherwise pay for it, and give benefits from the level that value matches |
| Multi-year deals | Offer a lower yearly price for a two or three year commitment, with a set increase or an annual review |
| Sold out early last year | Raise the price, or add a second level above it, before you add more inventory |
| Sold slowly last year | Change the benefits before you cut the price; a discount teaches sponsors to wait |
| A sponsor asks for a custom package | Price it from the same parts and the same discount as your tiers, so it is never cheaper than an equal tier |
For examples of how other events bundle packages, see event sponsorship packages: examples and pricing, and for the top of the ladder, our guide to the title sponsor.
Sell and Track the Packages
A price on paper only holds if inventory is tracked as it sells. Publish the ladder in your sponsorship prospectus, sell packages and booths from one list so an included booth cannot also be sold to an exhibitor, and keep a count of every limited item. Sponsorship management software handles the counts at checkout, and booth sales software keeps the booths in those packages on the same floor plan.
After the event, send each sponsor a sponsorship recap report with what was delivered. It is the evidence behind next year's price.