When it comes to putting on events and festivals, the hardest issue most organisers will have to deal with has to do with funding. Of course, there are harder questions – coming up with names for your event can be damn tricky, believe me – but getting the cash to put on your event in the first place, especially free events, is something which occupies a lot of time and causes a lot of sleepless nights.
One way of squaring that circle has to do with sponsorship, though this brings another set of questions over everything from who you approach to what do you give the would-be sponsor in return.
As part of EventBrite’s Free: Celebrating Free Events For All photography exhibition, we’ll be hosting a Banter discussion on the ins and outs of sponsorship. Our panelists Colin Hart (founder and creative director of independent ad agency The Public House), Sam Bishop (manager of Happenings and founder of Street Feast and Granby Park) and Aine O’Mahony (marketing and event management consultant) will talk about what works and what doesn’t work, what sponsors are looking for, the importance of integrity, relationship building and how you ensure the sponsor comes back with their chequebook the following year.
The small print: Banter on sponsorship takes place at Teeling Whiskey Distillery (13-17 Newmarket, Dublin 8 ) on Wednesday April 13 at 6pm. Admission is free, but you need to register in advance and you can do so here. Big thanks to Ann Lowney at EventBriteand John Mahon at The Locals for their help with this.