Is conference booth presence worth the money?

[CanSpace]

I visited Collision conference in Toronto this year, as a regular visitor. I noticed that only two web hosting companies had booth presence: Digital Ocean (worth somewhere around CAD $100,000-125,000) and LiquidWeb (worth around CAD $15,000-20,000). That's two hosting companies trying to reach the attention of hundreds of showcasing tech startups and about 40,000 conference visitors over 3 days.

The smallest booth (2x2 meters) costing between 15-20k, is it worth it? Has anyone had any experiencing sponsoring tech conferences (if yes, which ones)? What were your prime objectives? Did you align the effort with any KPIs or set any ROIs for such sponsorship? And finally, did you find the effort worth the money?

 

[HostInstance]

Sponsoring tech conferences, such as Collision, can be valuable for visibility and networking. Objectives often include brand exposure, lead generation, and industry connections. Aligning efforts with KPIs and setting clear ROIs are crucial for evaluating the sponsorship's effectiveness and determining if the investment is justified.

 

[SimpleSonic]

Companies like Digital Ocean have deep pockets and large marketing budgets and I'm sure they attend conferences simply for the brand exposure and aren't all that concerned with KPI or ROI.

Honestly, if spending 15-20K attending a conference will hurt your budget if you don't see any or much ROI, then it's probably not in your best interest.

 

[bigredseo]

brand exposure and aren't all that concerned with KPI or ROI.

Everything that affects ROI is a concern. Nobody goes to a conference, either sposor or attendee, without evaluating if it's worth the money.

15k is a lot to put down if you're not in the same competing space as the other big guys.

We've done a number of conferences over the years, from $500 boths to $5,000 booths and they all were successful - but we had a plan going in, and we had the right target market.

We did run a gamble on a "home show" where we pitched in $500 for an 8x8 booth. The home show are people looking to get new A/C, gardening, etc etc - it's all about home improvement - but we took the risk and it paid off. We were targeting not the attendees, but the companies. We only needed 2 companies to sign up for 2 months and our expenses were paid (dedicated servers).

We have been invited every year for the past 10 years to have a booth at a conference for Accountants. It's a big show each year, and since we have created a half dozen websites for that industry, including one of the board members, it seems like a right fit - but it's not. The event is educational focused and is not targeting the decision makers - or at least not companies with money to spend.

If you find the right conference, it's worth the money - heck, a street fair is worth the time and money if the audience is there.

 

[Artashes]

Sponsoring tech conferences, such as Collision, can be valuable for visibility and networking. Objectives often include brand exposure, lead generation, and industry connections. Aligning efforts with KPIs and setting clear ROIs are crucial for evaluating the sponsorship's effectiveness and determining if the investment is justified.

Was this written by ChatGPT?

 

[SenseiSteve]

I've worked a good number of booths over the years dating back to 1996. Probably the most successful was the Working Women's Survival show and the worst, some educational seminar in 2001. Attended a cPanel Expo in Houston a few years back, and I think I made more contacts through their After Parties can I could have with a booth.

 

[bigredseo]

cPanel Expo in Houston a few years back, and I think I made more contacts through their After Parties can I could have with a booth.

Gotta love those after parties! cPanel always seemed to put on a good event. I've been to a couple over the years and by far the one in Austin in 2014 was one of my favorites.

 

[CanSpace]

Thank you for everyone's feedback, thoughts and shared experiences. Irregardless of cost, everything we do we try to have a set ROI. If spending $1,000 generates $1,500 in business, we are there. If the objective is brand exposure, there are certainly avenues that buy better localized quality exposure for 5x less. In this instance, experience of such caliber is difficult to gauge without either collecting enormous feedback from others or getting your own feet wet.