An event sponsorship package is a fixed bundle of visibility, access to your audience, and
post-event data, sold at a set price. For a B2B conference or an association meeting, three
to five levels work best, and each step up should add more of the same audience units.

Price each level from what last year's audience delivered to sponsors, not from booth
square footage.

This page gives you a 4-level template, a pricing worksheet, and one worked example. It
is written for the people who sell sponsorship at B2B conferences and association meetings,
to companies that have to justify the spend to their own finance teams. Measuring what a sponsor
got back is a separate job, covered in [event sponsorship ROI](https://eventiq.io/md/event-roi/event-sponsorship-roi).

## What should be in a sponsorship package?

Every package needs 3 parts, and buyers compare levels on them, so use the same names on
every level of the prospectus.

Visibility covers logo placement, program and app listings, signage, email mentions, stage
recognition. Most prospectuses already describe it well, and a sponsor's marketing team still
finds it the hardest part to value, because nothing in it produces a contact.

Audience access is the chance to reach specific people: a sponsored breakout, a roundtable,
a booth in a high-traffic zone, pre-booked meetings with named accounts. For B2B sponsors this
is what pays for the package, and it can be counted.

Post-event data is what the sponsor receives afterwards to check delivery: counts of
the interactions you promised, a list of engaged contacts shared under the consent rules in
your registration terms, and session attendance for anything they hosted.

Two contract terms belong in the package too: the definition of a qualified contact, and what
happens if you deliver fewer than you promised. Both are covered in the pricing section below.

## Sponsorship levels template

Copy the structure and fill in the benefits from your own inventory. The prices are an
**illustrative example only**, built in the worked example further down for one hypothetical
association conference with 1,500 attendees. They are not market rates.

### Four sponsorship levels

| Level | Visibility | Audience access | Post-event data | Example price (illustrative) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Supporter | Logo in program and app, one email mention | None guaranteed | Confirmation that each placement ran, with the counts the platform reports | $6,000 |
| Partner | Supporter items plus signage in the exhibit area | Booth or table; 60 guaranteed qualified contacts | Qualified contact count against the guarantee; engaged contact list under consent rules | $15,000 |
| Premier | Partner items plus sponsored breakout named in the agenda | 150 guaranteed qualified contacts; 6 pre-booked meetings | Partner data plus breakout attendance and meetings held against meetings booked | $40,000 |
| Principal | Premier items plus keynote introduction and category exclusivity | 250 guaranteed qualified contacts; 12 pre-booked meetings | Premier data plus the same figures for the previous year, side by side | $75,000 |

Read the table down each column. Visibility grows, but the price moves mainly with audience
access, and the post-event data grows with it so the sponsor can check every promise on the
level they bought.

## How many sponsorship levels should an event have?

Three to five. Fewer than three leaves no room to move a sponsor up at renewal. More than five
and buyers start comparing neighboring levels line by line, which usually ends in a discount
request.

A workable default for a B2B conference is four: one visibility-only entry level and three
levels that include audience access. A smaller association meeting with a handful of sponsors
can drop to three. Add a fifth only when you have a distinct inventory item to sell, such as
title sponsorship of the whole event.

Three rules for the levels:

1. Each level adds units and never swaps them. Premier includes everything in Partner,
   plus more contacts and meetings. If 2 levels differ only in logo size, merge them.
2. Keep the price per contact the same on every level. Levels differ by volume and by scarce
   items like exclusivity; a cheaper contact at the top level undercuts your own pricing.
3. Sell visibility-only items separately. Lanyards, charging stations, and coffee breaks
   go on an a la carte menu labeled as brand visibility, so nobody expects contacts from them.

## How do you price a sponsorship package?

Price the audience units a sponsor receives, using the numbers you delivered last year. Then
check the price against what the sponsor pays to reach the same people through another channel.

### Why square footage stopped working

Many prospectuses still price a 20x20 booth at 4 times a 10x10. Kimberly Hardcastle of
Freeman, writing in [PCMA Convene](https://www.pcma.org/think-presence-vs-space/), notes that many organizers "still rely on legacy definitions of exhibitor value:
square footage, logo placement, and a limited menu of sponsorships." The same article cites
Freeman research showing that 72 percent of exhibitors now take part in formats beyond trade
shows, and when attention is pulled away from the show, "budgets move outside sanctioned
channels."

Sponsors say the same. At the SISO CEO Summit 2026, as reported by
[TSNN](https://www.tsnn.com/people-career-development/inside-siso-ceo-summit-2026-20-takeaways-curated-by-tsnn),
Stacey Gromlich of Siemens Industry Software said: "Floor space is the least important part of
our spend." Yancy Weinrich of CloserStill Media, an organizer, said net square footage is not the most important KPI
and pointed to content-led and certification formats instead.

### The four audience units

| Unit | Definition | Where the count comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified contact | An attendee who matches the sponsor's target profile (role level, organization size, segment) and had a recorded interaction with the sponsor | Registration fields plus booth visits, session check-ins, or meetings |
| Pre-booked meeting | A scheduled one-to-one with a named account that took place at the event | Your meeting scheduler |
| Sponsored session attendance | Check-ins at a session the sponsor hosted | Session check-in |
| Share of voice | Scarce visibility: exclusivity, keynote introduction, title naming | Your prospectus inventory |

Write the qualified contact definition into the contract, including which interactions count.
Attendance on its own should not count.

### The formulas

**Cost per qualified contact last year = Level price last year ÷ Qualified contacts delivered last year**

**Level price = (Guaranteed qualified contacts × Price per contact) + (Pre-booked meetings × Price per meeting) + Share-of-voice premium**

Set the price per contact at or above last year's cost per qualified contact and below what
the sponsor pays for a qualified lead in their next-best channel, such as paid digital or an
outbound sales team. That second figure is the ceiling. If your price sits above it, the
sponsor's marketing team can reach the same people for less, and the renewal is at risk.
Ask your largest sponsors for the figure directly; most will share a range.

### Worked example: a 1,500-attendee association conference

Every figure below is **hypothetical**, chosen to show the arithmetic. The same conference
and the same numbers are used everywhere on this page.

| Line | Input | Where it comes from | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Attendees | Check-in records | 1,500 |
| B | Share matching a typical sponsor's target profile | Registration fields: role level, organization size | 40% |
| C | Target-profile attendees (A × B) | Calculated | 600 |
| D | Sponsors each target-profile attendee engaged with last year, on average | Booth visits, session check-ins, meetings | 4 |
| E | Qualified contact capacity (C × D) | Calculated | 2,400 |
| F | Premier price last year | Sponsor contract | $36,000 |
| G | Qualified contacts delivered to Premier last year | Sponsor delivery report | 180 |
| H | Cost per qualified contact last year (F ÷ G) | Calculated | $200 |
| I | Sponsor's cost per qualified lead in its next-best channel | Stated by the sponsor | $260 |
| J | Price per contact this year (from H up to below I) | Your decision | $200 |
| K | Price per pre-booked meeting | Stated by the sponsor as its cost for a sales-sourced meeting | $1,000 |

With a price of $200 per contact and $1,000 per meeting, the four levels in the template
build up like this:

| Level | Contacts | Meetings | Share of voice | Build-up | Price |
|---|---:|---:|---|---|---:|
| Supporter | 0 | 0 | Logo and listings | $6,000 visibility | $6,000 |
| Partner | 60 | 0 | Exhibit signage | 60 × $200 = $12,000, plus $3,000 | $15,000 |
| Premier | 150 | 6 | Sponsored breakout | 150 × $200 = $30,000, plus 6 × $1,000 = $6,000, plus $4,000 | $40,000 |
| Principal | 250 | 12 | Keynote introduction, category exclusivity | 250 × $200 = $50,000, plus 12 × $1,000 = $12,000, plus $13,000 | $75,000 |

Premier costs $4,000 more than last year's $36,000, and the sponsor can see why: a stated
guarantee, meetings on the contract, and a price per contact still below its own $260.

Run the capacity check before the prospectus goes out. Suppose you plan to sell 2
Principal, 4 Premier, and 8 Partner packages. The guarantees add up to 500 + 600 + 480 =
1,580 qualified contacts against a capacity of 2,400 (line E). That leaves 820 for delivery
above the guarantees and for late sponsors. If the total ever passes line E, you are selling
audience you cannot deliver.

### Guarantees and make-goods

Guarantee only what your history supports. In the example, Premier delivered 180 qualified
contacts last year, so the guarantee sits lower, at 150. With a single year of data, publish a
target instead of a guarantee.

Define the make-good in the contract. If delivery falls short, credit the gap at the price per
contact toward next year's package: 20 contacts short on Premier is a $4,000 credit. A credit
costs less than a refund and keeps the renewal conversation open.

### The lanyard problem

Many organizers have a sponsor who paid $12,000 for the lanyard last year and expects the
same deal. Their finance team approved that line once and will approve it again, so keep the
budget line and change what it buys. At the example rates, $12,000 covers the lanyard as a
$6,000 visibility item plus 30 guaranteed qualified contacts at $200. If the sponsor wants
the lanyard alone, sell it from the a la carte menu at $6,000 and label it as brand
visibility with no contact delivery.

## How do you attract sponsors for an association event?

Associations are selling sponsorship into a tighter market. Naylor's 2026 Association
Benchmarking Report, summarized in its
[press release](https://www.prweb.com/releases/2026-association-benchmarking-report-reveals-associations-are-getting-more-intentional-about-data-ai-and-revenue-302842546.html),
found that generating non-dues revenue is the top challenge for the fourth consecutive year,
though the share citing it fell from 61% to 51.9%. Sponsorship's share of non-dues revenue
slipped from 29.7% to 25.3%.

Package structure can still change the result. At the
[ASAE 2026 Annual Meeting](https://annual2026.asaecenter.org/alleducation.cfm),
Jessica Struve of the Radiology Business Management Association presented how a small-staff
association doubled its non-dues revenue to surpass $1 million in 2026 by redesigning its
prospectus, streamlining benefits, and right-sizing tiers so sponsors had a reason to move up.

To apply this to your own [sponsorship prospectus](https://eventiq.io/md/templates/sponsorship-prospectus):

- Open the prospectus with the audience profile: the share of attendees by role level and
  organization size (lines A to C). Add those two fields to your
  registration form if you do not collect them.
- Show the build-up next to each price. A sponsor who can see contacts × price per contact
  can defend the package to its own CFO without calling you.
- Publish delivered numbers year over year. Two years of qualified contacts per level gives a
  new sponsor something to check your guarantees against.
- Talk to the companies that employ your members about their sales goals before you talk
  about packages. Ask the top five what they pay per qualified lead elsewhere (line I) and
  what a good year at your event would look like for them.
- Send the delivery report within the window your contract names. The
  [post-event report template](https://eventiq.io/md/blog/post-event-report-template) has a sponsor section you can
  use as the base.

## Reprice every year from what you delivered

Run the worksheet again after each event, using the [sponsor report](https://eventiq.io/md/templates/sponsor-report) as the input. Recalculate cost per qualified contact for every level (line H), ask
sponsors for an updated next-best channel figure (line I), and raise the price per contact
only when delivered volume supports it.

Once the package is sold, the sponsor will want to know whether it paid back. That
calculation uses the sponsor's full cost and closed revenue, and it is laid out step by step
in [event sponsorship ROI](https://eventiq.io/md/event-roi/event-sponsorship-roi). The
[event ROI calculator](https://eventiq.io/md/tools/event-roi-calculator) has a sponsorship preset for running it
with your own inputs, and the [event ROI guide](https://eventiq.io/md/event-roi) covers the method across event types.

## Where EventIQ fits

EventIQ replaces nothing. It connects on top of the platforms you already run:
registration and ticketing (Cvent, Zoom, Swapcard, StubHub), CRM (Salesforce,
HubSpot, GoHighLevel), and marketing (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads,
Mailchimp, Google Analytics). Platforms with an API outside that list are
connected on request.

Registrations and attendance stay separate records. Contacts are matched by exact
email, and every record keeps its result: matched, unmatched, or no email.
Salesforce deals, stages, and close dates link to an event through a campaign
relationship you confirm. Marketing spend sits by event and channel, with the
author of every change. Records sync on a schedule: Swapcard every 15 minutes,
Cvent every 30, Zoom every 2 hours, Salesforce every 4. The Event Dashboard and
the Portfolio Dashboard show them in one view, and a forecast is visible before
the event.

Swapcard booth visits, session views, survey answers, and questions arrive as
records per participant. Sponsor tiers, contract value, and fulfilment terms
stay in your sponsorship agreements.

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HTML version: https://eventiq.io/blog/event-sponsorship-packages