Going Solo

Going Solo Lausanne was my first experience ever dealing with sponsorships. And I can tell you, for somebody who is not (but not at all) a salesperson, it was a bit scary. Thankfully I had Lily to help me out.

One of the things I realised the first time around was that we didn’t have an offering which was really suitable for startups or companies with really small budgets. So, for Going Solo Leeds, we added a £250 package which was specially designed for startups or micro-companies who want to be present at Going Solo but might not be able to afford a full sponsorship package (they range from £1,250 to £4,000 — but before deciding that’s a lot, check what’s in them ;-)).

Here’s what the micro-sponsorship package offers you for £250:

• Logo on Going Solo Website
• Logo slide in rolling slideshow presenting sponsors and partners on a screen in the lobby
• 2 special sponsor discounts for the event (30% off ticket price) or 1 minute presentation/video on screen in lobby (rolling)

One nice thing about the Old Broadcasting House, our venue, is that the lobby contains large display screens which we can make available to sponsors.

One of the screens will have a rotating slideshow of all the logos of our partners and sponsors (like we display them all on the website, in the sidebar and on the sponsors page). Some packages allow a customised slide rather than just a logo (check out the sponsorship offerings for details on that).

So, that’s what the second item in the micro-sponsorship offering is. As for the third, well, it’s a choice between two special discounts and a minute of screen time. But actually, it’s way more than a minute of screen time, because it will repeat throughout the day.

A second screen will be used to show a series of trailers, demos, screencasts, films or even slideshows (!), put back-to-back, and which will be on repeat all day. We plan on selling maximum approximately 30 minutes of screen-time total so that the number of repeats throughout the day and the lunch break is worth it. So, the micro-sponsorship offering gives a choice between two discounts or one minute of this screentime.

Screentime is also available as an “add-on” to any other sponsorship (£100 for the first minute, £50 per extra minute — max 5 min. per sponsor). Our offerings also include display tables (nicer than booths because you get more interaction with the attendees), podcast interviews and blog posts, the possibility to sponsor lunch or distribute goodies. Download the PDF detailing our packages and get in touch if you’d like to talk about them (we’re open to being creative, so if you have other ideas, we want to hear them).

• E-mail: sponsorships at going-solo dot net
• Phone: call Stephanie Booth on +41786254474 (GMT+1, CET)

Of course, I haven’t yet come to the meat if you’re a company thinking of becoming a Going Solo sponsor: the audience of the conference is very focused and engaged. We saw in Lausanne that all the people present were freelancers or thinking of becoming freelancers (and no one who just came to “browse” or check us out but were not really our target audience). As a result, there was a lot of interaction, a lot of personal engagement, and a great atmosphere. Everybody was really there to look for practical solutions to real issues.

So, Going Solo is really a unique occasion to contact such an audience. Anyway… There’s more information about all that in the PDF you’ve probably already downloaded ;-).

The event is in just over a month, so now’s the time to talk!