What to do when your event attendance drops from medium to small and you suspect you can’t cover the cost of your venue?
That’s exactly what happened to a conference planner recently. But, by reaching out to his industry contacts, he found an alternative that created a win-win out of a losing money situation.
Here’s how the scenario played out:
Once the planner realized the attendance for the event was not coming close to paying for the high-end venue, he met with an industry friend and asked if his friend’s prominent Internet company could sponsor the conference to help defray the costs.
The outcome was unexpected, yet smart.
While the Internet company did not offer sponsorship to help bail out the conference, what it did offer was to host the conference for free in its company training space. The organizer, perhaps, lost his deposit at the venue, but didn’t lose his shirt in an under-attended conference. The host company gained greater exposure at an industry conference with attendees that could lead to future potential hires.
This was a shining example of friends and a business community helping each other out and everyone benefiting, including the attendees.
