suggestions regarding sponsorship of techfest

[DEP]

hi CEans,

i am a 2nd year student and trying my best to get some good sponsorship for my colleges upcoming tech-fest. i dont have any contacts or any such thing in any software firm or any such company and probably that is why i havent got any positive response from anywhere.
So if you guys have anything to advice or suggest me to approach a company just like that , then please do.

i really need some real good tips.

[The_Big_K]

Best person to answer your query is our own CEan-KGV. KGV has organized lot of events in his college and can surely help you with this.

KGV, what suggestions do you have for DEP?

-The Big K-
ps: Moving the thread to 'General Help' section

[KGV]

Hi DEP,
I must say that it is a difficult job to get sponsorship but at the same time it teaches you a lot. Believe me the satisfaction that you get after you bag a sponsorship is something which can not be explained. Anyway here are some of the tips that I can offer. These are based on my experience.
1. Remember you will get a lot of rejections, it is not the number of rejections that matters but the number of successfull deals that matter in the end.
2. Have a good structured approach towards tapping the sponsors, make sure that the same sponsor is not approached twice by two different groups it reflects poorly on the sponsorship seeker's part.
3. If you can afford to have some information (about your festival) printed get it done. Printed information always adds credibility.
4. Have the rates for the sponsorship predecided and get a rate card printed.
5. When you approach the sponsor please highlight what benefits he stands to get if he goes ahead with sponsoring the event. A sponsor hardly cares about how good the level of participants is and all that unless he is to make some gains.
6. You must try to convince the sponsor about the success of the deal. Give him the facts and figures to support your argument.
7. Try to approach such sponsors first who are related to the technical field.
8. If possible create a sponsorship brochure which has the a.details of your college b. details of the techfest i.e. the competetions, data of the previous year's participation , list of previous sponsors (if any) etc. (if possible include photographs of the last year's festival as well) c. the rate card for sponsorship and d. the offerings that you make (i.e. banners , coverage in newspapers , name on website etc.). You can have an e-copy of this brochure and mail it to different corporates.
9.Try to get in contact with your seniors who have passed out and ask them whether they can help you with any contacts. This is the best way to build contacts. Your seniors are the ambassedors of your college in their company and they can help you a lot. This will also help you as personal contacts are always good.
10.Never say die. Keep trying.

Do let me know if you want anything else. I hope I have answered what you wanted.
Regards,
-KGV

[The_Big_K]

Very well said KGV!

DEP, I hope that should help you in your task. Do post your comments/ thoughts on the same.

-The Big K-

[DEP]

Originally Posted by KGV

Hi DEP,
I must say that it is a difficult job to get sponsorship but at the same time it teaches you a lot. Believe me the satisfaction that you get after you bag a sponsorship is something which can not be explained. Anyway here are some of the tips that I can offer. These are based on my experience.
1. Remember you will get a lot of rejections, it is not the number of rejections that matters but the number of successfull deals that matter in the end.
2. Have a good structured approach towards tapping the sponsors, make sure that the same sponsor is not approached twice by two different groups it reflects poorly on the sponsorship seeker's part.
3. If you can afford to have some information (about your festival) printed get it done. Printed information always adds credibility.
4. Have the rates for the sponsorship predecided and get a rate card printed.
5. When you approach the sponsor please highlight what benefits he stands to get if he goes ahead with sponsoring the event. A sponsor hardly cares about how good the level of participants is and all that unless he is to make some gains.
6. You must try to convince the sponsor about the success of the deal. Give him the facts and figures to support your argument.
7. Try to approach such sponsors first who are related to the technical field.
8. If possible create a sponsorship brochure which has the a.details of your college b. details of the techfest i.e. the competetions, data of the previous year's participation , list of previous sponsors (if any) etc. (if possible include photographs of the last year's festival as well) c. the rate card for sponsorship and d. the offerings that you make (i.e. banners , coverage in newspapers , name on website etc.). You can have an e-copy of this brochure and mail it to different corporates.
9.Try to get in contact with your seniors who have passed out and ask them whether they can help you with any contacts. This is the best way to build contacts. Your seniors are the ambassedors of your college in their company and they can help you a lot. This will also help you as personal contacts are always good.
10.Never say die. Keep trying.

Do let me know if you want anything else. I hope I have answered what you wanted.
Regards,
-KGV

hey KVG,thanks a ton
one more ques ??
how important is it in your view to have some sort of contact to approach a company for the sponsorship thing??

[The_Big_K]

Originally Posted by DEP

hey KVG,thanks a ton
one more ques ??
how important is it in your view to have some sort of contact to approach a company for the sponsorship thing??

Allow me to handle this. It would help a lot if you approach through the seniors who are working with the company. They should help you get your job done.

Usually, the HR folks will listen to the insiders. If you can get your seniors to convince the HR of any company for sponsorship, your job is simplified.

KGV, comments?

-The Big K-

[mayurpathak]

HI DEP,
I may be a bit late in responding to this post. But I hope my inputs will be useful.

First, understand that any company will not sponsor an event unless they know about your college and its reputation in the market. So you must carry all the relevant college brochures with you. If possible, also carry references from college professors.

Second, you have to portray a distinct value to the sponsorer. Every company will have different motives and they will not put money unless they find a benefit out of it. So as Kartik said, its good to have a documented portfolio of your events. Its also advisable that you carry the past data of your college functions, like how many competitions were organised, how many students participated and what was the visibility for past sponsorers.

Third, Its not compulsory, but helpful to have an existing contact in the company. If you know some one, use him/her.

Fourth, HR is the wrong department to contact. Agreed that they will have all the time in the world to listen to you. But may not give you sponserships. You should instead target the PR or the corporate communications department. These are the guys responsible for sponsorships and advertisements.

Fifth and most important, dont lose hope. If you don't quit, don't cheat, and don't run home when trouble arrives, you can only win.

I think every thing else is covered. Best of luck!

[DEP]

hi KGV,mayurpathak && biggie,

firstly i would like to thank you all for your genuine concern.
secondly, i apologise for my long absence but was actually preoccupied with the sponsorship thing.
now i would like to elucidate my experience.

we(me with five friends) went to RELIANCE comunication. I didnt have any direct contact. WE took along a presentation which included the pictures of previous year's fest and our college campus. all the details of our college.
we had the hardcopies of all the necessary details related to the fest viz. the incentives we had to offer,the publicity we would give them etc.

as i told that we didnt have any approach or contacts so initially they were not even ready to even meet us but after we explained our purpose of coming, a marketing guy agreed to meet us. he said thad he had no time for any presentations etc and asked us to handover a hardcopy of the sponsorship details ,which we did. he assured us a feedback within 2 days.
after 2 days , i called him up and got to know that he had forwarded the proposal to the mamagement who would take the decision and said that now he himself would give me call.

there was no response from his side and i called him up after 4 days.the guy said that since there wasnt a response from the management so the deal was over from his side.

regards, DEP

[him_chopra]

hi everybody
this is him_chopra
i want to know the name of some companies which usually sponsor the technical fest of engineering colleges
please reply asap.
as i have to orgnise a fest in near future.

[The_Big_K]

Originally Posted by him_chopra

hi everybody
this is him_chopra
i want to know the name of some companies which usually sponsor the technical fest of engineering colleges
please reply asap.
as i have to orgnise a fest in near future.

I'll give you a generic answer. Any company will sponsor the tech-fest if it thinks that sponsoring will be a good investment. If you can convince the company how it will be benefited by sponsoring the techfest, they'll happily give you money.

Go to AirTel and tell them that they can advertise their new 'Friendship Freedom' plan among a group of highly talented / educated engineering folks, they'll be happy to sponsor an event.

There are however several factors associated with it. What kind of sponsorship are you expecting? The bigger the company, the bigger the event you should ask sponsorship for.

Let us know if you have any specific questions!

All the best and do not forget to spread the word about CE in your techfest