Pre-Forum Workshops

8:30am - 11:30am, Wednesday, November 6, 2024

These half-day workshops are a great start to the Western Sponsorship Congress® - Alberta Forum or a fantastic standalone professional development opportunity for those in the sponsorship realm. These workshops can be added to your forum registration for an additional $300 or as a standalone session for $600.

Registration information here. Please note due to capacity restrictions, seats are limited.

AI Unleashed: Mastering ChatGPT and Google Gemini for Sponsorship Success

Instructor: Leanne Calderwood

Join us for an immersive 3-hour workshop tailored for sponsorship professionals seeking to harness the power of AI with ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Designed for organizations that sell sponsorship, this hands-on session will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills to elevate your sponsorship proposals, cases for support, and copywriting. We’ll also look at the history and evolution of AI, explore the potential pitfalls for its use, and uncover best practices for creating effective primers and prompts. You will leave with valuable templates, personalized prompts, and a newfound confidence in your ability to utilize AI tools to enhance your sponsorship efforts.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Understand the Evolution and Application of AI in Sponsorship - Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of the history of AI, the development of ChatGPT and Google Gemini, and how these tools can be integrated into their sponsorship strategies.

  • Master AI-Driven Proposal Writing Techniques - Participants will learn best practices for creating primers and prompts, enabling them to craft more persuasive and effective sponsorship proposals and cases for support.

  • Develop Practical AI Skills for Sponsorship Success - Through hands-on activities, participants will develop the ability to use ChatGPT and Google Gemini to research potential sponsors, generate tailored content, and enhance their copywriting skills for various sponsorship-related communications.

Understanding Municipal Sponsorship Marketing Landscape Today and In the Future

Instructor: Brent Barootes

Understanding the municipal sponsorship landscape today is confusing. For some, there seems to be a lack of sponsors, while other communities are doing multiple naming rights announcements! What is the best way to secure a naming right? How do we manage red tape and typical slow municipal decision-making processes? There are so many questions and seem to be so few answers. This half-day workshop will look to provide you and your municipality with answers, discussion, and insights to better understand the landscape you are presently operating in.

The half-day workshop will focus on three key topics but will look to have open dialogue and discussion for the entire session. If the group wishes to focus on another area or we get sidetracked… that will be a good thing. The goal is to bring answers and clarity to you around managing this complicated landscape through both the session leader’s insights and the participation of the attendees.

  • Defining the landscape today both for municipalities and the overall sponsorship landscape – what is new, what is changing, why, and how can you manage it better?

  • How can we effectively and cost-efficiently generate more sponsorship revenue money – do we outsource sales, or keep sales in-house… how do we get the council on board and keep them in their own lane?

  • How do we build/develop relationships; build proposals that will work and renew opportunities?

These three topics are a starting point only. This highly interactive and engaged workshop will be facilitated to flow based on the registrants’ needs and how the topics flow. Be prepared to participate and be prepared to provide topics of interest in advance to the session leader!

Sponsorship 101

Instructor: Christi Cruz

This hands-on half-day workshop will be insightful for both those on the selling side of the sponsorship game as properties and rights holders as well as those on the buying side… the sponsors. This session will highlight the art, and science, of the ever evolving sponsorship game - it really is more than counting eyeballs and numbers!

  • Overview of the changing landscape of sponsorship, sponsorship marketing, social purpose, CSR and corporate philanthropy.

  • Share techniques to move your proposals from transactional to relational creating long term partnerships and higher success rates.

  • Review of the key elements of sponsorship, including the importance of brand and reputation, community engagement and ROI.

  • Clarify the role of the property and that of the sponsor.

  • Provide examples of leading sponsorship approaches.

This half-day workshop is a great start to the Western Sponsorship Congress® - Alberta Forum or a fantastic standalone professional development opportunity for those new to sponsorship (less than 2 years). It is also a great refresher for more seasoned industry professionals in our ever-changing and evolving industry. Sponsorship expert Christi Cruz, formerly of TELUS, will lead this interactive session.

Do you have a newish team or staff that has transitioned into a sponsorship role? Or part-time staff that have sponsorship as one of their many duties? This bootcamp will deliver practical and easy to implement ideas that will create terrific ROI and energize your team. A more experienced delegate will also benefit by refreshing their knowledge and updating their toolkit. A newer industry professional will learn terminology, how to focus their efforts and how to best utilize sponsorship tools and develop their skills.