Community, Conferences
8

Should ChurchCrunch Sponsor Conferences This Year? Are You?

Posted by John Saddington on Jan 19, 2009

conference_sponsorship

As the “budget” is being evaluated and ironed out for the FY09 here at the humble ChurchCrunch offices I’ve begun to consider some of the typical ways that businesses spend their marketing monies. Conferences and Sponsorship of Conferences is one of them.

Now, just for clarification, my “budget” at this point is a big fat $0.00. My “offices” is a corner spot in my rented condo next to my daughter’s drawing desk.

So, the next few thoughts are all theory and smoke. But humor me, ok?

ReadWriteWeb has a great piece on their considerations for sponsorship this year. The biggest concern is ROI (Return on Investment). Can the cost of travel, entry fees, materials, preparation, etc give a worth while return?

I’m not sure at this time and certainly the fact that I couldn’t afford it anyway is a big *ahem* roadblock. But, if I had a few greebacks I’m still not sure if I’d do it.

Are you (or your organization) sponsoring conferences this year?  What are your biggest concerns and thoughts?

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John Saddington

John is the Chief Editor @ The 8BIT Network and Senior Blog Junkie here at ChurchCrunch.He enjoys Triple-Tall Americanos, developing Wordpress Themes, and a few other Random Things.

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8 Responses to “Should ChurchCrunch Sponsor Conferences This Year? Are You?”

  1. Daniel_Berman
    Monday, January 19, 2009 at 5:55 pm

    ROI is a great point, not only for you but for potential attendees. Social gatherings are great, but a definite goal and plan to accomplish something concrete by the end of the conference, ultimately produces more value.

    Talk is cheap, enabling people to fulfill distinct needs is priceless.

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 7:22 am

      dude, right on. talk is freaking cheap.

      i've been to a number of the “big” conferences. i came away pretty loaded with useless garbage and an ear full of nothing.

      Reply
  2. Ancoti
    Monday, January 19, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    Given the emphasis on social networking via the web, a conference that was just about that would be, well, hypocritical.
    If you have the meat to serve with the milk, then a conference is in order. If you do no thave the bread to serve the meat, can you do this conference in an on line way that could reduce out of pocket fees and enhance ROI (as a CPA and ex-CFO, I love when you talk like this), allowing a modest conference fee to cover costs?

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 7:21 am

      yum. i'm always thinking “business”… or at least i try. online perhaps… but getting 1:1 in the real has been extremely helpful.

      i think a lot of conferences are thinking about their future.. and how online is changing it quickly. the economy too. duh… :)

      Reply
  3. Jim
    Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 12:48 am

    readwriteweb..hmm sounds familiar. we are doing most of our conferences at churches rather than hosting our own. we are also looking to do more live feed for folks who cannot attend.

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 7:18 am

      live feeds. nice. that's awesome.

      Reply
  4. mountainbn
    Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 1:49 am

    Great question. I think I commented on this topic a few days ago. Our Non-profit has been seeing the same thing, no surprise and we've tried to take everything online. Video, multicast etc. The issue is the connectedness, the face time. Just like the experience Rhett had spending time with you for 2 weeks, there's some value in that close proximity to one another. I wonder if small regional "thought conferences" or something short, simple and intentional wouldn't work.

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 7:16 am

      they would! the tech conference we had in dallas was awesome… i think a lot of people are moving towards that. thanks for your thoughts and joining in the convo!

      Reply