By Mary Tucker | Senior Communications and Content Manager | IAEE
For exhibition organizers focused on space sales, there is a critical revenue stream that often remains underutilized – one that could significantly transform profitability while deepening exhibitor and visitor engagement. The question isn’t whether sponsorship works; it’s whether organizers are maximizing its full potential.
Organizers must strive to diversify revenue streams and create more value for all stakeholders. Sponsorship represents not just additional income, but an opportunity to enhance the overall event experience, strengthen relationships and build sustainable competitive advantages.
IAEE’s upcoming Executive Insights Hour will tackle this pressing opportunity head-on with a session titled, Is Sponsorship an Untapped Gold Mine? A Global Benchmark and Best Practices.
Leading this session is Matthias Tesi Baur, CEO and Founder of MBB Consulting Group, whose career spans over two decades of senior leadership roles with industry giants including Messe Frankfurt, Reed Exhibitions and UBM/Informa. As the former Chairman of the UFI Digital Innovation Committee for more than 12 years, Tesi brings both strategic vision and hands-on operational expertise to the table.
Tesi will go beyond theory to deliver practical, actionable intelligence drawn from a worldwide benchmark study of successful sponsorship programs. He will explore:
- Real-world examples of innovative sponsorship approaches that are working globally
- Data-driven insights showing how strategic sponsorship models boost profitability
- Best practices for strengthening both exhibitor and visitor engagement through sponsorship
- Practical frameworks you can implement immediately
While many organizers remain primarily focused on traditional space sales, global leaders in the exhibition space have discovered that strategic sponsorship can unlock significant revenue growth. This session will show you how to tap into this gold mine.
Here, Tesi shares his perspective on the evolving sponsorship landscape, offering a preview of the strategic insights and practical guidance that will be covered in-depth during his presentation.
Based on your research, what percentage of total event revenue should organizers realistically target from sponsorship, and what are the common barriers preventing most organizations from reaching that level?
Tesi: According to our benchmark, most show teams generate less than 5% of their revenue from sponsorships. Only about 15% of all shows achieve sponsorship revenue of up to 10%. Some best-practice examples reach around 15%, and we even identified one company exceeding the 20% mark.
I believe a show team should aim for 8-10% of revenue to come from sponsorship products, including digital offerings. The biggest barriers are often the lack of attention these products receive from show teams, limited understanding of the benefits sponsorship can provide to exhibitors, and inaccurate reporting of this revenue stream.
You’ve held senior positions at major exhibition companies and now consult with organizations of all sizes. What is the single biggest mistake you see exhibition organizers making when it comes to sponsorship strategy, and how can they avoid it?
Tesi: The answer is simple – the biggest mistake is not having a strategy. Many sponsorships are created through a “copy-and-paste” approach, replicating offers from other shows, such as banners, newsletters and similar standard options. Too often, there is no clear strategy to design products that align with exhibitors’ motivations to generate leads or increase visibility. In addition, target group–specific offerings for large, medium, and small exhibitors are frequently missing. Finally, many products are too complicated to understand or not properly integrated into the right sponsorship bundles.
Traditional sponsorship often focuses on branding opportunities like signage and logo placement. What innovative sponsorship models are emerging globally that go beyond these conventional approaches to create more value for sponsors and attendees alike?
Tesi: Products that include an element of exclusivity often perform very well. For example, we launched a global partner program at a show that was offered only to a select group of exhibitors meeting specific criteria. By limiting the availability of this product, we created a strong sense of urgency to book. Despite its premium pricing, the offer sold out in record time. Looking ahead, I believe the next wave of successful sponsorship products will be AI-related offerings, such as sponsored smart badges or interactive navigation systems.
How should organizers structure their teams and processes differently to maximize sponsorship revenue? Is this primarily a sales challenge, a product development challenge, or something else entirely?
Tesi: We have consistently achieved the best results when the entire team was involved in the product development phase. We have developed a framework that begins with an open creative process to generate ideas, followed by defining a set of KPIs to evaluate them. This process results in a shortlist of products that effectively serve all target groups and address exhibitors’ key motivations.
Once the products are defined and the overall strategy is established, it becomes the sales team’s responsibility to take them to market. Setting the right targets, incentives, and reporting structures is crucial to success. Equally important is the role of senior management. Customer-centric sales must go far beyond simply selling square footage. Engaging key accounts should be a top priority for senior show or even portfolio directors.
During your time as Chairman of the UFI Digital Innovation Committee, you witnessed significant technological transformation in the industry. How are the latest developments changing the sponsorship landscape, and what new opportunities does this create?
Tesi: Oh yes, I’ve seen a lot of changes! I still remember trying to sell a banner to an exhibitor back in 1999. He told me he would never buy one because the “internet” was just a trend that would disappear within a month. I couldn’t convince him otherwise at the time. Today, exhibitors are far more informed and know exactly what they want, which means that simply offering a product that provides visibility is no longer enough.
With AI, we now have countless opportunities to measure visibility and lead generation more accurately than ever before. One area our industry has yet to fully embrace is micro-payments. This hesitation likely stems from the fact that “penny invoices” don’t fit easily into our traditional culture and processes. Yet, if you look at how companies like Google and Facebook built their fortunes, it was precisely through the power of micro-payments. The future of micro-payment models in our industry is still unwritten, but I firmly believe there’s significant untapped potential in this philosophy, and that we’re currently leaving money on the table by not pursuing it.
For an exhibition organizer who is currently heavily dependent on space sales, what would be your recommended roadmap for the first 12 months of building out a more strategic sponsorship program? Where should they start, and what quick wins should they pursue?
Tesi: The first step I would take is to define the range of products you want to offer, ideally as a team exercise. I’ll present the framework for this process in the session. The second step is to identify your primary target group, the segment with the highest potential for uptake. This requires some show-specific analysis, but in many cases, it’s the group of exhibitors just below the key account level. Since most show teams have limited resources, it’s wise to focus on the most promising target group first. Finally, show teams need to set clear targets and establish effective reporting. If a team manages to achieve these three steps in the first year, they will have made significant progress toward doubling or even tripling their sponsorship revenue.
About the IAEE Executive Insights Hour
Delivered quarterly at the executive level, the Executive Insights Hour provides cutting-edge content, forward-looking perspectives, and actionable insights on the most critical topics impacting leadership and business today.
This invitation-only virtual session is crafted for senior executives who are ready to challenge conventional thinking and embrace innovative revenue strategies. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry’s most experienced strategists and discover how your organization can unlock the full potential of sponsorship.
