For conference organizers courting sponsors
Sponsor WhyAn honest value story for one sponsor segment, with proof under every claim.
Pick one sponsor segment, enter what that prospect told you it needs, the audience evidence and track record you hold and what the event will not offer, and get - free in your browser, in the order the skill sets - the honesty gate written first, the lead value category with the co-lead discovery picked, every claimed category checked against an activity in the program, and the six-part jobs-to-be-done statement with a proof point under every claim; then the value story for the prospectus and the discovery questions for the next call. One segment at a time; the honesty gate before the offer; pipeline only at vendor-run events. It never invents an audience number, a return rate, a sponsor quote, a lead count or an outcome, flags a first edition and uses the skill's substitutes, labels every number of its own self-set, and hands packaging and prices to the prospectus and pricing work.
The event free
A plan, never audience evidence - the story quotes only the evidence table.
Blank means today.
The interview, one segment free
The skill's eleven questions, word for word
- Which pole does the event sit on: community-run (independent, CFP-driven, sponsors as cost recovery) or vendor/foundation-run (vendor-owned, marketing budget, sponsors as pipeline)? This bounds which value categories can honestly be promised - settle it before drafting any benefit claim.
- Which sponsor segment is this proposition for, one at a time: product-feedback buyer (DevRel/developer-advocate titles), recruiting buyer (talent-acquisition/HR titles), brand buyer (marketing/PR titles), or community-member sponsor (a practitioner or founder inside the community)? Segment taxonomy and title signals: references/sponsor-segment-jtbd-worksheets.md.
- What does this specific partner actually need from the event? Ask before proposing; many sponsors cannot name it unprompted. Probe each typical need and map it onto a value category below: employer brand or hiring (recruiting), selling to the audience (pipeline at the vendor pole only; at the community pole, brand exposure plus attendee-chosen product conversations), product feedback (product feedback), brand awareness (brand exposure), community goodwill (community goodwill). A need no category can carry honestly goes on the not-offered list.
- What audience evidence exists: aggregate role/seniority/company-size mix, geography, from past editions or registration forms? Numbers, not impressions. ("What audience will attend?" - first of the three questions sponsors always ask, DevOpsDays guide.)
- What track record exists: editions run, returning-sponsor rate, a real post-event sponsor report? A first edition has none - flag it and use the substitutes in the proof-point reference, never invented figures.
- What does this segment do today without the event - a booth at a bigger vendor conference, job-board ads, a brand campaign, cold outreach to the same audience? The status quo is what makes the event's value legible instead of assumed.
- When must sponsorship revenue close? (A near deadline promotes categories that pay off on-site - recruiting conversations, product feedback - over the compounding ones.)
- Is this sponsor relationship a one-off sale or a compounding multi-edition asset? (A compounding mandate promotes the slow categories: brand, community goodwill.)
- What is the effort ceiling for evidence collection: data already held, survey capacity, organizer hours available?
- Which specific sponsor or tier is this proposition being drafted for, and does that prospect's own diligence checklist ask about buying influence or seniority mix?
- What is this segment's current hiring pressure: are the target companies recruiting tech staff now, holding, or cutting? Sponsors mostly pay to recruit or to sell to tech teams, and recruiting sponsors leave first when hiring slows. A cooling market demotes recruiting as co-lead and promotes staff-free visibility. Signals to check: references/value-category-evidence.md.
Q4 is the evidence table and Q5 the track record in card 3; the claims, the program and the honesty gate are in card 4.
The audience evidence and the track record free
Numbers, not impressions: role, seniority and company-size mix, geography, from past editions or registration forms. A row with no source or no date never reaches the story. At a first edition, label any figure expected and give its basis.
The honesty gate, the program and the claims free
The published pattern: no attendee lists, no purchased slots - said before any package. Put any need no category can carry honestly here.
A hiring corner for recruiting, a hands-on feedback session for product feedback, a staffed demo space attendees opt into for selling. Sponsor activities stay outside the CFP program.
Instruments: returning-sponsor rate, program-content ratio, registration-form demographics, sponsor testimonials, post-event sponsor report, deep attendee survey - or, at a first edition, organizers' track record, community size and engagement, named commitment.
The value case, worked out free
What the page flags
The pole and the honesty gate - what this event will not offer, first
Discovery - the prospect's need, in its own words
The value-category lead - re-ranked, deleted rungs struck
Offer-activity coherence - an activity for every claimed category
The six-part statement, one segment
A proof point under every claim
Audience evidence and the track record
The value-equation check, after drafting, and buying influence
Ask on the next call - the discovery probes for this segment
The files free
The six-part statement as the page holds it, the proof-point inventory and the coherence table as spreadsheets, and everything the page worked out.
The value case metered
Pricing as soon as the session is ready...
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Caveats
The page's check of this reply
Saved value cases
How it works - and what is sourced
The order is the skill's: fix the pole and one segment; run discovery with the prospect and write its need in its own words; write the honesty gate - what the event will not offer - before what it will, deleting unavailable categories now; choose the lead category, with the need found in discovery picking the co-lead; check the program carries an activity for every category claimed; fill the six-part template for this one segment; attach a proof point to every How claim, labelled evidenced or aspirational; score the draft with the value equation; validate it section by section; hand the statement and the proof-point inventory to the prospectus and pricing work.
Sourced from the skill and its references: the eleven questions, the pole rules, the segment worksheets and title signals, the value-category and proof-instrument menus with their rankings, promotions and deletions, the first-edition substitutes, the four value-equation levers and the buying-influence promotion. The page's own: the pipeline buyer label for the vendor pole, and these self-set lines, said wherever used - a revenue close date under 60 days away is near, a 40-word summary cap and at most 5 caveats. Never set at all: an audience figure, a return or conversion rate, an ROI figure, a lead count, a sponsor quote.