The Sponsors feature is the best way to promote your sponsors and exhibitors to attendees. Creating rich sponsor profiles with custom images, embedded videos and PDFs, custom call-to-action buttons, and even chat is easy! There's a lot to learn in this article, and we encourage you to explore all the available customizations. Your sponsor base will thank you for the return on investment. 🙏

Screenshot of a Sponsors feature in the Web App.

This article shows you how to set up and use the Sponsors feature, and the process is the same for the Exhibitors feature, too. 🙌

Contents

Before you start...

Know what's possible

Selling sponsorships can be as simple as putting a sponsor logo in images in your event and then collecting a flat fee from each one, though only doing that could be a huge missed opportunity.

Familiarize yourself with all of the opportunities Webex Events provides by reading our article about Showcasing Sponsors in Your Event App. The sample sponsorship tiers at the end of the article are an amazing template for your own sponsorship strategy. 😍

After building out sponsor profiles, consider showcasing them on your event's website to provide even more exposure for your sponsors. To learn how to embed your sponsor list into your website, read our article about embedding Event App content with widgets.

Note that sponsor profiles act as a "landing page" or information hub for each sponsor and don't grant sponsor staff access to the Event App. If you want sponsor staff to interact with attendees in the Event App, add an attendee profile for each staff member, or have them register for the event using a hidden free ticket and access code.

Gather resources

After you've formed a plan, gather information and resources from your sponsors. This collateral will help you build awesome sponsor experiences. Which resources you collect from each sponsor may depend on what tier of sponsorship they're providing to the event. Examples of resources include links, PDFs, icons and booth images, official descriptions, and other text copy.

When you've gathered all the necessary information, start building the Sponsors feature!

Add the feature

In your Event's navigation bar under 'Event App' (or 'Community' in a Community), click Features, then click Add Features.

Screenshot showing the process just described.

In the modal that appears, search for the feature, click Add, then close the modal.

💡 Keep in mind, adding the Sponsors or Exhibitors features multiple times is another way to highlight different tiers of sponsors or exhibitors.

Edit settings

Before you start adding sponsor profiles, customize the feature settings. In your Event navigation bar under 'Event App', click Features, then click Sponsors. On the Sponsors page, click the Settings (⚙️) icon and customize the following:

Screenshot of the steps just described.
  • Feature Name - The label that appears to attendees in the feature list.

  • Icon - Select one of 300,000+ icons, or upload your own custom icon.

  • Visible To - Restrict the feature to only certain Groups.

  • Ratings & Reviews - Control if and how attendees can rate and review sponsor profiles. Ratings & Reviews appear on the Metrics page and in the Metrics export.

  • View - Choose between Grid View and List View. For the best sponsorship opportunities, we recommend Grid View, which lets you embed content with the Content Provider option and enable Chat as described later in this article.

When you're done adjusting the settings, click Save Changes. Now let's start adding some profiles!

Add sponsor profiles

On the Sponsors page, either click the New Item button, or click the Categories tab to set up categories for different types of sponsors.

Screenshot of the New Item button and Categories tab on the Sponsors page.

Add categories

Categories are ways to let you classify different types of sponsors. Applying a category to a sponsor adds the name of the category below the sponsor's name in the list and lets attendees filter them by category. If you're going to use categories, it's best to set them up before adding sponsor profiles. Read our Create Categories for Feature Items article for complete instructions.

Screenshot showing the Categories page for a feature.

Add profiles

Now let's build a great sponsor profile. From the 'Items' tab, click New Item.

Screenshot showing the process just described.

💡 Keep in mind, importing items is the quickest way to add a lot of information. Read our article about exporting and importing feature content to learn how importing works.

In the modal that appears, fill in the following information:

Screenshot of the New Item modal.
  • Icon - Click Upload Image to upload a custom icon, or click Select Icon to choose one from our icon library. Refer to our Image Dimensions Quick Reference article for dimension and file type requirements.

  • Name (required) - The sponsor's official name that appears in the Event App.

  • Label/Subtitle - An additional line of text that appears under the sponsor name. This could be the company tagline or a little more information about them.

  • Location - Select a Map location where in-person attendees can find a sponsor booth.

  • Category - Select the category the sponsor belongs to. Attendees can use categories to filter sponsors. They're also a great way to highlight sponsors at a higher sponsorship tier.

  • Description - Say more about your sponsor! There are some basic text formatting options, along with options to insert hyperlinks, images, and even animated GIFs. 🙌

  • Booth Size/Booth Cover - If you select Small, the sponsor profile won't have a cover image. If you select Medium or Large, click Upload Image and follow the prompts in the uploader. Refer to our Image Dimensions Quick Reference for dimension and file type requirements. The Booth Cover image appears above each sponsor in the Sponsors list.

    Screenshot of the Booth Size, Booth Cover, and Content Provider sections of the modal.

    💡 Keep in mind, the Booth Cover image only appears in the Web App, not the Mobile App.

  • Content Provider - Upload a PDF file, use Video on Demand content, enter a URL to a website, or link to content hosted on a variety of popular sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, and Facebook. As long as the content is embeddable, it appears inside the sponsor profile in the Web App. Mobile App users can tap a button that lets them access the content.

  • Attendee Calls to Action - Enter a Point of Contact Email address so attendees can request follow-up from a sponsor with the click of a button. Consider entering a Meeting URL that lets attendees click or tap a button to book a meeting with the sponsor through a site like Calendly. If the link content is embeddable, uncheck the 'Open link in external browser' box so that it opens inside your Event App's web version instead of in a new tab. Web content always opens in Mobile App users' default browsers. Read our article about Pass Data to URL to learn more about that feature.

    Screenshot of the Attendee Calls to Action section of the modal.
  • Add Internal Links - Link the sponsor profile to other features in your Event App, such as Sessions, Live Stream features, and more. Refer to our Internal Links article for a full list of items that use Internal Links.

    Screenshot of the Add Internal Links section of the modal.
  • Add External Links - Enter multiple Website URLs, phone numbers, or email addresses related to the sponsor. Simply select the Link Type, enter a Link Name, and supply the number, email, or URL. Click Add New Item to insert more External Links. If you enter a URL and uncheck 'Open link in external browser', test to make sure the site is embeddable. Learn more about the Pass Data to URL option.

    Screenshot of the Add External Links, Attendee Engagement, and Attachments sections of the modal.
  • Attendee Engagement (Chat) - Chat is a great way for attendees to engage with sponsors and exhibitors. If you enable chat, make sure that at least one representative from the sponsor has an attendee profile in the Event App so they can respond to attendee chats.

  • Attachments - Click Upload Attachment(s) and follow the prompts in the uploader to upload PDF, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF files. After you've uploaded files, click the Settings (⚙️) icon next to an item to rename or delete it.

    Screenshot of the attachments section of the modal.

When you finish crafting the sponsor profile, click Save Changes.

Repeat the steps outlined above until you've added all the sponsor profiles you need. If you have several, remember that you can import multiple items at once.

Manage sponsors

After you've added categories and sponsors, there are several ways to manage each.

  • Filter by Categories (Items only)

  • Search

  • Drag and drop to reorder

  • Edit or Delete

  • Multi-select and:

    • Export

    • Assign to Category (Items only)

    • Delete

Screenshots showing the multi-select menu, the item menu, and rearranging items.

That was a lot of information, and we hope by now you're excited by all the wonderful possibilities. 🤩

Sponsors and Exhibitors in practice

Two stacked screenshots of two sponsor profiles in the Web App.

We know there's nothing quite like experiencing products in action, so feel free to schedule a demo, or reach out to your Webex Events contact for a personalized tour of a Sponsors feature.

Metrics

We make it easy for you and your sponsors to find out how attendees are interacting with content, down to individual attendees. Hello, ROI! 😎

On your Event App's Metrics tab, scroll down to the Feature Comparison section and click the Sponsors or Exhibitors feature.

Screenshot of the Sponsors tab of the feature comparison chart on the Metrics tab.

This shows counts for:

  • Clicks

  • Chat

  • Favorited

  • Notes Taken

  • Requested Follow Up

  • Requested Meetings

  • Attachment Clicks

  • External Link Clicks

  • Internal Link Clicks

  • Avg. Rating

To download a spreadsheet with much more granular metrics, click the Export Report button, then click Metrics. If you want to download all the messages for each sponsor, click the Chats option. For a complete overview of what's included in these exports, refer to our Event App and Community Metrics article. Edit the spreadsheet down to each sponsor's metrics and then email them all that data goodness. 💾

Screenshot of the Export Report menu on the Event App Metrics page.

Lastly, use the Get Shareable Link button to simply send the whole Metrics page to your Sponsors. Think carefully before you do this — some sponsors might not want other organizations to have access to their metrics and chats. 🔒

Screenshot of the Get Shareable Link modal.

That was a lot of reading, so congratulations on making it this far! You get a cookie. 🍪 Now, why not go learn how to add Speakers to your Event App? It's very similar to adding sponsors, and you're already an expert at that. 😉

Questions? Chat Us or Email support@socio.events

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