Indie Founder #315 - How to Sponsor a Conference with your Indie Maker Business
Have you ever sponsored a conference to grow your business? In this episode, I, an indie maker, and my co-founder Joao, dive into our experience sponsoring a conference in Berlin for our company, Podsqueeze. We were initially worried about being scammed, but we ended up sealing a sponsorship deal for $700. I chat about the perks of attending such events, like networking and potential client acquisition. However, we also faced challenges, like feeling uncomfortable with aggressive self-promotion. Despite the setbacks, we made valuable connections. Tune in as I reflect on the importance of having an official presence and the value of networking at conferences.
Links
Timetsamps
Introduction to sponsoring a conference (00:01:30)
The host explains why he and Joao decided to sponsor a conference in Berlin and the importance of marketing.
Finding a conference to sponsor (00:02:48)
The host discusses the difficulty of finding affordable conferences to sponsor and how they discovered Pod Fest Berlin.
Preparing for the conference (00:09:15)
The host talks about their preparations for the conference, including designing t-shirts and getting flyers and banners ready.
The organization of the event (00:12:09)
The speaker discusses the lack of effort in organizing the event and the disappointment of not having many podcasting-related activities.
Meeting other sponsors (00:13:07)
The speaker talks about meeting the other sponsors of the conference, including representatives from Prodigy and McKee.
Feeling ignored and demotivated (00:17:48)
The speaker shares their frustration with being ignored by some podcasters and feeling demotivated after a long day of networking.
Distributing the Flyers (00:21:33)
The host talks about his experience distributing flyers at the conference and the mixed reactions he received from people.
Creating an Official Pod Squeeze Booth (00:22:18)
The host describes how they set up a table with their laptop and flyers to create an official booth for Pod Squeeze, which changed the way people perceived them.
Exploring Partnerships (00:23:12)
The host discusses their efforts to close partnerships with other companies, including discussing a potential API integration with Podigee and exploring a collaboration with Mackie for a giveaway.