I’ve written a few times about various innovative approaches to events in recent years.  For instance, Australia’s Real Big Things take an airline approach to pricing, with cheaper tickets the earlier you book.  What’s more, the venue, and even speaker lineup are kept secret for as long as possible.

Or you have Space Market, who are a sharing economy platform where you can find quirky places to hold your event.

The site is primarily focusing on the niche end of the market, whether that’s for luxurious spaces or slightly quirkier venues.  There are currently around 800 of these spaces on offer on the site, providing space for anything from meetings to corporate getaways.

Getting sponsorship for events

A third venture are attempting to help smaller event managers get sponsorship and financial support.

The site, called HelloSponsor provides a platform to match up sponsors with small and medium sized events that often struggle to attract suitable backers.

Event managers can create a free profile for their event on the website, with brands doing likewise at their end.  The brands will also indicate the kind of events they wish to partner with, listing criteria such as location, subject matter, size and so on.

The website then works its magic and matches up sponsor and event based upon these criteria.  The brands can review the selection of events presented to them, before then reaching out to the organizers directly.

The site are hoping to eventually offer sponsors a detailed breakdown of how their investments perform.  This will include things such as the attendance at the event, the reach of any promotional literature and so on.

At the moment, the site is in beta phase so is invite only.  The developers are doing this to ensure a high quality community.  Early signs indicate that there is already a reasonable level of popularity, particularly in industries such as food and drink.

It looks like an interesting way for smaller events to get themselves noticed by a pool of potential sponsors eager to find communities of interest that they can engage with.  Certainly one to keep an eye on if you work in this field.