Tabling Sucks Eggs, Here are 3 Ways to Engage Your Event Sponsors Onsite Instead.

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Jun 9

Published: June 2026

Sponsorships are the one area of events that seem to have not evolved at conferences, which leaves many brands time and time again regretful they got involved due to minimal ROI.

The problem isn't the swag – well it could be – but in reality, it's that sponsorships onsite feel forced; dropped down in the middle of the room, to “table” and wait for their users or hopefuls to engage.

So why do events continually encourage this outdated, no-conversion metric?

It's because event sponsorships are considered one and done. It's not a partnership. It's only a means to reduce overhead costs, and frankly brag that X brand was onsite. Some also use this as a way to boost ticket sales, but I'll tell ya, I've never once decided to go to an event because a brand rep might be there.

Another reason, sponsors are so used to tabling, that promising a 6ft table in a main traffic area & logos on signage as their primary deliverable, is easy. Events never add work to increase ROI for sponsors, and for some reason, brands keep being OK with it (until they leave & don't return).

So if you're thinking about hosting an event and you want sponsors to help cover costs, here are a few ideas that don't involve tabling and have big impact for both sponsors and attendees. Spoiler: it's going to add a little more work to the plate, but 10/10 worth it.

#1 Sponsored Food/meals

(level: easy)

From my experience, sponsors love funding meals – especially brands who have a personable, fun team. Depending on the agenda of your event, you have ample opportunity for them to do so between breakfast, lunch, dinner, and welcome/closing parties. If you're selling a VIP ticket, have them sponsor the VIP cocktail hour.

This sponsorship type can go two-ways,

Put signage up around the area promoting the brand, e.g. the Lulu Coffee Lounge. This makes the sponsorship a destination in the agenda, onsite, and guarantees brand recognition. I would encourage you to only allow presenting or high-ticket sponsors this option.
Brand the food/meal around the sponsor. We pitched Empire Flippers recently the idea of a pancake breakfast with their logo stamped on the hotcakes. Then, as a take-home gift, a small bottle of Canadian maple syrup because that's where they are headquartered. Genius.

I also like to use sponsored meals as a fallback for brands who want to sponsor but don't have a large budget. For $2,500, they can pay for ~100 people's breakfast for 2 days.

Additionally, if the brand has enough users at the event itself, they could do a private meal for those attendees only. Flodesk did this at Create & Cultivate Festival last year, and it was so nice to have dinner to meet fellow users! I wish more brands did this honestly. It's data for the brand to have dedicated time to hear from their users, and for users to feel important from a platform they invest in & use regularly.

#2 Onsite Activation

(level: medium)

Instead of tabling, work with the sponsor to create an onsite activation experience that matches the branding of the event.

For instance, Ops Ahoy is obviously very nautical. We're renting the historic Moshulu ship, so why not really have fun with it? I personally use Relay Bank, and they are focused on Profit First, which includes high-interest savings accounts. In pitching them to sponsor Ops Ahoy, I thought how cool would it be to create a treasure hunt activation. Attendees could find “gold” coins hidden around the ship, that lead to a dollar amount they could earn by opening an account at Relay. Think a $100 bonus. It's very on-brand for the company, and the event.

Plus this is an entire campaign Relay can use for their social channels. Which leads too…

#3 Dedicated Campaign Onsite

(level: medium-hard)

You definitely have to make sure resources exist for this one, but it's a no-brainer to allow sponsors to leave your event with useable media. No, not promising some photos from the photographer, but a fully-developed campaign they can use evergreen.

Like the example in #2, Relay recently did an entire Pickleball campaign on Linkedin, where several influencers received a PR box of pickleball items branded by Relay. It was viral for a couple days. But what the heck does that have to do with banking? Nothing.

Instead, working WITH the brand to come up with a dedicated campaign that pushes their brand forward, makes more sense.

For instance, I'm actively pitching Take a Chef for a team retreat I'm producing. Take a Chef is a platform to hire a private chef for any event, yet in doing my research, they have ZERO content about team retreats. Fun fact: it's cheaper and a better experience to hire a private chef for a group of 30 than doing a massive reservation/buyout at a restaurant.

So I pitched them an onsite campaign where we would create multiple videos from the process of using the platform (ahead of the event), to breakfast, lunch, and dinner campaigns centered around meals for retreats to unlock this huge customer opportunity.

As an event host, yes sponsorship money is important – and crucial at times to help with costs. However, the more you treat the sponsor as an actual partner, understanding their goals & use them to your advantage to create fun experiences for your attendees, the better it will be. And frankly, the more money you'll receive.

On the flip side, aside from idea #1 above, the rest take time & involvement to be successful, and some brands just don't have the interest or resources to make it happen. I've produced several events where that happened. In the initial pitch, all of these amazing ideas flow, but then time flies by, and the brand chooses the easier route of just printing throwaway merch to at least have something onsite.

I encourage you (or if we work together I'll do it) to discourage your partners from doing this. You have to remember, your event is not their only one this month or year.

If you want a cool activation, you have to do the work to make it happen.

The plus side? You get to reap all of the bragging rights! Let's give our attendees & sponsors something to remember, and kill tabling forever.