5.3.a     General Notes:

The Business Partner mix is typically 60% national companies and 40% local companies. The attendance of Business Partners has been inclining steadily over the past few years.  Currently, the breakdown is about 50% BP's and 50% institution representatives.  Key considerations for BP's are the amount of face-to-face time with delegates, location of booth in Exhibit Hall, profile of sponsorship event, and ensuring longstanding Business Partners are provided with prime or first choice of opportunities.  It is recommended that APPA and ERAPPA member Business Partners should be given a two week advance period of first selection opportunities for sponsorship and booth location.  A solid sales strategy is required to ensure sponsorship and booth targets are met.  ERAPPA will provide the HC with a list of the previous Annual Meeting Business Partners, a current ERAPPA mailing list of all BP members and a national mailing list of all current APPA BP's.  The HC is encouraged to add local BP's to their mailing list as well.

5.3.b     Invitation to Business Partners:

An invitation to Business Partners (BP's) can go out as early as the preceding Annual Meeting.  It is a good idea to start promoting Business Partner sales at the preceding Annual Meeting.  Refer to Appendix N - Sample Invitation to Business Partnersfor examples.  In some years past, the Invitation to Business Partners has been made available in hard copy at the preceding Annual Meeting HC booth and available via the HC website around the time of the preceding Annual Meeting.  The communication plan may include e-mail and/or mail as the sales strategy dictates.  Many BP's will want to include the sponsorship opportunities in their annual budgets, many of which are set early in the calendar year.  Business Partner solicitation should begin no later than January.  

5.3.c     Registration Options & Sponsorship Benefits:

Business partners will want to sign up for exhibit booths for next year's Annual Meeting at the current Annual Meeting.  Interest in sponsorship opportunities will also be generated.  The sooner the registration options & sponsorship benefits are established, including the Exhibit Hall floor plan, the better.  The sales strategy is also key to the success of meeting Exhibit and sponsorship targets.  Refer to Appendix O - Historical Business Partner Marketing Strategy Summaryfor past sales strategies.

Marketing strategies can also included:

•·         Visit every single booth at the previous Annual Meeting and get business cards.

•·         Have a Business Partner/Sponsorship Form with you at the meeting prior to yours, including the room layout.  Many will sign up on the spot.

•·         Market at other conferences, such as annual APPA conference & Chapter conferences, other professional association trade show floors

•·         Augment ERAPPA BP mailing lists by purchasing parts of other organizations' mailing lists and/or asking for current APPA prospect list.

The BP registration fees for exhibit booths (that include 2 complimentary registrations) are set by the ERAPPA Board.  Registration options and sponsorship benefits; however, are at the discretion of the HC.  Sponsorship levels can be named to support the conference theme if applicable.  Refer to Appendix P - Historical Business Partner Sponsorship Levels Summary for past examples.

The value of the levels can be increased annually upon discussion with VP for Annual Meetings.  Refer to Appendix Q - Historical Business Partner Sponsorship Summary and Appendix R - Sample Registration Options & Sponsorship Benefits, Exhibit Hall Floor Plan and Sponsorship Opportunities for examples.

5.3.d     Registration Form:

Business Partner registrations should be done separate from the institutional representatives registration.  The information required from the Business Partner dictates that a different form be used.  Refer to Appendix S - Sample Business Partner Registration Form for examples of the information required.  It is recommended that Business Partner registration be done electronically.

One of the challenges in dealing with BP registration is that one person at the company may be responsible for registering for the Annual Meeting and another for the actual Exhibit Hall booth.  Request two contact points from the BP, clearly identifying roles.  You will need contact info and a short description of the business profile for the Conference Program.  It is a good idea to include the profile as a mandatory field so that you do not have to contact the Business Partner separately for their business profile, prior to the conference.  It is recommended      that you also request at this time, logo submissions for all sponsors.  The logos should be the highest quality graphic that is ready to use in artwork for publications and signage.

BP's should be contacted upon receipt of their registration and subsequent confirmation of booth location, etc be communicated including being reminded of what is included in their exhibit booth and/or sponsorship opportunity. 

If BP's request two exhibit booths, it is up to the HC to decide if they want to grant this.  Since there is usually a waiting list of exhibitors, you don't want to minimize the number of companies represented.

A list of ‘Registrants to Date' should be sent to the BP's in advance of the Annual Meeting (two weeks minimum).  BP's will often send mailings to registrants in advance of the conference, inviting them to visit their booth.  Be careful of requests to use the Annual Meeting or ERAPPA logo as some companies may use the logos to promote activities that they organize to occur during the Annual Meeting but that are not officially part of the Annual Meeting.  Refer to Section 5.4.c. for information on Canadian Privacy laws and their impact on publishing registrant lists.

5.3.e     Exhibit Hall:

The standard booth includes:

•·         Pipe and drape, 8' high at back and 3' high at sides to delineate booth size of 10' minimum width (to accommodate standard trade show display units) and 6' to 8' depth (pending site location and layout options, 8' is preferred)

•·         Standard 30"deep folding table, draped & skirted

•·         2 chairs

•·         One 110v duplex power outlet

Booth registration rate includes 2 complimentary registrations.  Decide in advance how many additional BP representatives will be allowed at the booths.  The HC may decide to offer additional complimentary registrations as part of the sponsorship opportunities and the BP's may want to bring in additional representatives or switch out the registered representatives with others.  The HC should consider in advance how to handle these registration situations.  The strategy on how to address these situations should be advertised/communicated in advance and the registration desk be prepared to handle badge name changes on site or prepare in advance if the names can be provided by the BP.

To encourage traffic through the Exhibit Hall, food & beverages for breaks and meals should be set up whenever possible near/in the exhibit booth area.  Secured "standup" tables for food consumption should be provided.  Avoid serving food that requires the use of utensils unless sufficient tables are provided for eating.  Generally the food in the exhibit hall area is consumed standing up.

Effective methods for keeping attendees in the Business Partner area:

•·         A scavenger hunt, with prize

•·         Prizes/draws that require "you have to be there to win"

•·         Bingo cards requiring number/letter stamps from booths, with prize

Professional Development or demonstration sessions in Exhibit Hall at Professional Development Program breakout times

•·         Puzzles, with prize

In addition to the BP booths, APPA and next year's HC are provided with booths in a prominent location in the Exhibit Hall.  There is no charge to APPA or the HC for these booths and the standard set-up costs are included in the Annual Meeting budget.

Business Partners will not be permitted to hang any promotional banners of any kind in the Exhibit Hall, other than what is part of their booth display.

5.3.f      Drayage Company:

The HC will contract a drayage company to provide set up services for the Exhibit Hall.  The Business Partners should be provided with a list of additional equipment/furniture & services available from the drayage company (including Cdn & US shipping/customs brokerage services).  The Exhibit Hall setup is done by the drayage company on Sunday morning of the Annual Meeting and completed by noon so that Business Partners can be allowed to set up their booth displays.  If the Exhibit Hall site allows for set-up on Saturday, at no additional cost, then Saturday is the preferred set-up day.  Generally a HC representative and/or conference planner, hotel engineer and a drayage company representative are on sight during the day to assist with any last minute requests/issues brought forward by the BP's.  Problems can arise during the BP setup that requires the finesse of a HC BP Committee representative.

5.3.g     Tracking Report:

The HC is responsible for providing a BP report following the Annual Meeting and generally uses a tracking report to gauge the sponsorship and booth sales and update the budget.  Refer to Appendix T - Sample Business Partner Sponsorship Tracking Report for a sample template.