What does a typical sponsor look for while working with the user group community? What matters to them? What kind of events are they interested in? We posed these and other questions to Emily Parker, the Community Manager for Telerik. Telerik builds a variety of products for the .Net Community and is a great supporter of the community.
1. What kind of user groups are you’ll particularly interested in sponsoring?
Emily: Groups with strong leadership that promote active membership and involvement. These groups usually meet consistently on thriving topics and have passionate members.
2. Do you’ll have standard way of engaging with the community? Could you describe a typical engagement?
Emily: Normally I will meet through a connections or reference from another group leader or industry member. In the beginning, I would find them via the INETA website or other organizations and reach out for the first time offering products and help.
3. Besides user groups do you’ll sponsor other kinds of activities like blogs, Podcasts, or video blogs?
Emily: Generally we do. I however don’t coordinate our podcast sponsorships, that falls under the marketing team domain. If I am adamant about particular podcast, I will have leverage with the team but usually we budget 1 year in advance or less.
4. What kind of events excite you’ll the most?
I appreciate the Code Camps a lot. They are a big production for a group with very little structure or experience and so the middle of the road code camps usually provide us with the most value. They are not overly commercial or political and they still have many eager, excited developers ready to dive into all the new topics. Usually the second or third time around a code camp has fixed a few of the logistical issues.
5. Do number of attendees matter? Why?
Emily: Not usually. I tend to overlook the initial #s. I might start to get skeptical if an event is fudging their numbers, but really we look for quality over quantity. Some of our best events had less than 30 people there, while others with over 200 offer us barely any exposure.
6. What are your metrics or takeaways which you’ll look for post a sponsorship?
Emily: Usually I will look at the # of attendees vs. expected. I would say that ratio does say something for the event organizers ability to run the conference. Sometimes weather will affect that though. I will also consider the organizers communication and flexibility as an added value. In the end, there are some events as a vendor you just need to sponsor to compete, others you can provide help to that really makes a difference and some in between. It’s all about balance.
5. What giveaways do you’ll typically provide?
Emily: Usually our top license is a prize. If the event wants a few smaller prizes we are flexible. We figure if we want to sell our products to the community, we should put our best foot forward.
6. Besides the US markets, are you’ll working with communities in other countries? If you are which specific countries are you’ll focused on?
Emily: Yes, over 40 countries to list J But I can mention we focus in countries with the technology available or that have shown the greatest interest which include many European, North American, some Asian and some South American countries. We also dip into Africa too. I haven’t heard from Antarctica yet though.
7. If there are two things which a leader could do to make you inclined to sponsor an activity what would it be?
Emily: Someone who will advocate for us to his members is really great. We strive not to be pushy salesman types and if we can find leaders who are both nice to us and flexible about contacting his/her members it is wonderful. We always treat them with respect and try to go above and beyond with providing give a ways and products. I appreciate an organizer who is honest and understanding about the budget. Sometimes I can only give $200 but we can work with that.
8. Do you have any recognition programs for community members?
Emily: Currently we run an independent speakers program that we nicknamed ‘Telerik Insiders’. These speakers are provided travel assistance to speak in the community if they are up for the travel. They sometimes do tours in one state in the US or in Europe in their free time! The structure has been fairly loose for 2010, as it was the first year. But we plan to grow this into something just as valuable but stronger with more speakers for 2011. We try to use their feedback on the program to structure it.
