EMT #40 with MK Granados - Stop Buying Boring Sponsorships: Creating Experiences That Matter

In Episode 40 of Event Marketer’s Toolbox, hosts Chris Dunn and Brendon Hamlin sit down with MK Granados, Director of Sponsorships at Informa Markets, to challenge one of the most overlooked areas of event strategy: sponsorships.

MK brings a career spanning New York Comic Con, Gartner, PAX, and Informa Markets — and she’s here with a bold message: sponsorships don’t have to be cookie-cutter logo placements. Done right, they can transform an event, elevate brands, and create experiences attendees actually talk about.

This episode dives into:

• Redefining Sponsorships Beyond the Booth
  MK explains that sponsorship isn’t just lanyards or banners. It’s “anything you spend beyond the booth” — a chance to amplify brand presence, drive engagement, and surprise attendees in ways that stick.
• Why Creativity Beats Tradition
  From Cheerios breakfasts in Comic Con queue lines to Coffee Mate’s on-the-go coffee teams, MK shows how unexpected activations turn into unforgettable attendee moments.
• Audience-Centric Design
  The best sponsorships start with empathy. MK highlights how organizers can solve real attendee pain points — like Amazon providing water bottles and booth babysitters for overworked artists at Comic Con — while delivering measurable ROI for sponsors.
• Reverse Engineering Value
  Instead of offering “off-the-shelf” sponsorship packages, MK encourages brands and organizers to co-create. Start with the attendee or exhibitor’s unmet need, then design a sponsorship that solves it.
• Inspiration From Everywhere
  MK finds ideas in TikTok trends, theme parks, children’s museums, even Dave & Buster’s reward models. Her advice: stop limiting inspiration to the event industry — the best activations come from unexpected places.
• Budget, Scale & Creativity
  Money matters, but scrappy creativity goes further. From scaling activations to working with turnkey options, MK explains how even small budgets can deliver outsized impact when paired with strong storytelling.
• Community & Connection
  The conversation also touches on the power of communities like Club Ichi, how peer networks spark innovation, and why building a sponsorship community (like MK’s own Sponsorship Playbook newsletter) elevates the whole industry.

This episode of Event Marketer’s Toolbox is a wake-up call for organizers and marketers alike: stop buying boring sponsorships. When brands and event teams collaborate, think bigger, and design with the audience in mind, sponsorships become more than line items — they become stories worth retelling.

Whether you’re planning your 2026 event calendar or rethinking your sponsorship strategy, MK’s message is clear: fight for bold ideas, push boundaries, and build experiences that feel like a “warm hug” for your industry.

👉🏼 Join us for more insightful discussions like this by tuning into 'Event Marketer's Toolbox,' where industry leaders share the tools, tactics, and trends driving success in the event world.

This Show is sponsored by Blue Hive

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome + Introductions
• 2:39 MK Granados’ background (Informa, Comic Con, Gartner)
• 6:39 Redefining sponsorships: beyond the booth
• 10:09 Creating memorable activations (Cheerios, Coffee Mate, BBC corgis)
• 13:39 Designing sponsorships as “warm hugs” for attendees
• 16:39 Street teams & presence outside the booth
• 19:24 Selling feelings, not products
• 21:39 Audience-centric sponsorship design
• 23:39 Reverse engineering attendee pain points
• 26:39 Gamification: going beyond cornhole
• 29:39 Inspiration from TikTok, Dave & Buster’s, and shopping malls
• 32:39 Breaking the “sponsorship catalog” mindset
• 36:39 Budget, scrappy solutions & scaling big ideas
• 43:39 The role of community (Club Ichi, Sponsorship Playbook)
• 46:39 Final takeaways: niche targeting, clarity, and creativity
• 55:39 Closing thoughts + how to connect with MK

Transcript

0:00:02

(Chris Dunn)

Hey, everybody, and welcome to the Event Marketers Toolbox. I am Chris Dunn. I'm with Blue Hive Exhibits, and I'm also excited. I've got my friend Brendan Hamlin here hanging out in the co -host seat, and we've got MK with us as well. So Brendan, who are you and why are you here? 

0:00:19

(Brendon Hamlin)

Yeah, I don't know. 

0:00:22

(Chris Dunn)

I have no idea. 

0:00:24

(Chris Dunn)

I was walking by. 

0:00:26

(Brendon Hamlin)

Yeah, yeah. 

0:00:26

(Brendon Hamlin)

No, thank you. Great to be here. Always great to be on the Toolbox with you. So yeah, I'm Brendan Hamlin. I run Hamlin Creative. We're a production company based out of Asheville, North Carolina. 

0:00:39

(Brendon Hamlin)

And we do a lot of content. Well, we do content all across the spectrum of content, but we spend a lot of time in the event space. So conferences and trade shows and, you know, activations, all of that kind of stuff where that content is really unique and different than anywhere else that you may create content in. So happy to be here and happy to be here with MK. So hi, MK, how are you? 

0:01:03

(MK Granados)

I'm good. It's nice to be here. Thanks for having me. My name is MK Granados. I'm based outside of the New York area, and I work for Informa, specifically the Informa Markets Division. I swear to God, Informa is getting bigger and bigger every day. 

0:01:17

(MK Granados)

We joke around that it's the biggest company you've never heard of. You've heard of every one of our individual trade shows. But we're just starting to build that narrative that there's a brand that brings it all together. Um, so i'm director of sponsorships across a few different events Uh, and I work consultatively with a bunch of our show teams on developing sponsorships And my background I had previously been at reed exhibitions where I got to do sponsorships for shows like new york comic -con and pax Uh, I was experiential marketing manager at gartner getting to do the gartner booth and that experience and that lead gen So getting some brand side knowledge And most recently was at a startup called Gen City Labs, where we did event technology, those custom activation experiences, AI, AR, VR, game and things like that. So that's me in a nutshell and where I'm pulling random inspiration from. 

0:02:07

(Speaker 12)

That's awesome. 

0:02:08

(Chris Dunn)

I tell you, you get a very deep background and it sounds much like probably a lot of us, whether you're here or listening in the future, you fall into this events world, you don't really know exactly what it is, but something hooks you, right? It's either you're kind of in and out within six months or you're a lifer. Um, so much, much like you and, and, and Brendan, I know you got your start in TV and kind of moved into this, this area. Um, but I kind of fell into trade shows like 30 years ago. So I'm super excited to talk to MK. Uh, and obviously Brendan knows well about it, but, um, the, as the booth guy, as a trade show booth guy that we're focused trying to help our clients with the exhibit, but the experience and getting your arms around the entire show and trying to make that work better for you as an exhibitor, uh, You know, if you're if you're whistling past the idea of sponsorships and not considering them, then you're leaving a lot of potential money in reach on the table. 

0:03:05

(Chris Dunn)

So super excited to talk about that today. Before we do that, however, I want to talk a little bit about our sponsors, because without them, we would have trouble being here. First is the company that I work for. I work for Blue Hive Exhibits. We are based here in the Boston area, not too far from MK in Connecticut. We also have a Las Vegas location, which is just a couple of years old. 

0:03:28

(Chris Dunn)

We've been working in Vegas for a number of years through subcontractors and partnerships and so forth. But we finally opened our own brick and mortar a couple of years ago. And man, it's been growing like gangbusters. We actually wish we took a bigger space because we've already outgrown the 40 ,000 square feet that we started with. But we have shop and warehouse and all of the things on both East and West Coast, which helps us. Size -wise, we're about 100 people, putting us kind of 

0:03:55

(Chris Dunn)

of like bigger than a boutique, but smaller than some of the real big companies where you're just a number. So we're strong and creative. We're strong in customer service. And as one of my customers was just saying the other day, we feel like an extension of their team and that makes my heart proud. So that's a good thing, which is cool. So we got a great, we got some great, some great onsite video with our clients at the last show. 

0:04:20

(Chris Dunn)

And then also we're sponsored in part by Fist Bump. Fist Bump is the agency that's producing this show. Came across these guys a couple years ago, started with conversations with the founder, Brendan Lee. And they were more about LinkedIn and how do we do a better job with LinkedIn, but they led to creating this opportunity using this media of this live show and podcast to create content and become kind of thought leaders in the industry or hope to become. People who are bringing ideas and conversation points to the marketplace. And this is episode number 40. 

0:04:57

(Chris Dunn)

So we've been doing this since the first of the year in 2025. We've got a great library of amazing guests that we've had conversations with, and this one is going to be no different. So super excited to kind of jump in with MK and Brendan. So Brendan, why don't you get us started off? We're going to get a little background from MK on what is a sponsorship, and then we're going to go from there. 

0:05:21

(Brendon Hamlin)

Yeah, I think that's a perfect place to start, MK. When we say sponsorship, whether it's a trade show or a conference or an activation, what do you mean by sponsorship? Define that for us. 

0:05:36

(MK Granados)

Yeah, and I think it can be a really vague term depending on the channels, the events, the conference format, things like that. I tend to define it as anything you're spending beyond the booth. It could be any of the marketing channels. And it could be a formal sponsorship. I'm sponsoring this reception or this experience. Or it could be some of the digital media channels and upgrading your listings and things like that. 

0:06:01

(MK Granados)

So unlocking that additional revenue is the mindset from the event organizer. But for a brand, it's really about building their presence, more discoverability, more lead generation, more engagement with their existing customers. And Chris, it was really funny, one of the ways you introduced yourself of like, you have blinders on for the booth. I think you should be at the table with a brand and the event organizer and influencing, you know, what that presence is beyond the booth, because there absolutely are some fabrication elements and some cohesion that can be created between a sponsorship activation or the deliverables within a sponsorship and what you're already doing so brilliantly in their booths. 

0:06:43

(Chris Dunn)

Yeah, no, that's a great point. And I think across the board, the opportunity for brands to work with the show organizer and even, you know, make friends with the GC like like this is a Not necessarily a happy family, but this is a family situation. We're all depending on each other to try to create a successful event. So that's one thing that we certainly try to do well is go into this with eyes wide open and say, let's tap into the resources that are around us, whether it's having conversations with folks like you on the show organizer side with what type of brand magnification opportunities are there. Or even like dumbing it down and saying, let's have conversations with Freeman Rigging because we want to make sure that our hanging sign is in the right spot. So the key of the communication, asking the right questions, understanding what the possibilities are, all for the sake of saying, we're investing a lot of money in this show already. 

0:07:43

(Chris Dunn)

Like how do we, how do we de -risk it? And how do we magnify our opportunity or increase our opportunity for success? So super cool stuff on there. And I was saying to MK earlier, I just came from Pack Expo. Big show, pretty much all of the halls out in Vegas, 45 ,000, 50 ,000 attendees or so, plus another, I don't know, 4 ,000 or 5 ,000 exhibits. And it's massive, right? 

0:08:10

(Chris Dunn)

How do you stand out in a sea of exhibits, in a sea of sameness? And the people who are doing it the best are tapping into these special sponsorship opportunities, you know, whether it's sponsoring a space or sponsoring something conceptual. So looking forward to kind of diving into that with you, MK, and learning just, you know, as much as I am going to be asking some questions, I'm going to be taking some notes as well. 

0:08:39

(Brendon Hamlin)

Yeah, I'm taking notes as well already. I think that what you touch on there is that that holistic approach, you know, like not just the I do this one thing. We we take that approach to if there's ways that we can create content that's going to, you know, live on well beyond that moment, then we try to help our clients do that. So by evidence of the name of this podcast today, there's obviously some challenges that we've heard, like if you have 5 ,000 exhibits, how does a sponsorship, how does that matter? Talk to us a little bit about where it's breaking down or where it's maybe not being as effective as we would, somebody might hope it would when they sponsor. 

0:09:31

(MK Granados)

I mean, give the people something to talk about. That's, that's the first thing I'd say is, is think about who that community at your event is. And you are a brand exhibiting at an event, a conference. It could be as large format as a trade show. It could be as small as a pop -up. The presence you have there can be amplified through all of your marketing channels. 

0:09:55

(MK Granados)

It can engage your entire brand. One of the things on my mind these days is PR. PR is the superpower a brand has to amplify a message beyond the people that were under that roof and got to see Pac Expo or something like that. As a brand, are you thinking, wow, what I did at the event is cool enough to talk about. Wow, it's cool enough to put on our social media. Wow, we should put it in our next company newsletter that what we did at that event was so cool. 

0:10:20

(MK Granados)

Can't believe you missed it. We'll see you at the next one. So I think brands sometimes are very comfortable with what they know. They fight for their logo on the lanyard. They fundamentally understand some of those really traditional sponsorships. In this day and age, why did you become a marketer? 

0:10:42

(MK Granados)

Why do you love events? You love a little thrill. You love something new. Think bigger. Think exciting. It's not always easy to sell a C -suite on a bigger, innovative idea. 

0:10:53

(MK Granados)

But give the people something to talk about at the show. Fight hard. Make a cool sponsorship. Or take the sponsorship that might be kind of cookie -cutter or predefined and collaborate with your event organizers or say, I like it, but. This is how we want to use it, right? You gave us the black and white coloring book page. 

0:11:11

(MK Granados)

Here's how I'm thinking. We're going to color it in. Can we work on that? Can, does this meet your expectations? We'll do the heavy lifting where the brand, we have our agencies involved. We can do it. 

0:11:22

(MK Granados)

Will you let us, we want to make a really cool attendee experience. No, one's going to argue with that. Everyone wants better attendee experiences. There goes the shows NPS score and the metrics by which a show grows. So the event organizer is motivated to say yes to you and let you do really cool shit at their show. 

0:11:43

(Chris Dunn)

I'm glad you brought that up because, again, as somebody who spends all their time focusing on this direction and not enough time looking at the big picture is my perception is like, There's the sticks that define whatever this activation or this sponsorship thing is. But what you're saying is they're just loose parameters. In some cases, maybe in some cases they're not. But come to the table with ideas and be like, I want to do this, but I'd love to do it differently or this way. And yeah, the opportunity for those conversations, I think, is something that people need to understand that that exists. And why not push the boundaries? 

0:12:22

(MK Granados)

You're not going to know unless you ask. 

0:12:25

(Speaker 6)

Yeah, exactly. 

0:12:26

(Chris Dunn)

You know, you said something earlier before we started recording about what's that feeling when you walk into that event? Something about a warm hug? 

0:12:36

(MK Granados)

I feel like when you arrive at an event, especially a niche one, right? Like how often are you really surrounded by the people in your industry in that volume? It should feel like a warm hug from your industry from the moment you arrive. If all I see when I arrive at a trade show is the show's logo everywhere and, and okay, I'll take a selfie. It'll go on my LinkedIn. 

0:12:58

(Speaker 36)

Cool. 

0:12:59

(Speaker 15)

I did it. 

0:12:59

(MK Granados)

I was here. But when I go, Oh, my God, my industry is full of innovation. Look at all these new products. I have arrived at the Super Bowl of my industry. That's when you've nailed it as an event organizer and as a brand. That's where you've expressed a love letter to the event attendees. 

0:13:17

(MK Granados)

We brought our A game. We are an innovative company. You're here. We're going to show you behind the curtain or we're going to be the first ones to let you sample this new product before it comes to market. And that that collective alignment of. events are where you show new and shiny things. 

0:13:32

(MK Granados)

Events are where you show the upgrades and the reasons your brand are growing. 

0:13:38

(Chris Dunn)

And so I think any event organizer that has hesitancy or is saying, we don't allow that, we don't know, you're closing off your attendee experience in that way. And that, as you were saying, that benefits everybody. That just makes for a better show. 

0:13:58

(Speaker 35)

So better for the exhibitors, better for the attendees, better for the show organizer. 

0:14:01

(MK Granados)

All of those. I feel like one of my battles at New York Comic Con was constantly like, yes, we need show signage for directional for welcoming to the show. Yes. Marketing take take first round draft pick of signage locations. But we sold every other surface we possibly could get our hands on in the Crystal Palace and the decals on the doors and everything. Because from the moment you arrive, you're surrounded by the new IP and TV shows and new comic books and new toys. 

0:14:28

(Speaker 34)

all the things you love. 

0:14:30

(Chris Dunn)

And that's, that's what it is. Yeah. Right. That's, that's really cool. You know, it's, um, as you're kind of talking about that, part of what you do is obviously ideating around, uh, innovative, innovative ideas or taking advantage of, um, opportunities. One of the things that you were also talking about earlier was understanding the venue to a point where it's like, hey, if we've got this really cool outdoor space, what would make sense and who should we be talking to? 

0:14:56

(Chris Dunn)

So specifically, your example was we're in Anaheim. We're doing Natural Food West or Natural Expo West. You've got organic sun lotion providers. You've got people who make organic soft drinks that are refreshing. So just a little bit of creative thought on like, we've got this cool space. Don't just slap up a banner stand or put something on the railing, like actually be in that space. 

0:15:22

(MK Granados)

And I mean, that's probably part of it. you get your juice, right? It's like your creative person is like, let me ideate around how we can, you know, roll out these great opportunities and who are the brands that are going to take advantage of them and really going to lean in. And I can see it in the sales people that are selling the exhibit space when they love it, when they get it, when sponsorships are the most creative channel for them to express themselves. They can sell a 10 by 10. 

0:15:48

(Speaker 26)

It's a transactional sale. 

0:15:50

(MK Granados)

A brand contacts you. I want to booth at this show. Cool. Here's the contract. Let's lock you in. Which booth number? 

0:15:56

(MK Granados)

And then you see the sales people to get excited with sponsorships. And there might be FFs. Those are the ones who are messaging me internally all day, figuring it out. And fundamentally, let's say a what we use the word hostess handout okay or on comic cons we called it a street team what it was was the rights for a handful of people to be in a public space uh some of our shows that became a mascot uh with vision expo was one of the shows that read and that involved casting models because they would be wearing the eyewear that represents your your glasses company so you want to make sure someone's face shape and stuff I never knew about, but presence of humans beyond your booth, right? That's the product. We can decide what lobby or what patio or terrace or whatever is appropriate. 

0:16:44

(MK Granados)

Set whatever rules you want behind that product. And maybe as an event organizer, you're thinking the deliverables and the bullets. You are allowed to do this. You get to do this. You can store your product behind the registration desk in no more than one pallet, right? You're thinking logistics. 

0:17:00

(MK Granados)

So then, When you actually talk to your client about it, is that the first thing you're telling them? Here's the rules. No, you want to tell them like, ooh, you could be a first impression. You could be the greeters. You could be the first thing someone's going to take out their camera and take a picture of when your team is so big in their presence. I know for New York Comic -Con, one of the most frustrating ones of that was BBC, the British broadcasting. 

0:17:26

(MK Granados)

I want to say it was Sherlock, but it was one of the shows they were producing. They took like 15 corgis and put them on a leash. They stopped traffic in New York City, because how do you not stop and stare at 15 corgis crossing a road? They own that first impression moment. And what can you do? Big costumes, big moments. 

0:17:48

(MK Granados)

We had one that was Coffee Mate took it. And they took that street team, and they put backpacks of coffee on them. And Coffee Mate creamer in their hand. 

0:17:58

(Speaker 5)

Here, I'm going to hand you a cup. I'm going to dispense a little coffee in that cup. 

0:18:01

(MK Granados)

I'm going to pour a little creamer. Here's your coffee. Good half tug. We had Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios in the queue hall. It was almost a surprise. You know you're going to be waiting a couple hours. 

0:18:10

(MK Granados)

You got to the show early. You're excited. You're going to be the first in line to meet a celebrity. Here's your breakfast. We love you. We're here for you. 

0:18:19

(MK Granados)

We're going to have fun today, aren't we? Let's have simple stuff. 

0:18:24

(Chris Dunn)

But the product description from the show management perspective from all of those looked real similar. It's a pallet of Cheerios hidden behind a piece of pipe and drape in the back of the room. You're authorized to bring up to four people, but let's customize from there and meet in the middle and what's going to be really dynamic. That's great. I was saying to one of my co -workers today, just this morning, we were chatting about, from a sales standpoint, we know that emotion really is the driver. But then we use logic to basically just validate, right? 

0:18:59

(Chris Dunn)

So I said, let's start asking our clients, how do we make them feel instead of what do we do? Do you need a big closet and an exhibit? Like, how do we make them, you know, make you feel? And this is what you're talking about as well. 

0:19:14

(MK Granados)

You're not selling a pallet full of Cheerios behind a curtain. What you're selling is an opportunity to surprise and delight people in an innovative way. And in that particular instance, as soon as people walk in the door of that hall, and I think we can all lean into that idea of like, what we're selling is not the physical piece, but it's the feeling that we're giving people, which is way more memorable and way more important in the long run. And in this day and age, the creative tools we have at our disposal to persuade a brand, you know, I'm an event organizer and I want a brand to do this cool stuff with me, or I'm a brand marketer that needs to describe some cool options that we can do with this and bring to my marketing team for brainstorm. AI is magical for that. AI can help you very quickly articulate and version and personalize for the audience. 

0:20:08

(MK Granados)

Hey, we're going to try to get our digital team excited about this. I'm going to explain how digital channels feature into this and how we're going to tell the whole story. 

0:20:18

(Brendon Hamlin)

The tools available for us, your bandwidth to dream big has never been greater. Dream big. Have fun with it. 

0:20:31

(MK Granados)

I think also, because I can't be on this podcast without talking about creating content. Those examples you gave MK are perfect examples of how creating content is much more than just you know, what's happening in the booth, you know, seeing those corgis or handing, having a cup of coffee or having breakfast like that. 

0:20:54

(Speaker 18)

Those are the things that are giving feels. 

0:20:57

(MK Granados)

We had a little four -year -old girl in a costume holding her box of Cheerios. 

0:21:00

(Brendon Hamlin)

We got permission from her parents and she was the Facebook post of that morning, right? 

0:21:04

(Speaker 8)

Yeah. 

0:21:04

(Speaker 33)

Let's bring out that content because who doesn't love that moment? 

0:21:08

(Chris Dunn)

Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, my, my audio is just kind of wonky. So hopefully, hopefully, We're good to go at this point going forward. I want to kind of take what we've been chatting about. 

0:21:23

(Chris Dunn)

So audience centric sponsorship design, right? 

0:21:25

(MK Granados)

Shifting the focus from what we want to sell to what audiences want to experience, kind of what we've been talking about. But do you have any specific examples or things that you've done or just kind of in general? Where are we going with that? I love reverse engineering a problem into a solution that a brand can get behind. I know we had a live stream stage for one of our shows, standing room only, overcrowding. In fact, actually the booths near it complained because the crowd is blocking their booth and you can't get down an aisle. 

0:22:00

(MK Granados)

So we said, okay, there needs to be overflow seating here. So then now there's a lounge next door to it that at peak times is overflow, but could be other things during during between sessions and. Okay, so we know we need seating, we need to convince a sponsor that seating is the solution they want to put their name on but. Seating isn't something you do, but OK, maybe it's a gaming lounge. Maybe when you get seated in that chair, you get handed a gaming controller. Maybe while you're seated, you're watching some secondary entertainment and things. 

0:22:31

(MK Granados)

And so I think reverse engineering the problem, then finding a really cool story and way to support it. One of the things, so it's not just about attendees. Sometimes sponsors want to engage exhibitors. Exhibitors never have time to leave their booth once the show is open, so when can you actually use those channels to engage them properly? Comic -Con had tabletop exhibitors called Artist Alley, so they are artists who pay to be there and they going to spend the entire show drawing, selling stickers, custom commissions, doing whatever they can to build up their brand as an artist. 

0:23:11

(MK Granados)

And their satisfaction after the show was never that great. They couldn't leave their table. They practically have a urinary tract infection because they couldn't even leave the bathroom and they're starving. And there was germs. And their hotel room was expensive. And everything about the show overwhelms you after four days in the basement of the Javits Center. 

0:23:31

(MK Granados)

Amazon came in and we did two things. Amazon did a welcome gift. We had a booth drop the morning of the show. Here's a refillable water bottle, some emergency, some Tylenol, a little goodie bag. Welcome to the show. Amazon loves content creators. 

0:23:45

(MK Granados)

We're here to make sure you're great. And then the second thing we added was a concierge program. We had a couple of brand ambassadors in bright orange shirts that you could text the dispatch and say, hey, I need to step away from my booth. Can you just come babysit my booth and let people know, oh, I'll be back in five minutes, whatever. 

0:24:04

(Speaker 32)

I feel like I'm more free. 

0:24:05

(MK Granados)

Or here's $20. 

0:24:07

(Chris Dunn)

Can you go grab me chicken fingers and bring me back my receipt and change things? They run it. So we took a pain point, reverse engineered it into a solution, and now that audience was at the center of the design of the sponsorship. That's great. 

0:24:21

(Chris Dunn)

Sometimes it's so simple to make things that much better, right? 

0:24:25

(Chris Dunn)

But just listen. Ask the question, listen, what can we do to make things better for you? Oh, I'll tell you. By the way, 20 bucks is not going to get you chicken fingers. We're $40. So much like in events, we're having some audio problems here. 

0:24:42

(Chris Dunn)

And I noticed that you may have noticed that I disappeared. I was never actually not here, but I was gone. Um, so anyways, back. So this is a live show. I want to invite anybody who's, uh, who's out there listening to go ahead and drop some, uh, some comments in the chat. Uh, our producer Miele actually. 

0:25:00

(Brendon Hamlin)

suggested or said that Bill L had commented. 

0:25:03

(Speaker 25)

I'm not seeing any of those comments, Mila. 

0:25:05

(Speaker 16)

So if you like it, you want to put it up there, go ahead and throw it on the screen, and we'll try to do our best to address it. 

0:25:12

(Brendon Hamlin)

I can see them. OK. You got them? OK. 

0:25:15

(Speaker 19)

Yeah. 

0:25:16

(MK Granados)

Daniel wanted to know, what's the current conventional wisdom about gamification in your booth? Do you have a feel? You were just talking about that side, the lounge space. That's sort of part of it, but going beyond that. 

0:25:33

(Speaker 15)

Yeah. 

0:25:34

(Brendon Hamlin)

I think in service of a story, a product, what do you want someone walking away from your booth remembering? 

0:25:39

(Speaker 6)

A game of cornhole? 

0:25:41

(MK Granados)

Probably wasn't the point. You gave them a putter and a little putting green. Cute. Love it. It's fun. You might have had a really transactional engagement with them where they won a can koozie at the end of something. 

0:25:51

(MK Granados)

I think that's thinking small. So if you're going to do it in your booth, is it in the service of them better getting to know your brand's values, better getting to know your product's features? And personally, I would say, why limit it to your booth? Can you have a lobby display that starts that story, but the only way you're going to finish the game is if you come to our booth? Or we're also hosting a reception, and maybe that's where you get your first couple of points, and then you'll turn it in at our booth. So we engaged you in a couple of ways. 

0:26:20

(Chris Dunn)

Gamification is amazing. It's a fabulous motivator. There's a million ways to do it. There's a million ways for it to generate data for you as a marketer to get to know your customer better. You just have to get really thoughtful about what you're actually asking someone to do. Yeah, no, that's great. 

0:26:36

(Chris Dunn)

And I love when you have an activation. um, I love the push and p booth in that alternative just, you're creating, yo reach. Um, we had a clie ago, we were down and dow the gay lord Floridian an of a, like a swag boat of like off the show floor and You had to went to the booth if you did a demo you got you know $100 go -to box or whatever and you could take your chip, you know and go to that that swag bodega and You've earned by spending a little bit of time asking the questions and getting some knowledge. 

0:27:13

(MK Granados)

You've earned those bucks and now I can go spend them on either company branded swag or food or drinks or whatever it was. But it created a great push and pull between that space. And again, at the end of the day, as we always like to say in our design department, is the company that engages the most senses wins. They win the memorability game. So when you have the touch, the sound, the taste, the smell, all those things, which are easier to do if you have multiple spaces, you build that resident space in their mind, which is great. And in a terrible way, I'm going to be a horrible guest and jump ahead on one of your questions, but where you get inspiration from. 

0:27:52

(MK Granados)

What you just described is Dave and Buster's. shopping and spending your tickets and points on the thing you actually want the most. That experience is core in other channels. So why can't it be done at events? 

0:28:03

(Chris Dunn)

That's one of the places I go when I want to remember what it means to be a consumer and participate in something. 

0:28:10

(Speaker 18)

What made me go, ooh, I can get this toy or I can get this Dave & Buster's branded glass. 

0:28:18

(Chris Dunn)

I'm not advertising for Dave & Buster's, but if it's cool enough. What is cool swag? 

0:28:23

(Brendon Hamlin)

What when you walk into a space like that makes you go, yeah, that's worth some tickets. Inspiration from Dave and Buster's, that's fantastic. I love Dave and Buster's. 

0:28:32

(MK Granados)

Inspiration from, there you go. So I don't know, she just answered one of your questions, Brandon, I'm sorry. Well, no, I think, no, I love it, because I think we can jump off of that a little bit as well, but there's also areas where, may not be in the space that we were talking about that is also a place where innovation is happening. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yes. 

0:29:02

(MK Granados)

I feel like I draw inspiration everywhere. I love walking through a shopping mall these days, right? What does a window display look like in 2025 in a mall with low foot traffic? But that is an unmanned display. What does a children's museum, a science museum, what do they do to actually make you play along with them? Well, they unveiled a mystery of, can you figure out what gravity is going to do in this moment? 

0:29:28

(MK Granados)

And then you had to touch and play and do and hit a button. And right now, one of the TikTok trends that I'm fascinated by is there's a content creator who creates novelty songs around how things work. So if you remember that TV show, How It's Made, we love that it scratches an itch in our brain of seeing what a factory does. She has now turned it into sing songy, like earwormy content. And she is explaining technical things. Why does my gas pump turn off when the gas tank is full? 

0:30:02

(MK Granados)

And it's fully animated and shows the mechanisms. But to a really addicting song, the most viral one is about, why do we ship steel coils the way we do? 

0:30:11

(Speaker 23)

OK, ridiculous concept. 

0:30:13

(Chris Dunn)

I never questioned it, but now I am. And now I know why we build them the way we do. And there's a lot of tension involved. 

0:30:20

(MK Granados)

And I could imagine brands sponsoring the keynote and taking that 30 -second commercial that they get granted in the pre -show build out ridiculous content, have a moment, get stuck in people's heads, reuse that content later on in your booth, have some recognition and repetition, but I wouldn't get that unless I was probably wasting too much time. on TikTok. But I love the idea of turning that into a song. And just out of curiosity, because I'm not on TikTok, but is the song that's invented, is it placed to the beat of something that we would recognize? Or it's just kind of nicely done in a, is it like a children's song? I was trying to figure out if it was, I was trying to figure out if it was AI generated, because it really is like that boppy. 

0:31:10

(MK Granados)

I don't know how to explain it, but I think the account is called Learning with Lyrics. 

0:31:15

(Chris Dunn)

I'm pretty sure they're on Instagram, too. I highly recommend checking it out, because something that was hard to digest just became entertainment. Fundamentally, there's a philosophy that I just took from, why did I stop and watch this? 

0:31:27

(Speaker 5)

What hook at the first five seconds of that made me go, you have my attention? 

0:31:32

(Speaker 31)

That's what that reward is. 

0:31:33

(Chris Dunn)

It takes me back to the 70s. being in my basement in the seventies, you know, watching Saturday morning cartoons with them. 

0:31:39

(Speaker 24)

Yeah. 

0:31:40

(Chris Dunn)

I'm only a bill on Capitol Hill or the after school. How many years? I know, right? Here we are. 50 years later, sticky stuck in my head. Oh man. 

0:31:52

(Chris Dunn)

Um, so, so MK, uh, bringing some bold ideas to, uh, to organizers. 

0:31:58

(MK Granados)

So, you know, when you're a marketer, um, how does, how does this work from, from your standpoint? Are, are you. I know we've kind of talked about it already, but is it more common for an exhibitor to come to your team and say, I don't know what I want to call this, but here's kind of a loose idea of what I'm going to do, or I have a brand new product. I'm looking to do a product launch. What in your arsenal of offerings might be the best fit for this? Is that kind of usually what it looks like, or is it more flipped around where you guys are approaching them, or how does that usually work? 

0:32:39

(Speaker 13)

More often flipped around. 

0:32:41

(MK Granados)

This is where we're still in legacy mode of show me the catalog, show me the perspective, I'll pick from the menu, give me my details. And I think there's more room for The first way consultative conversation about how can we use these channels more creatively? In my I got my mba during covet. That was my like a little bit of a freak out if I work in the events industry What's happening? Uh, and also i'm not traveling. So what else? 

0:33:08

(MK Granados)

Yeah, uh, but one of the most amazing classes I had was negotiations and the professor I highly recommend People she wrote the book likable badass all about women. Uh finding their voice and coming to professional experiences with a bit of warmth, but also firmness and how you walk that line. Brilliant woman. But one of the things she talked about in negotiations is you're probably making a lot of assumptions about what the other party thinks or wants. And we did an exercise where it was, I'm a new hire or I'm getting a job offer and you are the company. 

0:33:46

(Speaker 4)

And I want more money, of course. That's what I'm going to negotiate for. 

0:33:50

(MK Granados)

And you want to keep it down. But that wasn't what the whole negotiation was about. Well, what about remote work possibilities? What about travel stipend? What about this? What about that? 

0:33:58

(MK Granados)

There's 15 other things you could bring into the conversation to find value that makes you even happier as a customer, that makes them even happier. And negotiations aren't black and white. Sponsorships aren't black and white. So if you're a marketer, come to the table with the event organizer and say, here's what I want. Here's what I'm trying to achieve. Let's do this together. 

0:34:18

(MK Granados)

We're aligned on my goals. My big asterisk on this is it takes time. 

0:34:23

(Chris Dunn)

If you want to order off the menu or not order from the menu and make something new, it takes time. We have to run down logistics. We have to contact the service providers and the people behind and find out if our technical capabilities can do it. and if it fits in the agenda and give us time to do it, but make us rise to that occasion. Right. It's worth it to do something cool and custom designed for this audience and well thought out. 

0:34:47

(Chris Dunn)

It's absolutely worth it. Yeah. You know, thinking about some of our best booth designs are exactly born from that exact situation where the client's like, OK, that's a nice start, but here's I don't know what I want exactly, but I know what you're showing me is maybe 50 % of the way there. I'm going to continue to push. I'm going to continue to push on that until we really get to where we want to go. 

0:35:11

(Speaker 6)

And granted, sometimes physical things, I can't just float things in the air without the support. 

0:35:18

(Chris Dunn)

So there are laws of gravity and stuff like that that weighs in, and sometimes budgetary restrictions. But at the end of the day, the more that that client pushes towards where they want to end up, the better the end product or experience, for sure. You know, and whilst I mentioned the B word, let's throw that on the table, right? 

0:35:38

(MK Granados)

I'm sure that there are folks out there who are listening or who will listen to this as a podcast in the future and say, I'd love to do a sponsorship, but I just don't have, you know, the extra budget. 

0:35:48

(Chris Dunn)

So and we never want to talk about money first on our end either. We want to talk about like, well, what are you trying to what's your goal? 

0:35:56

(Speaker 5)

Like, what are you trying to accomplish? 

0:35:57

(MK Granados)

Right. But the budget is always going to be part of that conversation. Do folks often come in and say, I got like 20 grand and I need to do the best I can with that. Um, and if, if they start the conversation with money, how do you, how do you kind of flip that around so that you're delivering the most value you can or getting them the biggest bang for their buck? If they're going to name their budget, that's even better than I have some money, be psychic and know what I have. 

0:36:25

(Chris Dunn)

I have some money. 

0:36:26

(Speaker 22)

Yeah. 

0:36:27

(MK Granados)

I don't want you to take it all. 

0:36:28

(Speaker 30)

Yeah. 

0:36:29

(MK Granados)

And I'm going to be honest. I'm an ex theater kid. Theater kids are scrappy, right? We have those props in storage that we'll repaint and reuse if we can, right? That's the mentality of being - Scrappy. Hashtag scrappy theater kid. 

0:36:42

(MK Granados)

Yeah. That's a brand right there. 

0:36:44

(Speaker 26)

Yes. 

0:36:47

(MK Granados)

That's not exactly how general contractors work in your mind, right? Trade shows are so waste producing and we're working so hard to make ourselves more sustainable. But the fact is there's turnkey stuff everywhere and it's just a matter of creatively using them. And maybe you came to us and said you wanted X, Y, Z, but maybe if we work with Freeman a little bit or GS or whoever we're working with, a great designer and say, this is what we're trying to achieve. This is how we thought of it. Help us reframe it. 

0:37:12

(MK Granados)

Oh, oh, it could be a digital sign instead of physical, and we could scale it this size. And oh, what if we only ran this thing for four hours instead of the entire duration of the show? It's a pop -up. It's fleeting. Who doesn't love fleeting? That's why theater is great. 

0:37:24

(MK Granados)

The show is not going to last forever. So pulling some of those same mental levers can scale a budget back. And there's another one that I'm going to point towards AI. Hey, here's the big idea. Help me shrink it a little. 

0:37:36

(Chris Dunn)

Where can I shrink it? You're not alone in solving that as a problem. Hopefully you have colleagues that you can brainstorm with and solve problems. But when we're busy and we're traveling, that's so hard. So I think AI can be the perfect partner to say, here's the raw idea. Help me polish it. 

0:37:54

(Chris Dunn)

Here's the big idea. Cut it in half. You're not alone in solving a problem. 

0:38:01

(Speaker 29)

That's a great idea. 

0:38:02

(Chris Dunn)

And again, just asking the questions. It's like, here's the concept. How can we potentially make this work? One thing that I wanted to talk about. So here on the toolbox, we're creating a community of like -minded exhibit and event people. And our goal is really to continue to build this conversation and community 

0:38:25

(Chris Dunn)

where we can all kind of have a voice and help each other at the end of the day. And the reason I bring up community is that really the reason that that I even heard about M . 

0:38:35

(MK Granados)

K. was through Club Ichi. And we had Liz on. Liz Lathan is one of our first guests back in the day. She's she's so friggin awesome. And honestly, the I'm so excited to see where her and Nicole growing this community and all the things that it has to offer to folks like, you know, all three of us are members of this community and watching them do these, the coolest stuff, you know, the barefoot business adventure or whatever that they're going off to Tuscany. 

0:39:09

(MK Granados)

So I think it's just so important that, we're, we're all kind of participating in communities, whether it be that one, or I'm in another one called exit five, which is more in the kind of B2B marketing end. But yeah, they just, they, they, these communities offer so much growth and connection with, with folks all over, all over the place. What, what's been your experience kind of building out your, your community, and then maybe the community at large MK on your end? Yeah, I, I, during my MBA program realized that I have a hyper fixation on sponsorships, but why or what about that was interesting. Coming from a little bit of a production background, there was some some literal and tangible elements to it. I didn't want to go to ops necessarily. 

0:39:58

(MK Granados)

I really loved the intersection of sales and marketing and value conversations. How do you get everyone to have what they want? And then I landed on I always bring it back to the office, but there was an episode of The Office where Michael Scott has to go over and negotiate an argument between or facilitate between Oscar and Angela, what they're allowed to decorate at their desk. And he's looking at a textbook. how it can go. He goes, okay, there's win -win, there's win -lose. 

0:40:24

(MK Granados)

This is win -win -win, even I'm happy. And that's where I look at it and go, the attendees are happy, the exhibitors are happy, the show organizers is happy, you've nailed it. So once I realized that I have a perspective that I wanted to share and I am exploding with excitement and ideas on it, I had to kind of form my own community by creating my own newsletter, which I'm thrilled to say it crossed over 1 ,000 subscribers, my latest issue. We have 1 ,000 people out there who want to make sponsorships and experiences even better. And so embracing the fact that communities can form around anything, doesn't matter how niche it is. And it can be a virtual community. 

0:41:03

(MK Granados)

I mean, to your point, with Club Ichi, that Slack, I could sit there and go, we thought of a caricature artist as an activation, but but it didn't quite land with the client. 

0:41:11

(Chris Dunn)

What's something similar but different? And 10 people are going to go, oh, I saw this at an event. I saw sand art being custom done. I saw this. I saw that. 

0:41:19

(MK Granados)

And now you can go back to your exhibitor and say, we didn't lose you. 

0:41:22

(Brendon Hamlin)

We can still pull this sponsorship together to be what you want. 

0:41:25

(Chris Dunn)

Here's a few more options. 

0:41:27

(Speaker 8)

That's what communities can do. 

0:41:30

(Chris Dunn)

That's, that's really cool. Rolling in the same direction. Brendan and I are forming a community around craft beer. I think it actually, the community actually exists. We're just tapping into it a little bit more specifically. Yeah. 

0:41:44

(Chris Dunn)

Tapping into it. Right. Good one. 

0:41:47

(Speaker 24)

There we go. 

0:41:48

(Chris Dunn)

Excellent illustration. So, yes. So, I mean, hopefully our, Big picture relationship goes goes like this. But about a year ago, Brendan and I connected online and asked him to be a guest on our show. 

0:42:03

(Brendon Hamlin)

And we hit it off. And now I'm going to visit Asheville, North Carolina in a couple of weeks. And I've always wanted to go there. Brendan, it was about a year ago right now that the shit hit the proverbial fan. everything kind of changed for your beautiful little town. 

0:42:17

(Chris Dunn)

Yeah. How is that? How are things? Is recovery mode still happening? I'm not everything's back to normal. Yeah, it's going to be I mean, it'll be years, you know, ultimately, if you if you go west on I -40 west of Asheville and you like you're going towards Knoxville, there's I mean, this river carved out part of a mountain, you know, the highway is down to two lanes because the, you know, the power of this storm was just unbelievable. 

0:42:48

(Chris Dunn)

So that kind of stuff is going to take a long time to fix, but there are, there are a lot of signs of hope and rebuilding and, and, and, um, you know, kind of things coming back. So, uh, and you'll see that when you, when you come, but there's still, there's areas that are still raw. So, um, You know, it's kind of both both sides. It's great to see it all coming back, but the signs that it happened are still there. So. 

0:43:14

(MK Granados)

Right. Well, and that's a great example of community, right? 

0:43:17

(Chris Dunn)

Like you probably never felt closer to the Asheville community until after that happened. 

0:43:22

(MK Granados)

And you literally are depending on your neighbors for your life in some cases. Yeah, people were right. So, you know, it's not exactly hopefully it doesn't get quite that dicey and club each year where we're depending on each other for our lives. But but. In some ways, you know, sometimes those ideas can be game changing or job opportunities that come up or whatever the case may be, the more folks that you kind of have in that sphere and within that community and building that network. 

0:43:51

(Speaker 27)

I mean, it's only, you know, going to come to serve you. 

0:43:57

(MK Granados)

Here at the Toolbox, we like to pump our guests for more information before we let them go. So, MK, do you have maybe a couple little nuggets, might be things we've already talked about, or something maybe that you've been keeping in your back pocket, but some cool takeaways, one or two, three, that you can leave with our guests here that maybe they can put into action or at least keep in their back pocket for future usage? Look, I could go on all day. If you can't tell, I'm bursting. I got so much more to say. 

0:44:32

(MK Granados)

You can't contain me. Not everything has to be for everyone. Not every sponsorship or product design needs to fit all exhibitors. And you can define a product and who it's eligible for. Hey, we priced it pretty cheap. And you know what? 

0:44:49

(MK Granados)

It's only available to first time exhibitors or only available to those who are startups because this is subsidized for them to be able to do what they need to do. Or it's priced more premium, and that's going to be out of price range for certain brands at an event. 

0:45:00

(Speaker 26)

But the value is there, and it's designed with a big brand in mind who wants to demonstrate multiple product lines or something like that. 

0:45:08

(MK Granados)

It achieves their goals. And I'd say the same thing then goes on the attendee side. I could throw the opening night party of a trade show and invite 100 % of people and ridiculous amount of people, and not all of them are going to be qualified leads for me as a brand. Or I can create a more niche experience, host the meetup for one specific persona that matters most to me and invest all my swag and all my energy and all my hospitality into the right audience. 

0:45:37

(Chris Dunn)

So I think really knowing your brand's goals, your budget, the audience, the personas behind your marketing strategy. Go to the table with a really clear target in mind. And maybe that is we're going to dominate the show. Our logo is going to be the biggest thing there is. Everyone's going to leave knowing we're a healthy company and a crazy economy. And we're good and we're solid. 

0:46:00

(Chris Dunn)

And we're going to signify that by being just plain loud. Or going to become the best and favorite brand to this one niche. Video editors are going to leave this show knowing I am the cool new thing for their one little niche thing. You have the ability to scale and target from both sides of the aisle. That would be one. 

0:46:23

(Chris Dunn)

You know, before you go to anything more, I'm reminded, there's a great saying, it's like, if you're trying to be for everyone, you're for no one, right? 

0:46:31

(Speaker 10)

So the idea of niching down to some extent, or at least knowing who you are. 

0:46:36

(Chris Dunn)

I did a video while I was on the show floor the other day. And it was along those lines. 

0:46:43

(MK Granados)

It's like, you know, we're getting more and more inbound, which is great. 

0:46:48

(Speaker 25)

We're being seen. 

0:46:49

(Speaker 24)

I think part of what happens when you have a podcast and you have a lot of content, you become more searchable, more findable. 

0:46:56

(Chris Dunn)

But what we're finding is that a lot of the folks who are coming in are not a great fit for us. So the goal is, how do you vet that really quickly? And how do you understand Um, if we're not a fit for you, I want to get to that really quickly. 

0:47:09

(Speaker 20)

Um, it's much like the experience that happens on the trade show floor, right? 

0:47:12

(Chris Dunn)

You've got people who walk into your booth. Um, it might be a great conversation, but usually you can kind of get a sense like, Oh, I'm actually the wife of one of the doctors here. 

0:47:21

(MK Granados)

Great. Well, how fantastic conversation. Here's, um, you know, our little, our, our, our heart shaped, uh, squishy, you know, stress balls. Why don't you take one of those t -shirts and go back home to your kid. Yeah. There you go. 

0:47:34

(MK Granados)

Right. Take that home or a plush dog toy for your pet. But working through those people who aren't fit. 

0:47:40

(Speaker 10)

So along the lines of what you're saying right here is like, know what you're going after, know who you should be talking to and understand who who who we are, what we do well so that we can find a good fit in and amongst the crowded marketplace. 

0:47:53

(Chris Dunn)

Right. 

0:47:53

(MK Granados)

Because we aren't for everybody. But but the people that we are for, we're really good for them. 

0:47:58

(Chris Dunn)

And someone was dissatisfied. 

0:48:00

(Chris Dunn)

because that fit was missing. 

0:48:02

(Brendon Hamlin)

I didn't achieve my results. 

0:48:04

(Chris Dunn)

Well, were you crystal clear on what you were aiming for? 

0:48:06

(Brendon Hamlin)

Or were you just hoping at the end to see a magic number of leads? Leads was your goal. 

0:48:11

(Speaker 16)

Let's talk about a funnel that generates them. 

0:48:14

(Brendon Hamlin)

But if product awareness and press awareness, well, then we need to work really hard on delivering you press engagement. 

0:48:21

(Speaker 15)

Clarity, all about clarity, yeah. 

0:48:24

(MK Granados)

Excellent. Do you have another takeaway? I had one, it went out of my mind. 

0:48:29

(Speaker 23)

It'll come back. 

0:48:32

(MK Granados)

Quick, Brendan, do some song and dance. Kill some time. So back to Asheville. I can't wait to go to see the popcorn people, Poppy Popcorn. That's right. That's right. 

0:48:42

(MK Granados)

Yeah. We'll have to get you a tour there. There you go. I thought it was really good, too. I'll share it later. I'll comment on this post when it comes back to me an hour from now. 

0:48:53

(MK Granados)

Fantastic. I think audience -centric design is what matters. And if you can, as an event organizer, tell a sponsor, here's what we're doing and why we're doing it. And you're going to be a part of that story with us. And we know you're going to be appreciated by our audience because we have the data that proves it. In our post -event survey last year, 75 % of people said the food court sucked and it was overpriced and it was a bad experience. 

0:49:16

(MK Granados)

It was a waste of my time. We're putting a food truck in the center lobby there. That could be you. You could be the food truck. We know it's going to go really well. We're deciding to put it there because of feedback. 

0:49:29

(MK Granados)

that belongs in your sales pitch. And that's not just the event manager talking to the operations manager and saying, let's put a food truck there. It's tell the salespeople and the sponsorship teams and the marketers, here's a cool story. Now let's bring an exhibitor in to be a part of that with us. 

0:49:43

(Chris Dunn)

So I think that strategy, but then there's almost another step of communicating that strategy. I think sometimes in event organizers, we're busy people, we're stressed people, we're on the road. 

0:49:53

(MK Granados)

We don't always communicate everything. We have a 

0:49:55

(Speaker 15)

team meeting with a set agenda that sometimes doesn't uncover everything that needs to be uncovered. 

0:50:00

(Chris Dunn)

I've taken to, I have a Teams community within Informa where, again, this is another channel where I broadcast. 

0:50:06

(Speaker 21)

And if you're ready to receive a message, I'm ready to send it. 

0:50:09

(Speaker 17)

So I recorded a six -minute video of myself yesterday describing a situation, a thing, you know, where we have an internal AI tool. 

0:50:15

(MK Granados)

Here's this new thing you can do in it. In six minutes or less, I can describe it to you. Watch it now, watch it later, watch it while you're sipping your coffee. I'm making this information available to you. So finding more ways to communicate with each other as a team can be a step towards better sponsorship, audience -centric design, really intentional customer experiences. Right. 

0:50:36

(MK Granados)

And I love kind of that example of the food truck in the courtyard because of the feedback you got from last year. So not only does it create a new sponsorship opportunity, it also says to all exhibitors who were dissatisfied with the food options from last year, it's like, oh, we voiced our opinion, they heard us, they solved that problem, or they at least, you know, made efforts to kind of roll out alternatives. Right? Yeah, I think one of the other things show organizers struggle with is scalability. Oh, that was it scale. Yes. 

0:51:05

(MK Granados)

Okay. 

0:51:06

(Speaker 22)

I knew we would get it. 

0:51:08

(Speaker 21)

Yes. 

0:51:08

(MK Granados)

Okay. So two thoughts here. Um, An event organizer has a big idea, and it's going to be expensive, and they want to land a sponsor for it. And they go, oh my God, there's no way I'm going to find a sponsor who's willing to pay the full bill for this. So then I have to divide it and hope I get three sponsors to cover a third of it. And then what happens if I don't get all three? 

0:51:28

(MK Granados)

And I think having really value -based conversations, thinking about how much you want to subsidize and experience, how flexible you want to be on sponsorship pricing, they're difficult conversations. And this is one of those areas where we get scared of innovation because it's hard. It's hard to introduce a new product. But I think that's creative solutions. That's finding the right partner. At one of the conferences, 

0:51:49

(MK Granados)

I worked at, uh, the security conference, we had a passport program and we wanted to do this really cool experience, but we needed like five stops to be sold before we even broke even on this cool thing we wanted to do. Well, instead we went to one of the distributors and said, Hey, how many brands do you distribute? Five, 15. Okay. Want to go to all 15 of your brands. You are the overarching sponsor of this thing. 

0:52:13

(MK Granados)

passport program, the scavenger hunt goes to all of your brands booths, you reselling it basically on our behalf. We covered our costs right up front. You wrote us the big check on you now to cover your own plan, but you're a hero to all the brands you want to represent. So that was a change in how you go to market and finding that value alignment. Um, so I think the ability to do big things takes some of that creativity and then scalability, uh, exhibitors. are tempted to go off on their own, to do it on their own. 

0:52:47

(MK Granados)

We're going to have a reception, but it's going to be us across the street at, oh God, what's that thing in the front of Treasure Island in Vegas? Is it like a Gillies or something? It's a country bar. I can go rent that thing out, throw my own party, and it's on me to invite the whole audience and hope they show up and hope they prioritize it, make sure they RSVP to me so I know how many to bring and do all the logistics on my own. You can do that. But think about what you can't do on your own. 

0:53:16

(MK Granados)

And organizers, think about what you can offer that a brand can't do on their own, because that's the value identity. Look, you can throw your own party and open up your own RSVP program, but it's not in the official show channels. It's not in the official event agenda, discoverable, addable to your day. It's extra steps for someone. It's inconvenient. It's off site. 

0:53:37

(MK Granados)

We can put you on site. We can give you a cool venue closer. There's a million different ways in which that conversation is starting to break down. where a brand goes, I'll buy those mobile billboard trucks that circle the convention centers. You probably saved a couple bucks doing that compared to buying an outright sponsorship from a show. 

0:53:59

(Chris Dunn)

And sponsorship prices go up, and it's not an easy conversation to say, this is how much we charge for our signage. take it or leave it and they leave it and they go find an alternative. And that's probably one of the conversations that keeps me more up at night. And so an event organizer can unlock scale. They can unlock every single surface and digital communication and channel around the event for you. If you ask, if you say, what is worth more to me than an off -site billboard. 

0:54:33

(Chris Dunn)

Okay, it's this. 

0:54:34

(Speaker 20)

It's having multiple surfaces to put my whole product line or it is the ability to target and segment. 

0:54:40

(MK Granados)

It's not that I want to spend all my money and reach the whole audience and it's wrong. I want to reach the right audience. Okay, I have all the reg data. I'm the event organizer. Let's talk about segmenting that email list and sending one email, smaller list, to the right people who are going to get the invite to your event. 

0:54:57

(Speaker 19)

You can still do your own thing, but we have the audience and the channels. 

0:55:00

(Speaker 9)

Let's find the ways in which we're going to help each other. 

0:55:05

(Brendon Hamlin)

That's a realistic thing in sponsorships right now. 

0:55:08

(Chris Dunn)

Right. 

0:55:09

(Speaker 9)

That's a great way to end. 

0:55:11

(Chris Dunn)

I love that. Comes back to asking the right questions, not being afraid to ask the right questions, not making assumptions like, oh, they'll never go for this. 

0:55:18

(Speaker 16)

Like, I don't have the conversation. 

0:55:20

(Chris Dunn)

Find out. Like you said, nothing's really set in stone, right? There's a lot of pliability that's available. There are a few. 

0:55:26

(Speaker 18)

Especially if you're willing to put in the elbow grease. 

0:55:28

(Chris Dunn)

The event organizer is busy. They can't spend a ton of time on customization or they might not have the bandwidth to or might not meet your expectations. If you're willing to carry the ball to the finish line, they should let you pass the, I don't know, football analogy, something about football. You guys got it. They should let you take the handoff. 

0:55:46

(Chris Dunn)

They should do the sports ball thing. So much good sports ball going on these days. All right. 

0:55:55

(Speaker 13)

Well, this is awesome. 

0:55:56

(Chris Dunn)

MK, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. I'm happy to say that although I was bounced out of my own show, I did make it back in. And I know that you guys carried the load. You carried the ball while I was gone. 

0:56:08

(Speaker 17)

My God, look at that great tie -in right there. 

0:56:10

(Speaker 9)

We did. 

0:56:13

(Speaker 16)

I think that's literally the first time I've gotten bounced out of the show. 

0:56:16

(Chris Dunn)

So anyways, we'll see. 

0:56:17

(Speaker 6)

Hopefully the audio and the video stays intact and it's in good shape. 

0:56:22

(Chris Dunn)

We will use that as content going forward. And hopefully everybody out there enjoyed this conversation. A lot of times people will ping me after the show is over and they're like, oh, I so wanted to do that, but I got tied up. Is there any way I can get a recording? 

0:56:36

(Speaker 15)

And the answer is yes, it just lives on forever here, right at this actual very URL and on YouTube as well. 

0:56:43

(MK Granados)

And it will also be in all of your favorite podcast channels by like Saturday morning. So. Thanks so much for joining us, MK. This did not disappoint whatsoever. This is a great conversation. Brendan, as always, thank you for sitting in the co -host seat. 

0:57:00

(MK Granados)

You didn't know that at any point today you may, in fact, be in charge. 

0:57:04

(Chris Dunn)

I was ready. You were ready to go. 

0:57:08

(MK Granados)

Absolutely. 

0:57:09

(Speaker 14)

You got all your helpers there. 

0:57:10

(Speaker 13)

You got Ethel. 

0:57:11

(Speaker 12)

the pooch in the background that we can't see, but they're there for support. 

0:57:16

(Chris Dunn)

So, MK, how do people reach you? 

0:57:19

(MK Granados)

Is LinkedIn or any other channel the best way to get a hold of you? Because people are going to want to get more MK Cronatos in their life, that's for sure. 

0:57:27

(Chris Dunn)

LinkedIn is great. 

0:57:29

(Chris Dunn)

It helps if you customize the message when you send it to me, just so that I know you're not just there to sell me something. 

0:57:34

(Speaker 10)

honestly. 

0:57:36

(Brendon Hamlin)

If you exhibit at an Informa show, if you are a brand at an Informa show, feel free to ask your team to bring me. I will brainstorm with you. 

0:57:43

(Speaker 10)

I will add this value to how you show up at one of our events. 

0:57:46

(Speaker 9)

That's just me having fun and being a part of things that the sales rep might not have thought to pull me in on. 

0:57:53

(Chris Dunn)

Subscribe to my newsletter, the Sponsorship Playbook. And I hope we cross paths. That's great. Would it be inappropriate if I leveraged this new relationship of ours for all of the clients I have at all your shows and just like, I got a gal on the inside who could totally do some noodling with the... Let's go. Let's go. 

0:58:13

(Chris Dunn)

Absolutely. There we go. We got some big players at World of Concrete. 

0:58:17

(Speaker 8)

I heard the beer garden is up for grabs and I really want to see someone build out some cool stuff. 

0:58:24

(Brendon Hamlin)

And I feel like that has your name on it. Oh my god, beer garden. 

0:58:27

(Speaker 6)

Somebody said beer. There we go. Did my ears burn up? Yes, they did. All right, guys. Well, everybody, thank you for joining us. 

0:58:38

MK and Brendan, thank you for joining us. Happy eventing. Happy rest of the week. Everybody enjoy and cheers. We'll catch you next week. We'll do it the same time, the same bat channel. 

0:58:49

And we'll have another great guest on episode number 41. So take care, everybody. See you. Thanks. Bye.