Tim Bourquin has a great post over at Tradeshow Startup about announcing a sponsor of your conference, tradeshow or convention.  As Tim stated in his post:

Everyone who has ever launched a trade show has been in the ?chicken or the egg? conundrum. Sponsors like the idea of your show but don?t want to commit until they see who else is committing.

This is something that is very difficult to deal with as an event continues to grow. The problem with sponsors usually plagues the newer conference that is not well established. If your conference is in its second or third year, chances are the sponsors fall into place  each year as the date and location have been established for the next event. 

Tim’s post does describe a dilemma for new conferences.  None of the potential sponsors wants to be first, but once a larger named company signs on the rest usually fall into place.  They fear the dreaded ROI, or return on investment for their sponsorship dollar.  What if the conference is a flop?  What if the conference’s projections are off the mark?  Of course, once a company signs on as a sponsor, then the conference usually begins to get some attendees.  This truly is a chicken and egg problem as Tim states.

In addition, when the larger sponsors sign on the bottom line for a conference, that is when the injection of funding allows for more and elaborate marketing of the event.  Without that funding, the event must be bootstrapped, and unless the organizer has unlimited funds, its success may be headed for trouble again.  Organizers and planners need to begin their planning process by understanding this dilemma and put in plans for problems with sponsors, and problems with a budget.

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