How to prepare for Atlassian Summit 2020 as sponsors | Kick-off
Atlassian Summit 2020 is slated to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from 31st March 2020 to 2nd April 2020! It is one of the biggest events of the year for Atlassanians, Partners, Vendors, and Product users. It witnesses people from all over the world under one roof for the 3-day event where you learn, network and party - because that's important too! This year the focus has shifted from the ultimate user conference to a team conference. Teams will here collectively learn innovative ways to work.
TechTime has been sponsors of the event for the past 6 years and takes pride in attending each year. In 2020, we are again sponsoring Atlassian Summit under our Be Lazy. The Machine Does It Better brand presenting our apps EasySSO (the enterprise Single-Sign-On), UserManagement (automatic management for inactive users) and EasyTime (Automatic time tracking).
As Marketplace Vendors, the Atlassian Summit holds enormous importance. It gives us the chance to speak with our customers, network with other partners and vendors and showcase our apps to attendees. It's an event we all look forward to, Every.Single.Year.
For most vendors like us, this is a carefully planned event and the run-up to this can be quite stressful. As the new Marketing Specialist, at TechTime I had the opportunity to manage the event and I couldn't be more excited. Because I love planning every minute detail I used Confluence, Jira and Trello for planning this event. Yes, I'm using all 3 and it has been an incredible experience. While I was planning this event, I was hoping to find tips and experiences outside of my work. Learn from their mistakes and journey. However, I couldn't find any. So, I thought why don't I share my experience with you.
Here are some tips you can use to plan your Summit - and if they're useful, thank me at the Summit!
Research
Look over past Jira tickets for the event, quiz your colleagues who've attended the event, read up threads on Atlassian Community and go through any documentation available. I did and it certainly helped. It gave me an idea of the scope of work and deadlines to be met. I was lucky enough to have Kat Warner, who is a Community Leader and has been organising the Summit for TechTime for the last 2 years. She shared her experience in detail which certainly helped in planning the event. It is always worth asking your colleagues on their experiences and if you've been to one, learn from them and make improvements.
Sponsorship options
If you are still looking to sponsor Atlassian Summit 2020 you have varied options fitting different budgets. All sponsorship events have different perks, so choose carefully and select the best fit for your needs. You can have a look at the prospectus to see if Summit is a viable option for you. In the year 2019, 4,800+ people attended the Summit! Pro Tip: This year a lot of new sponsorship options have been introduced.
Designate an event-coordinator
The person would be responsible for all things Summit, they typically have access to the Exhibit Resource Center (ERC) where all information where Atlassian lists tasks and summit information. The select person would take care of accommodation, flight, pass, make sure that all your marketing collaterals are with Atlassian and are up to date with the latest information. In case of inquiries, they can contact sponsorship@atlassian.com.
Hold a Summit Kick-off meeting
As sponsors, you certainly are looking for the most bang for your buck. Make sure there is a plan in place, everyone attending the Summit knows their responsibilities and how you plan to get the most return on your investment. Have a planning document where you discuss all things Summit and make decisions. We are using Jira, Confluence, and Trello for planning and it has immensely quickened our decision-making process. We have a ready to edit template here.
In our meeting we had a high-level discussion on:
- Goal for the Summit
- Responsibilities of team members
- Important decisions like flight dates and accommodation
- Choice of swag
- Booth script: Conversation starter points, lead qualifying questions
- Marketing collaterals
- Post-summit campaign
- ROI from the Summit
Order your lead retrieval
Getting quality leads is always a good goal to have. Depending on the sponsorship type you have 1-2 lead retrieval devices included. Check to see how many you need so that you don't lose out on your leads. They're priced at $200 each for every additional device.
Order swag on time
In case your team is passing on swag, make sure you have ideas in place an order is placed on time. For some places, the turn-around can take a while. You can brainstorm, come up with ideas get votes from your team. Most places where you order bulk gives you a good price. Pro Tip: If you're coming from overseas, get your swag directly delivered to your hotel so that you don't have to carry it with you from your home country.
Meet the deadlines
Atlassian uploads tasks to be completed on the ERC for sponsors to complete. Make sure you meet them before the deadline. Missing them would entail losing out on brand exposure. They have specifications and guidelines which you must follow so that your brand sits up pretty!
These are some tasks we've envisioned, and the list is going to pile on as we get closer to the due date. We hope this helps you plan your Summit well! TechTime will be there hoping to chat with you at the Atlassian Summit 2020! Looking forward to seeing each one of you.
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Poorvi Jhawar
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Digital Marketing Specialist
New Zealand
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