Why are we seeking sponsorship?
To make Front End North a success, or even feasible, we require the support from sponsors to cover our base operational costs, provide the correct services to ensure our conference is inclusive to all, and ideally treat our attendees to some extras, such as the evening social.
An accessible and affordable event for all
In our first event-planning meeting, our number one goal was to make Front End North accessible to as many people as possible, so in addition to choosing a venue that has facilities to welcome all attendees, we really wanted to keep our ticket price as low as we possibly could.
We want to make our event open to all, and having an affordable ticket price empowers people to get involved without the financial backing of a company shouldering the expense. In addition to those working full time in the industry, we're hoping a lower barrier to entry will attract a diverse audience from those currently out of work, studying, self-employed, or simply interested in the web.
A special thank you to our speakers for volunteering their time, expertise and skills, in return for only the cost of a hotel and their travel expenses. Without their generosity, an affordable ticket price would simply not be an option without up front sponsorship.
Sustainability
Setting a low ticket price before having confirmed sponsors has tested our appetite for risk - we've had to calculate the bare minimum ticket price and sales required to cover our base costs to run the event. Sponsorship gives us sustainability, to ensure the smooth running of this event and enable us to come back next year, and the year after that. If it wasn't for the money we had in reserve from Front End North 2020, this year's event may not have been achievable, especially when you consider the inflation in costs since we last ran the event.
Helping to boost the tech scene in Sheffield
We're strong advocates of building the front end community in Sheffield, it's why we're volunteering our time to run our free monthly meet-up, Front End Sheffield, and it's why we're running this conference. Sheffield is often overshadowed by its northern neighbours, and we're trying to do our bit to connect, build and grow the local community.
Building a stronger tech scene in Sheffield is important and beneficial to us, but also to local and nearby employers.
Supporting Front End Sheffield
To support our community goals, we plan to use a small amount of any money left over from Front End North to pay for the essentials that keep Front End Sheffield going and continuing to have an impact throughout the year.
A further aspiration of ours is to attract speakers from outside of the city, but to achieve this, we would ideally need to support speaker travel costs.
What's in it for sponsors?
We're hoping our 3 packages, which are inline to our 2020 offerings, offer flexibility for companies of varying sizes to get involved, and to support our goals with promoting and expanding the tech community in the north.
In return we plan to promote each company or service before, during and after the event, through our socials, on the day in our slides, sponsor booths, and if you go gold, via your own lightning talk. We expect to attract attendees from around the country, so Front End North would make a great platform to advertise your presence, whether that is in the north or elsewhere in the country, and give you an opportunity to share and discuss any open or upcoming job vacancies directly with attendees.
If you're interested in reading more, you can check out our sponsors page for more information.