Raise a Dream

Sponsorship for Speakers Made Easy!

For speakers, keynoters, and seminar leaders who are serious about growing their speaking business through collaboration, sponsorship funds, and influence, one the first few things you must have clarity around is the value that you bring to the sponsor (and their audience).

Clarifying the Speaker/Sponsor Relationship:

When corporate sponsors invest time, in-kind contributions, and sponsorship funding or dollars into your big dreams and projects, they are looking to get return on investment.

You see, sponsorship is a marketing relationship where the sponsor is helping you (e.g. contributing cash and other resources or products to your projects), but you are also helping them.

Collaboration: Why Sponsors & Funders Want You To Partner on Projects

There are many desirable benefits of collaboration... Projects and dreams get launched faster when people come together with common goals, risk is reduced when responsibility is shared, and there are more ways to engage and recognize sponsors. Overall, the end result of any dream raised through collaboration and partnership can be much bigger and better than you may have achieved on your own.

Commonly, collaborative projects are often referred to as alliances, coalitions, partnerships, and networks. Working as teams or units provides the potential or ability to tackle and address challenging problems with innovative solutions.

Sponsors (and funding organizations) are more often encouraging (and in some cases requiring) collaboration as a way of reducing duplication of services, reducing risk, increasing results, and improving sustainability (you can read more here).

17 Savvy Strategies to Sell More Books at Book Signings

I’ve been there. The bookstore book signing is so quiet you can hear a pin drop. This does not feel good for the author or for the bookstore.

So how do you make sure your book signing events are busy, engaging people, and selling lots of books?

Collaborate on Pre-Event Book Signing Marketing

Ensure you meet or talk with the bookstore or book event host to plan out a shared marketing campaign.

Typically bookstores do little to promote the signings; however, here are the things that bookstores (Chapters, Coles, and independent stores) have done in the past to promote book signings when efforts to collaborate result in a coordinated plan ahead of time:

Hire an Event Planner: The Key to Sanity, Savings, and Success!

Event planners. They are the treasured keepers of sanity, savings, and success and the reasons to partner with or hire an event planner for your next event are profuse.

Of course, savvy speakers, authors, and entrepreneurs will try to minimize event costs, perhaps believing that one such saving is to NOT hire an event planning professional. We get it. We’ve been there.

But… the reality of not having a volunteer team, event planning expert, and event support is that everything falls into your lap.

As an event host or speaker, it's not just that you likely will not have the time (or skill set) to manage all these details... it shouldn't be you doing these tasks. If you’re the frazzled one moving furniture, dealing with heating/cooling issues, and handling questions about where the bathrooms are from the attendees, you’re probably not painting the image you wish for yourself as an expert or speaker.

Volunteers: 10 Critical Roles Volunteers Can Play at Your Next Event

Volunteers at live events are incredibly valuable!

Great volunteers will help set a positive tone and create an energetic environment for the event. They are that memorable, smiling face of the event as guests and attendees arrive.

When your attendees need support, volunteers often jump in to answer questions and meet needs throughout the event.

Recently, Raise a Dream was a sponsor of the Global Influence Summit (GIS) where I presented on sponsorship, along with being one of the GIS co-founders and co-hosts.

Meeting and Collaborating Online: Tools and Success Tips

Technology makes it possible to create a presence wherever you are in the world. For sponsors and brands, this potential is very exciting.

Virtual meetings have the capacity to connect with both existing and new audiences through many platforms. The possibilities for collaborating online with partners is only limited by your imagination.

There are several platforms our Dream Team at Raise a Dream love. Start using these tools to reach out and make new sponsorship connections and make your next virtual meeting a success!

Servant Leadership: The Creative Way to Build Shared Success Through Collaboration and Partnership

Exactly what is servant leadership?

Servant leadership isn’t about power or hierarchy. It’s about collaboration and partnership. And every organization needs leadership. We all know what happens to a ship when someone isn’t at the helm — it sinks.

Having a captain that stands at the helm and barks orders at everyone will get the job done. Sometimes, it’ll even get the job done well. The problem is that nobody is having any fun in that scenario. Nobody is communicating, learning, or sharing knowledge and responsibility. It doesn’t leave anyone any room to grow -- not for the deckhands, the captain, nor anyone in between.

You see, when “the boss” is the boss, it puts everyone beneath them—it doesn’t build teams, growth, or community.

Yin and Yang: The Essential Balance in Modern Business

Yin and yang, masculine and feminine, whatever you want to call it... men and women bring very different energy to relationships.

Why is this relevant to your business? I’ll tell you.

No matter what business you are in, a successful business is built on relationships. Your ability to understand your own balance of feminine and masculine energy, as well as the balance of others, will directly affect how and with whom you do business.

Let’s be clear that when we talk about the masculine and feminine energy, we are talking about just that—energy. Men and women each possess both masculine and feminine energies and qualities.

10 Tips on How Collaborating With Your University Alumni Can Help Raise Dreams

Recently, Charmaine had the opportunity to speak at the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Convention (CAPS) in Ottawa. Many speakers attended her session on Planning a Speaking and Book Tour.

One of the marketing tips she provided was ensuring that your college or university alumni is engaged in your project. Alumni associations love to hear and share the good news of their members and graduates (no matter how long ago it was). They all have a big database, a large social media following, newsletters, events, and magazines or publications.

Charmaine has been featured in all her Alumni magazines (Sheridan College, Royal Roads University, University of Waterloo, and Renison College). Two of these Alumni nominated her for prestigious awards, one of which she was honoured with several years ago (Alumni of the year).

They have also hosted events for Charmaine and have attended conferences where she is speaking. She has had numerous updates and full-page features in their magazines and newsletters over the years.