Sponsorships (SF Bay Area)

• How to sponsor

• How to pay

• Instructions for vendor shows

• CACO Policies on Sponsorships

  - Refund policy

  - Membership information sharing

  - Vendor speakers 

How to sponsor a CACO event:  

You can sign up for either the major sponsorship or the vendor show of a seminar luncheon or a workshop by visiting the CACO home page and clicking on the Register link in the event calendar.

Vendors can participate in our meetings in one of the following two ways (Click here to sign up):

• As a "Major Sponsor" ($2000 for each event, or for the morning or afternoon session of a full-day event)

As the sole Major Sponsor for each event (or for the morning or afternoon session of a full-day event), you will be able to get great exposure to our large membership base through distributing your product PDF flyer through our meeting announcement email, hand out hardcopy brochures to the attendees' seats, and get a 5-minute presentation opportunity immediately before the keynote seminar.  Additionally, you will also have a vendor show table.  This category has turned out to be extremely popular and some vendors have reserved for future slots almost one year ahead. They often use this opportunity to showcase their key new product(s).

If you're interested in sponsoring a CACO-Bay Area event as the Major Sponsor, please consult the CACO event calendar at www.caco-ca.org and sign up for the event of interest to you that is still open for major sponsorship signup.

• As a vendor show sponsor ($300 per show)

Our vendor show is a highly cost-efficient way for vendors to meet our members.  Each vendor gets a display table during the seminar luncheon / workshop.  To maximize the attention the vendors can get from the attendees, we have decided to cap the number of vendors to ~30 for seminar luncheons and ~10 for workshops.

To sign up as a vendor show sponsor, please click on the Event Registration button on the left panel.

Sponsorship Payment Methods:

ALL sponsorship payments (Major Sponsorships as well as vendor shows) MUST be made through our website. At the Event Calendar table at the home page, in the Status column (first column), click on the Vendor Registration link.

Instructions for vendor shows:

Lunch option for vendor representatives:

• The seminar luncheon vendor show: lunches are provided free of charge. You can sign up for the lunch option when you sign up for the vendor show (at the registration options pop-up window).  Your other fellow reps attending the show must sign up for the lunch individually through the seminar luncheon registration process as a regular attendee.

• The workshop/forum luncheon vendor show: lunches are optional for a fee. You can sign up for up to 3 reps when you sign up for the vendor show.

Attending the workshop meeting if you've signed up for the vendor show:

• Each vendor show vendor can receive a complementary copy of the workshop presentation handout, but the vendor representative must pay for the workshop seat.

Attending the vendor show (seminar luncheon or workshop/forum):

• Each vendor (and major sponsor) will get a 6-ft vendor show table.  You can display anything approriate on the table, as well as a poster on the wall behind the table using painters tape.

• For seminar luncheons and afternoon workshops, arrive by 11:00 AM at the venue to set up your display on a 6-ft table (first come first serve).

• For full-day workshops, arrive by 8:00am to set up.

• If you have signed up for lunch, you need to check in with the CACO check-in desk to get your lunch ticket.

• You are encouraged to bring a door prize to attract attendees (we limit one prize per vendor).  If it is a seminar luncheon vendor show, the raffle drawing takes place at the end of the seminar, roughly ~1:15 PM.  If it is a workshop seminar, the drawing takes place normally right before the final workshop session, ~4 PM.

• Vendor show time:

  • Seminar luncheon vendor shows: 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

  • Afternoon Workshop vendor shows: 11:00 AM - 12:45 PM before the workshop;  During the workshop breaks (typically ~2:30-2:45, ~3:45-4:00 PM).

  • Morning vendor shows: ~10:30-10:45 PM

If you plan to ship your vendor show display materials to the meeting in advance:

• Our SF Bay Area meetings typically take place at Crowne Plaza Foster City. You can ship to Banquet Office, Crowne Plaza, 1221 Chess Drive, Foster City, CA 94404 (Indicate "For your name;  CACO Meeting on Date").
   

CACO Policy on Sponsorships:

Refund Policy for Vendors:

Major sponsorship payments are refundable minus a $500 penalty up to 3 months prior to the date of the sponsored event.  Vendor show payments are refundable minus a $100 penalty up to 2 weeks prior to the date of the sponsored event.  After the refund deadline, the sponsorship payment becomes non-refundable.  All refund requests must be made online after you log into your account. We hope that you can understand this, since CACO is an entirely volunteer-run organization and we have to minimize the effort our volunteers have to spend on dealing with such issues.

CACO Policy on Membership Information Sharing:

In order to protect the privacy of our members, our membership information, such as membership list and meeting attendees list, is strictly used for CACO business only and can not be shared with anyone or any party outside the CACO management.

CACO Policy on Vendor Speakers:

We often receive interests from vendors in providing a speaker for one of our meetings. Unfortunately, in order to avoid any impression of commercial promotion or vendor favoritism, the CACO policy generally prohibits use of vendor speakers, except in rare cases where a vendor holds a unique technology that we are interested in hearing about. One compromise solution is that vendors can recommend a client scientist who is an expert on the vendor's technology.

For information and suggestions, click to contact our programs chair.