The February Linked:Seattle meetup will be at the Tea Palace restaurant in Renton on April 20th, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

If you have any questions or billing questions please e-mail linked.ms@surkan.com.

Why sponsor a Linked:Seattle meetup:

• This gives your organization an opportunity to make face-to-face connections with business professionals in the greater Seattle area. We have over 25,000 group members spanning all businesses and job titles.
• Being an official sponsor gives you visibility both at the meetup (i.e. with a table and group introduction) and to the broader group (being mentioned as an official sponsor in a message sent to all 25,000 members).
• Meetups are a non-threatening (and effective) tool to encourage prospects to meet with you (see the section for advise on maximizing meetup success below).

Marketing of this MeetUp is done through:

• Two Announcements to Linked:Seattle’s 25,000+ Members

MeetUp Statistics:

• The Seattle area meetups regularly attract more than 500 people.
• Attendees come from a broad range of backgrounds and positions. A look over the registrations show we have everyone from executives, entrepreneurs, and small business people to job seekers and employed professionals at our events. It is this wide mix of people which makes the Linked:Seattlemeetups such a great tool for both attendees and sponsors.

Sponsorship includes:

• A table space (23 inches X 47 inches)  - NOTE: There are no electrical outlets for the tables.
• FOR ORDERS RECEIVED BY April 17, 2011, an ad space (100 characters maximum, plus URL) in one Announcement to 25,000+ Members . You can still register after the 10th but you won’t be listed in the announcement.
• Your organization mentioned during Michael Surkan’s MeetUp  “Thank You” speech
• Opportunity to offer a prize and be mentioned as a “Drawing Sponsor” during MeetUp drawing (prize value must be $50.00 minimum)

Sponsorship Fee:

• Standard Price: $200.00 (plus taxes)

Maximize the Success of Your Sponsorship:

Some of the sponsors who have had great successes at our previous meetups tell us that they have put in an effort to reach out to people BEFORE the event. You can look through the Linked:Seattle group membership (looking for job title, business, etc) and send messages to people you would particularly want to meet telling them you hope they can stop by your table at the meetup. You can also reach out to prospects by looking over the registered attendee list and them sending them a message via LinkedIn. Just scroll to the bottom of the event registration page to see the list of attendees.

http://bit.ly/lsmeetup

Additionally, you can spark interest in your business by adding comments to several of the threads on Linked:Seattle discussing the meetup. Just add a comment saying that your organization is excited to see everyone there. Mention that you will have a table, and what (if any) prize you are offering at the event. Don’t forget to send out notes to your friends and associates, telling them you will be at the meetup. This is a great opportunity to give your contacts a great reason to catch up with you again.

With a little preparation you can lay the groundwork for a very successful event.

We advise you to invite as many your prospective clients/candidates as possible to meet you at your table.  Your targeted contacts are more likely to come to our MeetUp than to a private meeting!

Create a YouTube video:

If you want to go the extra mile, create a YouTube video about why your organization is excited about Linked:Seattle meetups and it will get prominently promoted to all our group members on a regular basis (as part of the group collection of YouTube videos). Just take a few minutes to talk to your webcam and upload it it to YouTube (and send the link to linked.ms@surkan.com).