7 years ago, I decided to organise my first ever independent event to raise awareness about the issues of domestic abuse.
I didn’t have any company backing, team members or money but what I knew for sure was that my rock-solid event strategies was enough. I already had tons of successful events under my belt, graduated with an Events Diploma and I was already securing thousands of cash sponsorships at that time.
My goal was to create a Domestic Abuse Seminar for 100+ attendees with ZERO dollars.
With a combination of optimism and naivety, I did everything that was right in the “events rule book”. I did the strategic proposals and packages, approached sponsors that was the right fit and 1 week flew by with nothing.
No response to my emails.
Nobody was picking up my calls.
And to say that I was stressed and overwhelmed was an understatement.
I spent my time calling up speakers, perfecting my proposals, all while swaying between the decision to postpone or cancel the event. I felt so demotivated and stressed.
2 weeks passed, and still nothing.
I didn’t understand why my usual event approach that had been used by reputable companies with over 80 years of experience didn’t work. I knew I had to change my strategy fast.
I threw away everything that I knew about securing sponsors and partners out the window and started to get deeply personal with my invitation. I ditched all my fancy proposals and packages, and send ONE simple email to each sponsor. And almost overnight, the once ‘elusive’ sponsors started coming to ME and asking me how they could support my event. All of a sudden, I was a sponsor’s magnet!
The results were so incredible, I could hardly believe it!
I had to turn down cash sponsorship as I already had what I needed (my first time in my history of event planning!). The most gorgeous museum in Singapore decided to be my venue sponsor, and I had tons and tons of in-kind sponsors from beauty gift boxes, tea break refreshments and cookies, theatre tickets, a photography booth and the list was endless.
The strategy worked so well that I even secured my dream speakers and partners! From the UN Women Singapore to the youngest bestselling author in Singapore who I was a HUGE fan of, to be part of my event!
That was the first time I learnt the art of a win-win collaboration with just one email which I teach my clients today.
9 years in the Events Industry
I feel really lucky to be part of so many epic events from award-winning festivals, international conferences and fundraising charity dinners. From working alone to being part of a huge talented team, from having big budgets to having obviously-not-enough-to-pay-everything budgets, from doing events as part of big, reputable companies and small start-ups, I’ve seen it all.
That’s when I noticed that there is a HUGE difference between doing an event with the resources, reputation and money, and the events without.
Both get the same successful results but with completely different strategies. What works for a company that has been around for 10 years doesn’t work for a start-up.
That completely solved the mystery of why my event strategies that worked so well for a big 80 year old association doesn’t work for me. And if someone had told me that earlier, I would have saved so much time and secured so much more sponsorships!
The biggest event I had ever organised is a million dollar project called World Gourmet Summit Festival. Working with some of the biggest international partners like Citibank and Air France, I've learnt what the biggest companies in the world would look for in a sponsorship negotiation and proposal. It was also tons of fun and being named “one of the six best gourmet events in the world” by Sydney Morning Herald was a cherry on top.
Today, I worked with amazing entrepreneurs who are tapping on the power of events to scale their business. From crafting a magnetising programme that attracts sponsors & partners, to securing high profile speakers, my clients gain the clarity, tools and confidence to host wildly successful event with ease.
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