Balticon Sponsorship Opportunities
By marketing to Balticon attendees, you reach a demographic of people of above average intelligence who are tech savvy and are in middle to high income brackets. Balticon members come from all over the United States, Canada and Europe, with about 72% coming from the eastern U.S.
In addition to reaching current year Balticon members, your sponsor ad in our BSFan will reach hundreds of additional people as we give away additional copies of the BSFan when we market Balticon through our fan table presence at many other conventions. Your advertisement on the Balticon website will remain on our website for six to twelve months (depending on when we receive your ad) and will reach the thousands of viewers who visit the Balticon website over the course of those months.
We offer the following incentives to encourage Balticon sponsorship:
POC Markeing:
You can support Balticon and your own marketing goals by putting your name in the hands of our members:
Reusable tote bags with your logo or ad imprinted on them. We’ll load your bag up at registration with the BSFan, pocket progam, program grid and miscellaneous goodies and your information will be in front of our members all four days of the convention and for as long as they keep the bag. Minimum 2,000 pieces.
Highlighters with your imprint on them. Balticon members will use your highlighters to mark up their pocket program and program grid to plan their personal con schedules.
Your promotional literature or item (magnets, little toys and 3-D puzzles are always a hit) in the Balticon registration bags (a.k.a. “swag” bags). The fee for this service is ten cents ($.10) per item per bag for a minimum of 2,000 pieces ($200.00).
Your 20% or greater discount coupon (with an expiration at least 6 months after Balticon) in our registration bags. Fee: $.07 per item per bag for a minimum of 2,000 pieces ($140.00).
Sponsorships:
Bring ‘Em Back Sponsorships
We’re raising money to bring to the Balticon Golden Anniversary event all of the Guests of Honor from Balticons 1 through 49 who are willing and able to join us! You can help us to Bring ‘Em Back while marketing to our membership by sponsoring one or more former Balticon Guests of Honor’s appearance at Balticon 50.
So far, the following Balticon Guest of Honor Alumni have accepted our invitation, pending our success in raising the money for their travel and lodging:
| Balticon | Year | Guest of Honor Name(s) |
| 15 | 1981 | John Varley |
| 20 | 1986 | Nancy Springer |
| 26 | 1992 | Donald Kingsbury, Michael F. Flynn, Sheila Finch |
| 27 | 1993 | Allen Steele |
| 32 | 1998 | Harry Turtledove |
| 36 | 2002 | Phil & Kaja Foglio |
| 37 | 2003 | Steve Miller & Sharon Lee |
| 39 | 2005 | Steve Barnes & Tananarive Due |
| 40 | 2006 | Gene Wolf |
| 41 | 2007 | Larry Niven |
| 43 | 2009 | Charles Stross |
| 45 | 2011 | Ben Bova |
| 46 | 2012 | Jody Lynn Nye |
| 47 | 2013 | Joe Haldeman |
| 49 | 2015 | Jo Walton |
Now we just have to raise the money to pay for their transportation and lodging. Most guests are with us from Thursday through Tuesday. Some arrive as early as Wednesday. Help us Make It Happen!
Bring ‘Em Back BERTH Sponsor
When you looked at the above list you probably noticed that some year’s Guests of Honor were couples, and for Balticon 26 we had TEN Guests of Honor— the first 10 winners of the Compton Crook Award.
| Lodging for an Alumnus attending alone or as a couple | $ 800 |
Benefits of BERTH Sponsorship:
- Listing on our website and in the BSFan (our commemorative convention book)
- [Alumnus name(s)] appearing thanks to help from [your name or your company name].
- Your promotional literature or item in the “goodie bags” which will be given to Alumni Guests’ and Honored Guests’.
- Invitation to the exclusive, by-invitation-only Bring ‘Em Back Sponsors’ Autograph Reception.
| Lodging for an Alumnus with an assistant (2 rooms) | $1,600 |
Additonal benefits:
- an up to 252px X 210px web ad (linked to your website) on the Balticon front page
| Lodging for the Compton Crook Alumni (3 – 5 rooms) | $2,400 to 4,800 |
Additonal benefits:
- upgrade to up to 336px X 294px web ad (linked to your website) on the Balticon and BSFS front pages
- placement of your flyer or promotional item in Balticon member registration bags
Bring ‘Em Back TRANSPORTER Sponsor
When we take the average of current estimates, here is the way our budgetary needs look:
| USA Travel Expense for Alumni | $2,345 |
Benefits of TRANSPORTER Sponsorship:
- Listing on our website and in the BSFan (our commemorative convention book)
- [Alumnus name(s)] appearing thanks to help from [your name or your company name].
- Your promotional literature or item in the “goodie bags” which will be given to Alumni Guests’ and Honored Guests’.
- Invitation to the exclusive, by-invitation-only Bring ‘Em Back Sponsors’ Autograph Reception.
- an up to 294px X 210px web ad (linked to your website) on the Balticon front page
- placement of your flyer or promotional item in Balticon member registration bags
The published acknowledgement will that “[year] Balticon XX Alumnus [name of Alumnus] is at Balticon 50 Courtesy of [your name or your company name]. We’ll include your half-page ad in the BSFan and you can have us place your promotional item in our registration bags, thus putting it in front of 2,000 of our closest friends! In addition to the Autograph Reception invitation, we’ll invite you to have dinner with the Con Chair, Guests of Honor and Alumni.
When we take the average of current estimates, here is the way it all shakes out:
| Bring ‘Em Back Lodging Sponsorships | ||
| Lodging for an Alumnus attending alone or as a couple | $ 800 | |
| Lodging for an Alumnus with an assistant (2 rooms) | $1,600 | |
| Lodging for the Compton Crook Alumni (3 – 5 rooms) | $2,400 to 4,800 | |
| USA Travel Expense for Alumni | $2,345 | |
| International Travel Expense for Alumni | $6,500 |
See Sponsor level descriptions below.
Balticon 50 Golden Anniversary Sponsorship Opportunities
As a Balticon Sponsor, your donation can be in the form of cash, goods (pizza for Thursday night truck crew; snacks and/or paper supplies for the Participant or Masquerade Green Rooms or Con Suite; equipment (coffee makers, chafing dishes, microwave ovens, crock pots, sewing machines or sergers; high quality projectors or DVD players, audio and video recording equipment) or services. Donations can be untargeted (going into the general Balticon operating fund), or you can request to sponsor equipment rentals; a function space; transportation and/or lodging for one or more of the award recipients or other honored guests; or a specific event.
Some examples of targetted donations are:
| Feed the Masses: Pizza for the setup crew Thursday night | $ 150 |
| Friday Face Time Receptions | $ 300 |
| Accessibility Services (ASL interpreters) | $ 500/day |
| Truck rental | $40/day |
| Technical equipment rental | $1,200/day |
| Dinner with the Con Chair | $1,500 |
| Balticon Sunday Night Short Film Festival door prizes | $ 200 |
| Con Suite services | $1,200/day |
| Volunteer/Staff lunches or dinners | $ 600/day |
| Children’s Program | $ 150 |
| Teen Program | $ 250 |
| Transportation and Lodging for Heinlein Award Guests | $3,100 |
| Travel and lodging for Compton Crook Award Guests | $3,100 |
| Feed the Masses again: Pizza for the teardown crew Monday night | $150 |
Sponsored guests, events or function spaces will be listed it in the program book, website and at-con as “Brought to Balticon by: YOUR NAME” unless instructed not to do so.
We offer the following incentives to encourage Balticon sponsorship:
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“Friend of Balticon” sponsor donations are valued up to $126. “Friend of Balticon” sponsor names are included on the Balticon sponsors list in the BSFan and on the Balticon website. |
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“We  Balticon” sponsor donations are valued from $126 to $294. “We Balticon” sponsor names are included on the Balticon sponsors list on the web and in the BSFan. |
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LUNAR donations are valued from $294 to $504. We offer the following benefits to Bronze sponsors: |
| • | a business card sized black and white ad in the BSFan; |
| • | an up to 168px X 126px web ad on the Balticon front page |
| • | name with logo included on the Balticon sponsors list on the web, in the BSFan. |
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PLANETARY donations are valued from $504 to $840. We offer the following benefits to Silver sponsors: |
| • | 1/8 page black and white ad in the BSFan |
| • | an up to 210px X 168px web ad (linked to your website) on the Balticon front page |
| • | placement of your promotional items in Balticon registration bags |
| • | sponsor name with logo included on the Balticon sponsors list on the web and in the BSFan. |
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STELLAR donations are valued from $840 to $1764. We offer the following benefits to Gold sponsors: |
| • | 1/4 (quarter) page black and white ad in the BSFan |
| • | an up to 252px X 210px web ad (linked to sponsor website) on the Balticon front page |
| • | placement of their promotional (“swag”) items in Balticon member registration bags |
| • | sponsor name with logo included on the Balticon sponsors list on the web and in the BSFan |
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GALACTIC donations are valued from $1764 to $4200. We offer the following benefits to Platinum sponsors: |
| • | 1/2 (half) page black and white ad in the BSFan |
| • | an up to 294px X 252px web ad (linked to sponsor website) on the Balticon front page |
| • | placement of their promotional (“swag”) items in Balticon member registration bags |
| • | your video or still-photo advertisement on the Balticon at-con promo loop |
| • | sponsor name with logo included on the Balticon sponsors list on the web and in the BSFan |
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HYPERSPACE donations are valued at over $4200. We offer the following benefits to Diamond sponsors: |
| • | either a full-page black and white ad on the inside back cover or a full page color ad in the color pages of the BSFan |
| • | a 336px X 294px web ad (linked to sponsor website) on the Balticon front page and on the BSFS website |
| • | placement of their flyers promotional (“swag”) items in Balticon member registration bags |
| • | the opportunity to have two representatives join guests of honor for “Dinner with the Con Chair” |
| • | your name with logo included on the Balticon sponsors list on the web and in the BSFan |