The ISC will hold its next U.S. conference February 27th and 28th at host King & Spalding’s headquarters in Atlanta. One of the topics we will be addressing is the ever elusive question of ROI and its measurement involving sponsorship. Or, because we should know our objectives at the start of any campaign should we be focused on Return on Objectives (ROO) which Octagon promotes. This is a deep industry struggle and it is compounded by the fact that there is too little collaboration between sponsors to define on the basic tenets. The ISC CFO advisory Committee will help guide us through this process. The conference will provide valuable collaboration for those sponsors and industry leaders that are interested in furthering the effectiveness of sponsorship programming. One sponsor member recently told me, “I’m excited about working with the ISC and its potential impact - how can we expect to engage the consumer when we won’t engage the industry to maximize the opportunities”. The great thing about the flattening of the world is there are no hills to hide behind. It’s exciting to see leaders working together and hope you’ll attend to contribute in February.

The ISC recognizes that the industry has much to contribute to the improvement of the industry and maximization of value to sponsors. The core member of the ISC is the sponsor, but the ISC has added Associate and Affiliate memberships for companies and organizations that will strive to support the ISC mission of identifying, servicing and promoting the interests of sponsors. We need to strengthen the bond between the two sides in order to continue to grow the value of sponsorship programming. I encourage the industry to join and engage the ISC.