SESSIONS

Keynote Presentations

The Changing Sponsorship Landscape – What to Expect in 2026 and Beyond

2025 has been a tumultuous year. With national divides, a federal election, Trump tariff war and so much more that left our economy unsettled. In addition, the federal and provincial governments have changed the landscape on how municipalities operate which limits their monies to provide services without raising taxes even higher. Corporate sponsorship has shifted from a “sideline” to a “must have” revenue channel.

This engaging opening keynote will look at what is in store for the remainder of the year and what to expect beyond. It will address technology, the new prospects for municipal partners, AI, naming rights dilemmas, the growing importance of activation and more.

More importantly, this opening keynote will equip you with a clear forecast for 2026 and actionable strategies to capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Opening Keynote Presentation Delivered by Brent Barootes (President/CEO, Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists®)

Developing Municipal Leaders: Applying the 10-80-10 Principle

In an era of rising expectations and shrinking resources, municipalities need more than policies and procedures—they need empowered leaders at every level. This high-energy, insight-rich keynote introduces the 10-80-10 Principle, a proven framework that helps leaders focus on strengths, amplify what’s working, and create momentum from the inside out.

Drawing from decades of leadership research and real-world municipal examples, Sunjay Nath breaks down how local government professionals—whether elected officials, department heads, or frontline managers—can elevate performance and morale by focusing on the top 10% behaviours that drive excellence.

Participants will learn how to:

  1. Identify and reinforce the behaviors that lead to high-performing teams

  2. Shift culture by empowering internal champions

  3. Avoid the trap of spending too much energy on underperformance

  4. Build a results-oriented mindset without adding bureaucracy

  5. Apply the 10-80-10 Principle to real municipal challenges like staffing, community engagement, and service delivery

This keynote is ideal for those looking to build a resilient leadership culture that outlasts elections and excels in service.

Keynote Presentation Delivered by Sunjay Nath (Hall of Fame Speaker – SunjayNath.com).

Negotiating Sponsorships: Turning Conversations into Community-Building Partnerships

Sponsorship success in municipalities isn’t just about selling logos on banners — it’s about building strategic partnerships that create real value for both the community and corporate partners.

In this fast-paced session, sponsorship strategist Rob Richardson will share practical, proven techniques to help you negotiate stronger deals with confidence. Drawing on over 20 years of experience generating millions in sponsorship, naming rights, and advertising revenue for municipalities, Rob will show you how to:

  • Prepare for negotiations by understanding your true leverage

  • Ask the right questions to uncover what sponsors really want

  • Confidently handle pushback, low offers, and tough conversations

  • Uncover often overlooked deliverables that can help make it easier to get a “yes!”

  • Close deals that deliver long-term value for your municipality

You’ll leave this session with actionable tips, a ready-to-use negotiation prep checklist, and new ways to position your municipality as a must-have partner. Whether you’re new to sponsorships or looking to sharpen your negotiation edge, this session will help you walk into your next deal ready to win.

Breakout Session Delivered by Rob Richardson (Coordinator, Facility Advertising & Sponsorship, Town of Aurora; Principal, R2 Marketing Inc.)

Power of Storytelling in Partnerships

Storytelling is more than a communication tool – it’s critical to transforming partnerships from transactional arrangements into meaningful community investments. In this session, Troy Beharry, Partnership and Grant Development Manager with the City of Kingston, will explore how narrative-driven approaches can elevate grant applications, inspire stakeholders, and unlock new opportunities for collaboration and growth.

Participants will gain insights into the key elements of powerful story development and how to apply them in the pursuit of revenue generation and the creation of impactful partnerships. Through real-world examples of storytelling in action, Troy will demonstrate how compelling narratives not only secure funding but also build lasting, value-focused relationships that drive community impact.

This session is designed for professionals seeking to harness the art of storytelling to strengthen their sponsorship strategies and maximize the reach of their partnerships.

Breakout Session Delivered by Troy Beharry (Manager, Partnership & Grant Development)

Selling with data: Demonstrating Your Property's Sponsorship Benefits

In this session, SponsorPulse's Eddy Sidani will walk through the best practices on how to use consumer insights to communicate the strength and benefits of partnering with your property. With a spotlight on the Canadian sponsorship landscape, we’ll cover what you need to know to tell the most compelling narrative and maximize impact for your partners. We’ll also explore practical methods that municipalities can use in their go to market strategies to bring their sponsorship stories to life.

Designed for those looking to up their sponsorship sales game by leveraging data and insights to tell their story.

Breakout Session Delivered by Eddy Sidani (Customer Success Lead, SponsorPulse)

Structuring Sponsorship Teams and Workflows

This session explores common practices for deploying roles, responsibilities, tools, and processes across the sponsorship practice within a given organisation. We’ll explore the rationale behind different approaches, the pros and cons of each, and new solutions that should be considered in a modern operating environment.

Breakout Session Delivered by Mitch Thompson (Founder of PandoPartner)

In-Depth Breakout Sessions

Municipal Sponsorship & Developers – The Challenges and Opportunities

Over the last decade, municipal sponsorships have grown year over year, primarily for two reasons:

  • Municipal governments are much more open to partnering with brands

  • Brands are looking for new platforms/properties to directly engage consumers that are cost effective, add value to the experience, and provide greater reach

As much as municipalities are open to brand partnerships in principle, there can still be many obstacles and challenges within a bureaucracy that impede the full realization of a municipal sponsorship property. 

Whether the municipality works in partnership with a 3rd party developer through a head-lease or pursues the sponsorship directly – it’s critically important to view any sponsorship property or program holistically and not siloed within the municipality.  

This session will explore the options available to a municipality in securing sponsorship and what is the best path forward for both the municipality and the brand partner.

In-Depth Breakout Session Delivered by James O’Connor (Vice President, Partnerships at A&C Inc.) and Ryan Mackenzie (Account Director, Partnerships at A&C Inc.)

How to build a Municipal Sponsorship Program

Is your Municipality thinking about how sponsorship can increase revenues?  Should you be thinking about this?   Join municipal sponsorship industry leader Scott Elliott for an in-depth break-out session to identify various decision points, costs, and infrastructure needs to develop a successful and sustainable sponsorship program.  Learn about sponsorship program structures, financial models, sponsorship tools, resources, and processes that every Municipality should consider. 

In-Depth Breakout Session Delivered by Scott Elliott (Manager, Corporate Sponsorship Program at the City of Peterborough)

Breakout Sessions

Beyond the Budget: Using Sponsorships to Elevate Municipal Events

Events face budget pressures while communities expect high-quality programming. This session explores how strategic sponsorships and experiential marketing partnerships can transform your events beyond traditional funding models. Learn the key differences between sponsorships and experiential marketing, discover revenue opportunities that enhance visitor experiences, and explore practical strategies for securing marketing agency partners. Through real-world case studies and current industry trends, you'll gain actionable insights for creating mutually beneficial partnerships that elevate your programming while generating meaningful revenue for your community.

Breakout Session Delivered by Victoria Mahoney (Head of Marketing & Partnerships, Harmony Marketing)

How to Manage User Groups Assets – Who Owns What?

Are your user groups like the curling club or the minor hockey baseball or the soccer association or the performing arts group or others selling sponsorships… with your assets? Let’s face it, we all have this scenario in some form or another. So how do we manage it? 

These groups need the revenue… but you know that the outfield sign or naming right or logo in the ice is worth way more than they are getting, but you have an agreement with them that they can sell this stuff and keep the money! And you a have a sponsor that wants those assets! 

There are several approaches to maximize revenue for these user groups and your municipality. Come learn about the approaches and share your present solutions and frustrations, what is working and what is not and why! This will be a fully interactive break out session with key take aways that you can implement in your community.

Breakout Session Delivered by Victoria Mahoney (Head of Marketing & Partnerships, Harmony Marketing)

The Fortune 500 Partnership Model: Driving Municipal Revenue and High-Value Partnerships

Municipalities are expected to drive new revenue, attract stronger partners and build programs that resonate with increasingly diverse communities - all while operating with fewer resources. To do that well, you need more than intuition and traditional prospecting approaches no longer cut it. You need clear, evidence-based insight into who your residents are, how they spend, and what they value.

This session introduces municipal leaders to the same audience intelligence frameworks used by Canada’s largest banks, automotive manufacturers, telecom providers and national media companies to guide billions in marketing investment. These models combine demographic, lifestyle, psychographic and over 400 expenditure categories and more than 5,000 brand preferences and spending behaviours to help you understand the real profile of your community. These are the same, proven segmentation models used by the Fortune 500 in both Canada and the United States.

You’ll learn how to identify your municipality’s highest-value audience segments, match them with aligned sponsor categories, and use this insight to create more relevant, compelling partnership opportunities. The result: stronger outreach, higher conversions, longer term deals and sponsorship programs that reflect the true makeup of your residents.

Whether you manage events, recreation, parks, culture, tourism, economic development, or community partnerships, you’ll leave with a practical framework to strengthen prospecting, sharpen value propositions, and build more relevant, resilient sponsorship programs.

This is a tactical, non-sales session designed for direct application across events, recreation, culture, tourism, and economic development.

Breakout Session Delivered by Jim Kalogerakos

The AI Advantage: Transforming the Future of Sponsorships

Discover how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping municipal sponsorship. This session offers a practical look at how AI can streamline proposal writing, enhance research, and boost efficiency. Explore top tools, prompts, and expert tips—alongside common pitfalls and limitations to watch for.

A live case study will compare a human-written proposal with an AI-generated version, revealing where AI excels and where the human touch remains critical. The session wraps with an interactive Q&A, giving attendees the chance to ask questions, share insights, and explore the future of AI in sponsorship.

Breakout Session Presenter- TBC