Well after a little over a month since I attended the IEG Sponsorship Conference in Chicago I thought I would give anyone who is interested, an update on sponsorship at the conference and at the IBA.

The IEG Conference was a lot more buoyant than in 2009, when I was last there.

There was an air of optimism around the venue with people talking up opportunities and revenue forecasts rather than how bad the world was.

One particular session I will mention was presented by Rick Jones, Captain of Fishbait Marketing. A man with knowledge, experience and comic timing beyond his years. If you are into college basketball or any kind of sporting sponsorship I would clear a path to his door!!!!

The one disappointing aspect of the event was the breakfast seminars held in the basement hall. The room was not right for round table events and unless you were sitting on the speakers lap it was very difficult to hear, which was a real shame as from what I could hear it was very good.

Moving on to the IBA, the year has begun well with on target bookings and strong interest in our specialist conferences.. If you follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn you will have an idea of the success we are having.

From February 2011 the IBA’s flagship magazine was relaunched as ‘IBA Global Insight’. The new look magazine not only looked different but contained exciting new features from around the world and in depth articles about specific practice areas

Circulation has also exceed 22,000 copies, reaching the senior and managing partners of the worlds leading law firms. In addition, it is also available on ipad through our free app.

Our next venture into advertising online will be linked to the our growing library of high profile interviews with the likes of Morgan Tschangrili, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Bob Woodward, Washington Post and Professor Mark Pieth,　Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions. We are looking to give advertisers the opportunity to place a 15-30 second advert ahead of all IBA interviews and web broadcasts.

One final piece of news is the launch of our new Student Committee, founded as a platform for students to access the wealth of information and experience available through the IBA and its committees. http://www.ibanet.org/PPID/Constituent/Student_Committee/Default.aspx

Well that’s enough for now if you wish to comment or get in touch please email me at andrew.webster-dunn@int-bar.org

Meeting room hire – http://www.intbarmedia.org/Learning/VancouverSponsorship/documents/hospitalityandmeetingroomhireVancouver.pdf

Advertising – http://www.intbarmedia.org/Learning/VancouverSponsorship/documents/AdvertisingOpportunitiesVancouver.pdf

The exhibition continues to attract new and exciting exhibitors including TransPerfect Legal Solutions, Henley & Partners, IPBA 2011, Legal Process Outsourcing and Advocates for International Development (A4ID). This year’s exhibition is now officially the largest exhibition in IBA history with 85 booths – only 10 of which remain unsold. Should you wish to book a booth at the conference, simply click here to download the media pack and booking form.

Current exhibitors include ALFA International, ALM, Bar Council of England & Wales, Bloomsbury Professional Chambers & Partners, China Law & Practice, Czech Yearbook of International Law/Juris Publishing, Dubai 2011, The European Lawyer, FTI Consulting, Foonberg Publishing, Geotext Translations Inc, Iberian Lawyer, International Center for Dispute Resolution, International Financial Law Review, International Law Office, JAMS, Kluwer Law International, Law Society of England & Wales, Leaders League, Legal500.com, LexisNexis, Lloyds List, MSI Global, Nardello & Co, Oxford University Press, Practical Law Company, Thomson Reuters, Who’s Who Legal and Wildy & Sons Limited London.

Moving on, IBA committee social functions are available for sponsorship. These social functions have been arranged by specialist committees to enable their members and other delegates interested in the activities of the committee to meet informally in a relaxed atmosphere, and they provide a perfect opportunity for more focused, practice-area-specific sponsorship and networking.

I am pleased to say that the following firms and companies are most recent additions to the IBA committee social event sponsors: Macleod Dixon LLP (Mining Law Dinner), Seabury Group (SIRC Dinner), AB & David Law (Corporate Counsel Lunch), Navigant Consulting (Anti-Corruption and Business Crime Dinner, Arbitration Dinner and the International Construction Dinner) and the ADR Institute of Canada (Mediation Committee Lunch). In addition, Bersay & Associes, ‘a business law firm known for providing the highest quality of legal services to its clients’, are the fourth firm to sponsor the Welcome Party at the IBA Annual Conference in Vancouver.

Current sponsors include ALFA International, Baker & Mackenzie LLP, Bär & Karrer, Canadian Bar Association, Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch), Davis LLP, Dawson Cornwell, Doria, Jacobina Rosado e Gondinho, Federation of Law Societies of Canada, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, GÖRG, Habib Al Mulla & Company, Heenan Blaikie LLP, Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Holland + Knight LLP, Immigration Solutions Lawyers Pty Ltd, Kluwer Law International, Lablaw Studio Legale, Failla Rotundi & Partners, The Law Society of British Columbia, LECG LLC, Miller Thomson LLP, Oostvogels Pfister Feyten, Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP and Singh & Associates, Advocates and Solicitors

Individual PDF documents detailing costs and benefits for all sponsorship opportunities for this conference can be found at the sponsorship options page. Once the page loads, the links to the various documents are located on the left hand side of the page.

Now for an update with regard to delegate numbers. I am pleased to say that even in these difficult economic times the numbers for the conference are looking healthy, with a significant number of lawyers and firms taking advantage of the Early Bird rate to make multiple registrations for their partners. Just in case you are not aware, the early bird delegate registration closes on 16 July, IBA registration http://www.int-bar.org/conferences/Vancouver2010/confinfo.cfm.

I would love to be able to tell you straight up that I found a magic bullet and the answer to our success is ABC but to be honest I simply put it down to the fact that the advertising rates, sponsorship packages and content of our conferences, publications and online materials have improved immensely, making each proposition far more attractive to an advertiser and sponsor.

A year ago we introduced online skyscraper advertising on our website, taking the unusual step of making sure the advertisement would appear across all pages, so that no matter what page a visitor landed on they would always have a chance to see the advertisers message. This has been so successful that the only calendar space remaining for 2010 is June, with enquiries coming in for 2011.

Moving on, we have already completed 15 specialist conferences this year including Employement in New Delhi, Arbitration in London, Antitrust in Paris, Private Investment Funds in London, African Regional Conference in Cape Town and Litigation in Washington DC. Sponsorship for these and the remaining 20+ conferences remains strong with an exciting range of sponsors such as Deutsche Bank, Brown Brothers Harriman, StoneTurn, KPMG, Analysis Group, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, Navigant Consulting and Nardello & Co.

I am particularly excited about the 2nd IBA Asia Pacific Forum Second Regional Conference Tokyo, 17-19 November 2010. The conference, to be held at the Tokyo International Forum, will bring together experts from throughout the Asia Pacific region and beyond to discuss the current opportunities, issues, risks and practical considerations for investors and others doing business in the region’s emerging and developed markets in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

The official sponsorship launch for this conference is 13th May, but we have already had enquiries from firms in Japan wanting to find out about sponsorship for the welcome cocktail reception to be held at the Peninsula Hotel on the 17th November and the conference dinner at the Shangri-la Hotel, Tokyo’s newest luxury hotel.

And I have just heard that our 9th Annual International Mergers & Acquisitions Conference, 16 – 17 June 2010 in New York has sold out of delegate places, always a helpful thing to do when selling sponsorship, hopefully we will be able to add to the existing sponsors.

I won’t spend too much time on the Annual Conference as you can simply go to the website at

Across the board advertising bookings are on the up, International Bar News is attracting new advertisers from across the world who are drawn to the readership profile of 24,000 senior and managing partners from the worlds leading law firms. In fact our June issue sold all the ad space that was available.

Anyway, enough of me droning on, if you have read this far, congratulations on not falling asleep. I wish you a magnificent month ahead and look forward to chatting to you in a few weeks.

Finally, If you want to hear more about the advertising and sponsorship options I would recommmend going to our website

I like to think I am a glass almost full kind of guy, so whilst I cannot disagree with the people involved in the legal profession that 2010 will be another challenging year, not just for the lawyers themselves but for their support mechanisms such as logistical and software providers, publishers, forensic accountants and marketing teams, I believe we have prepared meticulously and been realistic about our projections and targets.

To set the scene, a quick recap.

We ended 2009 with a flourish of activity from our existing advertisers and sponsors who were looking to utilise their remaining 2009 funds to bolster their 2010 activity. In addition, we have also received advertising and sponsorship bookings from new clients for 2010. Don’t worry the chickens are not being counted yet, I am simply being positive, as we all should.

So what about 2010?

In the coming weeks we will be launching the advertising opportunities brochure for IBA Annual Conference preliminary programme for Vancouver, October 2010. The programme remains the number one method for the IBA, its advertisers and sponsors to converse with over 65,000 of the most influential managing and senior partners from the worlds leading law firms and members of the IBA.

No other publication of this nature, offers a more direct, efficient or cost effective way to reach this elite and unique group of individuals. If interested, email advertising@int-bar.org to be added to the database.

I am also pleased to say that we have an exciting year of specialist conferences ahead including the following to name but a few:

• 13th Annual IBA International Arbitration Conference, 4 – 5 March 2010, London – over 400 attendees expected
• Managing Complex Litigation: The View from Inside the Corporation, 14 – 16 April 2010, Washington DC – 180 attendees expected
• 4th World Women Lawyers Conference, 15 – 16 April 2010, London – 200 attendees expected
• 21st Annual Globalisation of Investment Funds Conference, 16 – 19 May 2010, read on for location – Up to 150 attendees expected#

A full list of conferences can be found at http://www.ibanet.org/Conferences/conferences_home.aspx where you will also be able to download the conference programme, the sponsorship options and register for the individual conferences.

One of the most exciting aspects, for me, in 2009 was how quickly our online media opportunities sold out on our website i.e. the skyscraper advert was. I am extremely please to say that we have already sold six months worth of advertising space 2010.

You can download the media pack for this at http://www.ibanet.org/sponsorship_opportunities.aspx

I guess, if you have read this far and managed to stay awake you should be applauded,

APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE

Seriously, I am clapping here!!!! Well if you want to hear the real thing you wil have to call our offices and ask for me.

Failing that, how about a reward, let me think, hmmmm, I know if you can tell me which city the 21st Annual Globalisation of Investment Funds Conference, 16 – 19 May 2010 will take place in when you book and pay for an advertising slot with the IBA or take a sponsorship package for an IBA conference, you will receive either a 10% discount for the advertising slot or a free delegate pass to the conference you choose to sponsor.

Oh, this offer ends midnight on January 31st, 2010.

Finally, if you have any questions regarding advertising or sponsorship with the IBA, please do not hesitate to contact me at andrew.webster-dunn@int-bar.org or tel: +44 (0)20 7691 6868.

Happy New Year!

As Head of Sponsorship at the IBA, I am particularly grateful for their support, as without them I could not function, so, a big THANK YOU to them all.

Furthermore, what made this years conference special, was not only the record numbers of delegates and speakers (over 5,000 in total) but the fact that we also had our biggest exhibition ever, with exhibitor representation from over 20 countries.

In addition, the conference attracted a record number of sponsors including Aon, FTI Consulting, Nardello & Co, NCTM, Navigant Consulting, Miller Thomson LLP and Mine & Young to name but a few. If you have any comments regarding the conference feel free to mention them in the comments area of the blog below.

Looking ahead, work on the IBA Annual Conference in Vancouver which will be held in October 2010, has already begun. So, if you want to register your interest as a sponsor or exhibitor and take advantage of the early bird discount, please email your contact details to sponsorship@int-bar.org.

Once again, 2010 will see the IBA organise over 40 specialist conferences covering all manner of subjects such as Litigation (Washington DC), Arbitration (London), the Globalisation of Investment Funds (Boston), Asia Pacific Forum (Tokyo) and the African Regional Forum (Cape Town), so why not take a peek at the 2010 IBA Specialist Conferences page.

Each conference will have several sponsorship opportunities linked to them including: cocktail receptions, dinners, lunches and teas and coffee breaks. This year the sponsorship packages have been updated to raise the sponsors profile across the whole IBA and not just at the event they are sponsoring.

New benefits include half page adverts within International Bar News (distributed to over 20,000 members of the IBA six times a year) and the sponsor’s logo, link and company description to appear on the sponsorship section of the conference website.

I am delighted to say that we have already had a number of firms and companies sign up for sponsorship of our conferences in 2010. These include Augentius Fund Administration, Kluwer Law International, Royal Bank of Canada, Maples and Calder, Jenner & Block, LexisNexis, StoneTurn and JurisNet, LLC.

Finally, if you would like to know more about the IBA and our sponsorship opportunities, please contact Andrew Webster-Dunn on +44 (0)20 7691 6868 or via email: andrew.webster-dunn@int-bar.org  

P.S. Don’t forget to check out this blog and the ibasponsorship – Twitter each month until May 2010 for the chance to receive a free delegate pass to one of our specialist conferences.

Sunday was a very busy day for delegate registrations, with only five hours available to register over 3,000 delegates who wished to attend the Opening Ceremony at the Palacio Municipal de Congresos. H.M The King of Spain Juan Carlos I, welcomed the IBA to Madrid and declared the conference open.

Once the ceremony was over, the audience left the Palacio Municipal de Congresos climbed aboard the 50 plus coaches provided by the IBA and were then whisked away to the IBA Welcome Party at the Palacio del Negralejo, sponsored by Aon, Jenner & Block, NCTM, Oostvogels Pfister Feyten, Singh & Associates and SRS Advocates.

On arrival at the venue, delegates were met by the beating drums and fanfare from some wandering Spanish musicians. Once in the venue, delegates quickly settled down to an evening of wine, food, flamenco dancers, fire dancers, blacksmiths, glass blowers and Spanish musicians. Networking and fun were definitely the order of the evening for sponsors and delegates.

The evening was rounded off by a fireworks display that rocked the buildings and grabbed the attention of every delegate and resulted in a huge round of applause.

Then it was back on to the coaches for the return journey to the hotels and a good night’s sleep before the serious business of the conference began.

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to Aon, Jenner & Block, NCTM, Oostvogels Pfister Feyten, Singh & Associates and SRS Advocates, sponsors of the Welcome Party.

IBA President, Fernando Peláez-Pier, said, ‘The IBA is both honoured and delighted that HRM King Juan Carlos I of Spain has agreed to preside over the opening ceremony of our annual conference this year. I’m certain that the attending delegates, representing 127 countries, will be most appreciative of him taking time out of his extremely busy schedule to welcome them to this six-day event in the Capital of his nation.’ He added, ‘As the global voice of the legal profession, the IBA truly admires the role of HRM the King in restoring democracy in Spain and espousing the principles of international law.’

The IBA Annual Conference has a programme of 150-plus sessions covering a host of highly topical subjects in specialisms including antitrust and trade law, arbitration law, human rights law, M&A, and water law. This year, throughout the Conference agenda there will be a strong focus on the current global economic climate and the subsequent new regulations in financial law being implemented across the globe. Two plenary sessions on the Monday of the conference illustrate this: After the crisis – a new world order for the financial industry? and Show me the money! Lawyers, money and conflict

The primary venue for the Conference is the Palacio Municipal de Congresos (Campo de las Naciones) Avda de la Capital de España Madrid 7, 28042 Madrid, Spain. For more information about the event and to view the programme and the remarkable range of leading expert speakers from around the world click here or go to: http://www.int-bar.org/conferences/Madrid2009/.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Romana St. Matthew – Daniel
International Bar Association
Press Office
10th Floor
1 Stephen Street
London W1T 1AT
United Kingdom

Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7691 6837
Main Office: +44 (0)20 7691 6868
Mobile: +44 (0)7940 731915
Fax: +44 (0)20 7691 6544

E-mail: romana.daniel@int-bar.org
Website: www.ibanet.org

Once a month, I will keep you up to date with IBA conference topics and how they relate to sponsorship opportunities, as well as trying to answer any questions you may have.

First off, all sponsorship opportunities for the Annual Conference in Madrid have now been finalised and we have had our most successful year to date. A full list of companies and firms taking place can be found at Our sponsors.

Moving on, I would like to thank our sponsors and committee members for their input during the development of the 2010 IBA specialist conferences sponsorship packages. The new packages have been created to provide all sponsors with the best brand exposure at a conference, safe in the knowledge that they comply fully with all current IBA sponsorship policies and guidelines.

To see the new benefits packages simply e-mail specialist.conferences@int-bar.org to ask for a copy.

Finally, one question that is always asked in relation to sponsorship at our conferences is, if a firm or company sponsor a conference or social event can they have a speaking slot as part of the arrangement?

Well, the simple answer is that for many years the IBA has operated a strict policy of speaking opportunities not being linked to sponsorship at its conferences. Speakers for all IBA conferences are chosen by the relevant IBA committee/conference chairs and the decision is based on the speaker’s knowledge, expertise and relevance to the topics chosen for the conference. At no point will you be asked to contribute financially in order to secure a speaking opportunity, if you are, please do let me know by e-mailing andrew.webster-dunn@int-bar.org

So, whether you are in-house counsel or a private practitioner and are interested in speaking at an IBA conference, I would recommend becoming more active within your chosen committee.

Information regarding the International Bar Association, our sponsors and our members, can be found at www.ibanet.org

Finally, if you do have any questions regarding sponsorship with the IBA please e-mail me at sponsorship@int-bar.org

“In 1992, SRS was the first Portuguese law firm to establish a partnership with an international law firm, Simmons & Simmons. Our practice has expanded significantly and is now one of the largest and most highly respected in Portugal.

Our lawyers advice clients on all aspects of domestic and international legal matters, with particular expertise in commercial, corporate, competition, energy, employment, dispute resolution, environment, finance, infrastructure, life sciences, public law, real estate, tax and TMT.” SRS advogados.

As of today, we have over 3,800 participants registered for the conference, putting it firmly on course to surpass last years record attendance level for our conference in Buenos Aires, as well as, making it the largest gathering of the international legal community in the world this year.

So, whether you are in-house counsel, private practitioner, technology supplier or support service provider for the legal profession, a legal publisher or financial institution operating within the international legal arena, the opportunity to network with over 3,800 potential clients is an opportunity that should not be missed.

Information regarding the conference programme, our sponsors, social events and most importantly how to register, can be found at http://www.int-bar.org/conferences/Madrid2009

Understandably, there was a lot of pessimism at the event. People were going through a hard time and anyone trying to paint a rosy picture of the industry would have not been well received.

However, it is not in my nature to be negative, so I was relieved to find inspiration in a session presented by Rick Jones of Fishbait Marketing, http://www.fishbaitmarketing.com. His talk was called “A Pirate Looks at 55”. I confess when I first saw him, I was thinking, oh no but on slide six he got my attention with a simple phrase “If it ain’t broke, break it”.

When things are going well we rarely want to rock the boat, so the thought of breaking something in a recession would seem positively ridiculous but Rick struck a chord with me. Why can’t we break it, or at least analyse what we have to see if we can improve it.

Before the session had finished, I was thumbing notes into my Blackberry about the sponsorship packages we offer, the way we look at our clients and if we give value for money. Don’t get me wrong our revenue levels have grown year on year for the last four years, we could stick with what we have but where is the harm in at least having a poke around to see if things could be tweaked.

The flight back to London was the shortest eight hours of my life, I ended up writing on scraps of paper, even napkins, I joke not. When I got into the office I decided to also ask colleagues and our existing clients for their ideas on how to make things better, what more could we give them.

The response from our clients was brilliant, ideas were coming in from all angles, some good, some bad and some impractical, I even received feedback from clients who weren’t able to sponsor our events this year. Out of all the responses I received the most intriguing one was regarding cost, not one sponsor said we should reduce our prices.

Anyway to cut a long story short, the advice has worked a treat, we have attracted new clients including FTI Consulting, NCTM, Nardello & Co, Oostvogels Pfister Feyten and Ius Laboris to name a few and even our existing clients are increasing their spend, with us.

If you own a property that seeks sponsorship spend a day with your colleagues analysing what you have, ask your clients for their input and if at the end of the day you look at our product and think you are in good shape then feel good about it and get out there and tell your clients how lucky they are.

Finally, I would be happy to share my experiences with anyone who is considering doing a similar exercise and if you have done it already, what happened?

Andrew Webster-Dunn

Head of Sponsorship

http://www.int-bar.org/conferences/Madrid2009/sponsorship.cfm