The Sponsor Experience

This article is your guide to what your Sponsors see and do, from the moment they receive an invitation through to submitting their tasks. Read it before you start building your Event. Understanding the Sponsor side gives you the context to design better Forms, write clearer invitation communications, and answer Sponsor questions confidently when they arise. It assumes you're already familiar with the core concepts (Projects, Events, Forms, Themes), so if those are new, start with the Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager Overview. This is the one view you can't open for yourself from the Organiser View, so it's worth reading even once your Event is live.

This Article Covers

• How Sponsors access their Sponsor Dashboard

• What the Sponsor Dashboard looks like and how it works

• How Sponsors complete tasks, edit responses, and manage their account

• What email communications Sponsors receive

• FAQs

Continue To

• New to the product? Start with the Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager Overview for the core concepts and terminology.

• Finding your way around the interface? Read Navigate Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager to see how the Organiser View is laid out.

• Ready to build? Follow Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager Forms and Workflows to set up your Event, Forms, branding, and invitations.

• Managing an Event that's already live? Go to Sponsors and Submissions to track progress, review Submissions, send reminders, and export data.

• Want to email your Sponsors and Exhibitors directly? Read Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager Email Campaigns to build templates and send bulk emails.

• Looking up an unfamiliar term? Head to the Terms & Glossary.

The Sponsor Journey at a Glance

Every Sponsor moves through the same stages, from invitation to approval.

If the organiser requests changes instead of approving, the Sponsor goes back to Work through to update the flagged fields, then submits again. See Edit responses below.

How Sponsors Access Their Sponsor Dashboard

Sponsors do not log in to Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager the way organisers do. Instead, they receive a personalised invitation email containing a secure, one-click link that takes them directly into their Sponsor Dashboard. There is no account to create and no password required to enter.

First-time access

The first-time access flow works like this:

1. The Sponsor opens their invitation email and clicks the link

2. They select Accept invitation

3. They edit their information as needed

4. They click Complete Onboarding

5. They land inside their Sponsor Dashboard, ready to begin their tasks

Note: The platform will attempt to pre-fill the Sponsor's company name and logo based on their email domain. This works best for well-known company domains. If the platform cannot identify the company automatically, the Sponsor sees a prompt to enter their company name and upload a logo manually. You can let Sponsors know to expect this if they are from smaller or lesser-known organisations.

Link validity

Each link is valid for 7 days from the date it is sent. A link also becomes invalid if it has already been used or if a new link is generated for the same Sponsor, which automatically invalidates all previous links.

If a Sponsor loses access, see A Sponsor cannot access their Sponsor Dashboard in the Sponsors and Submissions article for steps on what to do.

Returning to the Sponsor Dashboard

Most Sponsors never need to think about this. Once they've completed onboarding, the automated task-assignment and reminder emails Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager sends throughout the workflow already contain direct links back into their Dashboard, so returning is usually as simple as opening the most recent email and clicking through. The steps below cover the less common case: a Sponsor wants back in without a recent email to hand.

If a Sponsor clicks their original invitation link again after completing onboarding, it won't repeat the onboarding steps. Instead, it takes them to the main page, a team selection screen, or a login screen, depending on their setup. From there:

1. Click any link from any Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager email (including the original invitation), or go directly to sponsorandexhibitor.com

2. Enter the email address the invitation was sent to

3. Check inbox for a one-time password (OTP) and enter it to sign in

4. If the Sponsor hasn't set a password yet, they'll then see a Set a password screen. They can create one for faster sign-in next time, or select Skip for now to continue without one

5. The Sponsor lands back in their Sponsor Dashboard

Notes:

Setting a password at this step is entirely optional, in keeping with the rest of the Sponsor experience. Selecting Skip for now has no effect on access: the Sponsor can keep signing in with a one-time email code indefinitely, and can still set a password later from Settings if they change their mind (see Sponsor account settings below).

Sponsors don't need to wait for an email to return to their Dashboard. They can go straight to sponsorandexhibitor.com at any time and sign in with their email address. This is worth mentioning proactively to Sponsors who may have a gap between accepting their invitation and receiving their first task-related email, for example if Forms haven't been published yet.

Invitation statuses

As the organiser, you can track each Sponsor's response from the Sponsors & Exhibitors list within the Organiser View, which you can view at either Project or Event level.

Status

What it means

Pending

The invitation has been sent; the Sponsor has not yet clicked the invitation link

Accepted

The Sponsor has clicked the invitation link and confirmed their details

The Sponsor Dashboard

The Sponsor Dashboard is Event-branded and gives Sponsors a clear, complete view of everything they need to do and where they stand. The layout is designed to be straightforward: Sponsors see their tasks and progress without having to navigate away or log in to multiple places.

Summary widgets

Four widgets on the Sponsor Dashboard give Sponsors an immediate at-a-glance picture of their overall status:

Widget

What it shows

Tasks complete

How many tasks have been completed out of the total assigned (for example, 0/5 tasks complete)

Need your input

The number of tasks waiting for the Sponsor to act on

With organiser

The number of tasks currently under organiser review

Your Tasks list

Below the widgets, the Your Tasks list shows every Form assigned to the Sponsor. Each row displays the Form name, current status, date approved (where applicable), and a progress bar. A status icon on each row gives Sponsors a quick visual indicator of where each task stands without having to open it.

Tasks don't need to be completed in any particular order. A Sponsor can leave one task until later while completing another first, and different tasks can be handed to different people on their team. For example, a Booth Image task to the marketing contact and a Leads & Attendee Information task to whoever will be on-site during the event. See Invite Team users below to add a colleague who can take on specific tasks.

How Sponsors Complete Tasks

This section covers task completion only. Account, team, settings, and integration procedures are in Manage the Sponsor Account below.

Complete a task

Sponsors complete tasks within each Form:

1. From the Sponsor Dashboard, click the task to work on under Your Tasks

2. Work through each step shown on screen

3. Progress is saved automatically as the Sponsor works. They can also click Save & continue later at any point to step away and return when ready, or click Next to move immediately to the next step

4. After completing all steps, click Review submission to send the Form to the organiser for review

Edit responses

If a Sponsor needs to update something after submitting, most commonly when the organiser has requested changes, they can edit their responses without working through the entire Form again:

1. From the Sponsor Dashboard, click the task to update

2. Click Edit responses

3. Use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate to the specific response that needs updating

4. Make the changes, then continue clicking Next until Review submission appears

5. Click Review submission to resubmit the Form

Note: Sponsors are directed to the specific fields that need attention when an organiser requests changes. They do not need to work through the entire Form again to address a single change request.

Manage the Sponsor Account

This section covers everything a Sponsor manages outside their tasks: switching between Events, inviting teammates, and updating their account settings.

The account menu

The account name dropdown in the upper right corner of the Sponsor Dashboard is where Sponsors manage everything outside their tasks. It contains:

• Current Team - switch between Events the Sponsor has been invited to

• Manage Team users - invite colleagues to help with the same company's tasks

• Settings - manage profile, password, two-factor authentication, and integrations

• Log out

The procedures below can all be accessed from this menu.

Switch between Events

A Sponsor's tasks are scoped to a single Event, so to work on a different Event, a Sponsor switches the Event they're viewing. If a Sponsor has been invited to more than one Event, here's how they move between them without needing a different link:

1. Click the account name dropdown in the upper right corner of the Dashboard

2. Select Current Team

3. Select the relevant Event from the list

The Dashboard reloads, showing the tasks and status for that Event.

Invite Team users

A Sponsor can invite their own colleagues to help complete tasks for the same company. Here's what to do:

1. Click the account name dropdown in the upper right corner

2. Select Manage Team users. This shows the current Event and the list of current team members

3. Click the three-dot menu and select Invite a teammate

4. Enter the teammate's email address

5. Click Send Invite

The teammate receives an email with a link to accept the invitation and finish setting up their account.

Sponsor account settings

From the account menu, a Sponsor selects Settings to manage their account details:

Setting

What you can do

Profile

Update your name and email address

Password

Set or update your password

Two-factor authentication

Enable or disable 2FA

Integrations

Not yet available. More information will be added here once this feature is available.

Note: Setting a password and enabling 2FA are optional. Sponsors can always access their Sponsor Dashboard through the link in their invitation email, a one-time email code, or a password if they've set one, without ever being required to use a password.

Email Communications Received by Sponsors

All emails sent to Sponsors come from Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager's own system address. Emails are not personalised to the organiser's company name or domain. See Manage Email Notifications in Sponsors and Submissions for the exact address and the full list.

Sponsors receive automatic emails at the following points in the workflow:

When it is sent

Invitation

When the organiser sends an invitation

Task assignment

When new Forms or tasks are assigned to the Sponsor

Automated reminder

By default, 2 weeks and 1 week before a Form's due date. Adjustable in Your Account → Notifications (see Navigate Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager); for full reminder behaviour, see Manage Email Notifications in Sponsors and Submissions article

Manual reminder

When the organiser sends a reminder manually

Change request

When the organiser requests changes to a Submission

Submission reviewed

When the organiser approves or returns a Submission

Note: To prevent Sponsors from receiving a separate email for every Form assigned at the same time, Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager consolidates task assignment notifications within a set time window.

FAQs

These are questions about what your Sponsors see and do in the Sponsor Dashboard.

Can Sponsors invite their own team members to access the Sponsor Dashboard?

Yes. A Sponsor can invite colleagues to help complete tasks for the same company using Manage Team users in the account menu. See Manage Team users above for the steps.

What happens if a Sponsor's invitation link has expired?

Invitation links are valid for 7 days from when they are sent. If a Sponsor's link has expired or been invalidated, you can generate a new one from the Sponsors & Exhibitors list within your Project. See cA Sponsor cannot access their Sponsor Dashboard in the Sponsors and Submissions article for the full steps.

How does a Sponsor get back into their Dashboard after the first visit?

In most cases, they won't need to do anything special: the automated reminder and task-assignment emails Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager sends already link straight back into their Dashboard. If a Sponsor doesn't have a recent email to hand, they can click any link from a previous Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager email, or go directly to sponsorandexhibitor.com, and enter the email address their invitation was sent to. They'll receive a one-time password by email to complete sign-in. If they haven't set a password yet, they'll also be offered the option to set one at this point, or skip and keep using one-time email codes. See Returning to the Sponsor Dashboard above for the full walkthrough.

What time zone are due dates and reminders shown in?

Time zone is set within each Event. Due dates, reminders, and other time-based tasks for that Event follow the time zone you set there. The way dates are displayed (day/month order and 12- or 24-hour format) now follows your browser's locale.

Can Sponsors see each other's Submissions?

No. Each Sponsor can only see their own tasks and Submissions within their Sponsor Dashboard. Submission data from other Sponsors is not visible to them.

What does a Sponsor see when the platform can't pre-fill their company name?

If the platform cannot identify the company from the Sponsor's email domain, the Sponsor is prompted to enter their company name and upload a logo manually during the onboarding flow. Their Dashboard experience is otherwise identical.

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