What sponsors actually need from the event
Ask your sponsors before the event what a good outcome looks like for them. For some it is the number of conversations; for others, a handful of qualified contacts in a specific industry, a sign-up for a product trial or attendance at a sponsored session. The lead capture set-up should follow that answer, not the other way round.
Agree in writing what the sponsor will receive afterwards: the leads gathered at their stand, the totals for their session, the visitor numbers in the hall. Promises made vaguely in the sales conversation are the ones that cause arguments in the report.
Badge scanning versus consent
The traditional method of exhibitor lead capture is the badge scan: a stand team scans every visitor’s badge and receives their details. It is fast, but it often hands over contact data without the visitor understanding what they agreed to. A visitor who held out a badge to get a sample has not necessarily agreed to a sales sequence.
Consent-based lead capture reverses the direction. The visitor decides to share their details with this sponsor, sees what will be shared and why, and confirms it on their own device. The stand team receives fewer names, but every name is someone who chose to be contacted. For most sponsors that is the more valuable list, and it is far easier to defend if anyone asks how it was collected.
GDPR and consent as context, not legal advice
In the European Union and the United Kingdom, the GDPR shapes how personal data may be collected and passed on, and other countries have comparable laws. In broad terms, a visitor should know who will receive their details and for what purpose, data should not be shared with third parties such as sponsors without a valid legal basis, and the visitor should be able to withdraw. Consent given actively and recorded is the clearest basis for passing a visitor’s details to a sponsor.
This section is general information, not legal advice. The rules depend on the country, the type of event and your contracts with sponsors; check your own situation with whoever advises you on data protection, and write the sponsor’s use of the data into the agreement before the event.
What a good lead contains
A lead is not just a name. The useful version tells the stand team who the person is, how to reach them, what they talked about and what they agreed to. Keep it short enough that a visitor will complete it standing at a stand.
- Name, company and role, as the visitor chose to give them.
- The contact channel the visitor prefers: email, phone, or both.
- One or two qualifying answers the sponsor agreed in advance, such as an area of interest or a timeframe.
- A note from the stand team about the conversation.
- The consent itself: what was agreed, with which sponsor, and when.
Setting up lead retrieval at the stand
Make sharing easy from the visitor’s side. A QR code at each stand that opens a short page on the visitor’s own phone, with the sponsor’s name, what will be shared and a clear button to confirm, works without any app and without the stand team handling the visitor’s phone. Pre-fill what the event already knows, with the visitor’s agreement, so they do not have to type their details at every stand.
Brief the stand teams before the doors open. They should explain what the visitor will share in one sentence, never pressure anyone into it, and add their note straight after the conversation, while they still remember it.
- One code per sponsor, clearly labelled with the sponsor’s name.
- A short page on the visitor’s phone: what is shared, with whom, why.
- An explicit confirmation; no pre-ticked boxes.
- A note field for the stand team, completed on the spot.
- A way for the visitor to change their mind later.
What the organiser should see
The organiser needs totals, not the sponsor’s contact list. How many visitors shared their details with each sponsor, when the stands were busiest, how lead numbers compare with stand visits and session attendance — these are the figures for the sponsor report and for next year’s floor plan.
Keeping the sponsor’s leads visible only to that sponsor’s stand team, while the organiser sees the totals, protects visitors and avoids the impression that the organiser is collecting data on the sponsor’s behalf. It also makes the event easier to sell to the next sponsor, who can see that their leads will be theirs.
After the event: handing over and following up
Send each sponsor their leads soon after the event, with the consent record attached, and the totals you agreed. Follow-up from the sponsor should happen within days and should match what the visitor agreed to: if they asked for a product sheet, send the product sheet, not a newsletter subscription.
Keep the consent records as long as the leads are in use, and agree with sponsors how long they will hold the data. When a visitor asks to be removed, the request should reach the sponsor as well as the organiser.
Lead capture without a silent scan
In Winglark, SponsorFlow follows this model: visitors share their details with a sponsor from their own phone, with consent recorded. The stand team sees its leads, and the organiser sees the totals, which flow into the event report alongside attendance.