Ask what they are actually buying
Sponsors rarely want exposure, even when they say so. They want meetings with a particular kind of person, or recruitment, or credibility next to a name their market respects.
Ask directly at the point of sale. The answer determines what you should be recording, and it is different for each sponsor.
A logo is the weakest thing you can sell
Logo placement is easy to deliver, easy to compare on price and impossible to prove worked. It is why sponsorship gets treated as charity by the second year.
Sell participation instead: a session, a space where their target audience gathers, an introduction they could not arrange themselves.
Record during, not after
The evidence a sponsor will want exists only while the event runs. Afterwards you have impressions and photographs.
Decide the short list in advance and assign someone to collect it. It is a small job during and an impossible one later.
- Contacts collected, with consent, at their stand
- Attendance and questions at their session
- Introductions actually made, counted
- What their target audience said about them, in their words
Debrief while it is fresh
The renewal conversation should happen within days, not months. Attention decays fast and next year's budget is decided sooner than anyone expects.
Arrive with what was recorded and what you would change. Admitting one thing that did not work buys more credibility than a report where everything succeeded.