In the sixth episode of WordCamp Europe Insights, Kasia Janowska sits down with Dani Leitner from the Sponsors Team to talk about one of the least visible but most essential parts of organising WordCamp Europe. The conversation begins playfully, with Kasia invoking Kraków’s famous dragon and asking whether this year’s event can actually afford to happen, but the answer quickly lands on something serious.
Without sponsors, there is no WordCamp Europe
What follows is a lively and practical conversation about outreach, visibility, first-time sponsors, booth strategy, and the kind of behind-the-scenes work most attendees never notice. It is also a reminder that sponsorship at WordCamp Europe is not just about logos on a website. It is about relationships, community presence, and making the event possible in the first place.
More Than a Support Team
Kasia opens with the official description of the Sponsors Team, which says they work closely with generous sponsors to ensure an enjoyable WordCamp Europe for everyone involved. Dani does not reject that description, but she immediately sharpens it.
The team does not simply support the event. It brings in the money that makes the event possible.
From there, Dani sketches out what the work actually looks like in practice. Much of it is ongoing communication: keeping in touch with sponsors, ensuring their content is correctly placed on the website, confirming payments are completed, and helping everything run smoothly both before and during the event. It is part coordination, part logistics, and part relationship management.
Kasia’s questions keep the discussion grounded. Rather than staying at the level of broad statements, she repeatedly pulls Dani into specifics: how sponsors are found, how much of the process is proactive, and what companies actually get in return.
It Starts With Outreach
There is no magic trick here. Dani describes the process plainly. The team reaches out to previous sponsors, looks at companies connected to the local host country, and sends emails asking whether they would be interested in sponsoring WordCamp Europe.
Kasia pushes further, asking whether that means relying on local knowledge and whether someone from Poland is helping this year. Dani explains that having someone close to the host country is always useful, whether as a member of the Sponsors Team or as part of the broader local team. That local perspective can help identify the right companies and make the outreach more targeted.
The exchange works well because Kasia keeps testing the assumptions behind the process. Do companies reply? Are the emails ignored? Is English a limitation? Dani’s answers are honest and unpolished in a useful way. Yes, plenty of outreach goes unanswered. Yes, English is the language they use. And yes, some messages simply disappear if the right contact person has left a company or if the only available address is a generic support inbox.
Still, she makes an important point. WordCamp is already a recognised name in the WordPress space. These are not cold emails to companies that have never heard of WordPress. In many cases, the team is approaching hosts, agencies, plugin makers, and other businesses that already understand what the event is and why it matters.
Not Everyone Waits to Be Asked
One of the more revealing moments in the conversation comes when Kasia asks how often sponsors find WordCamp Europe on their own and fill in the sponsorship form on the website.
Dani says it happens, but less often than direct outreach. Some returning sponsors are so used to the cycle that they begin asking as early as July, sometimes even before the new team is fully formed. That detail says quite a lot. It suggests that for some companies, sponsoring WordCamp Europe is not a one-off marketing experiment. It is already part of their annual calendar.
What Sponsors Actually Get
Kasia then turns to the obvious question. If WordCamp Europe gets financial support, what do sponsors get in return?
Dani’s answer is practical rather than promotional. Sponsors get visibility at the event, on the website, and across event communications. Depending on the sponsorship level, they may also get a booth where they can speak directly with attendees, potential clients, and future users of their products.
What makes this section work is that the two speakers move away from abstract marketing language and into lived experience. Dani explains that she has personally discovered and remembered plugins through interactions with sponsors at WordCamp. Faced with several tools that do the same thing, she is more likely to choose the one connected to a real conversation she had at an event.
Kasia responds with a story of her own. She mentions speaking to the support team of a plugin she uses and asking whether they would be at WordCamp Europe again. The answer was immediate: of course, they were sponsoring again, and of course they were coming back. That brief exchange reinforces the episode’s central point. Sponsorship is not just about being seen. It is about being remembered.
There Is a Level for Smaller Companies Too
Kasia then shifts the conversation in a useful direction by bringing up a small agency owner who wanted visibility but assumed that sponsoring an event as large as WordCamp Europe would be financially out of reach.
This is where Dani becomes especially clear. There is not just one kind of sponsor. There are different levels, including options designed for smaller businesses.
She points to the subscriber and small-business levels as realistic entry points for companies that want visibility but may not want or be able to run a full-scale booth. That distinction matters. A smaller company may not have enough staff to keep a booth active all day, and it may not have the budget or materials for a more elaborate setup. But it can still be present, visible, and part of the event.
Dani also makes an interesting observation about how those smaller booths work in practice. Because they are placed near one another, they can create a more interactive area where attendees naturally move from one business to the next, comparing, discovering, and asking questions. In some ways, that can be an advantage rather than a compromise.
A Booth Is Not Enough on Its Own
Some of the strongest material in the episode comes when Kasia asks what first-time sponsors should actually do to make the most of the event.
Dani’s first answer is simple and correct: ask the Sponsors Team. If a sponsor has questions, they should ask them. If they are unsure how something works, they should ask. If they are planning something unusual, they should ask. The team exists for exactly that reason.
But she does not stop there.
Her more practical advice is about behaviour on the day. Bring something people are drawn to. Stickers, swag, anything that gives attendees a reason to stop. Then use that moment properly. Do not just hand over the item and let the person walk away. Start a conversation. Tell them what the company does. Give them a reason to remember you.
That part of the conversation feels especially strong because Kasia builds on it rather than moving on. She adds her own observation from attending many conferences: the people at the booth need to actually want to be there. A bored person staring at a phone is a wasted opportunity. Dani agrees immediately and adds another practical point. Even smaller businesses should consider sending at least two people, so the booth is never left empty and one person can step away when needed.
The rhythm here is good. Kasia does not merely prompt information. She contributes, challenges, and sharpens the takeaways, which makes the exchange feel collaborative rather than one-sided.
Sponsors Notice A Well Organised Event
Later in the episode, Kasia asks about feedback from previous sponsors. Dani says she received plenty of it during last year’s event because, once the conference begins, the Sponsors Team often shifts into a more observational and supportive role. They walk around, check in with sponsors, ask whether anything is missing, and stay available if issues come up.
space for real conversations
The feedback from Basel was particularly positive. Dani says that sponsors who also support events in the US and Asia noted how well-organised WordCamp Europe felt, especially in terms of booth layout and attendee flow. People were actually coming through the sponsor area. The booths were visible. The setup encouraged contact rather than hiding sponsors away on another floor or in an isolated space.
Kasia immediately confirms that observation from her own memory of the event. At certain points, she recalls, the sponsor area was the busiest place at the conference, even busier than some of the talk spaces or food areas. Dani agrees, and together they build a picture of a sponsor space that was not peripheral at all. It was one of the liveliest parts of the event.
That exchange matters because it shows how the host and guest are not simply trading facts. They are jointly reconstructing what made the event work.
The Work Nobody Notices Until Something Goes Wrong
Another useful part of the conversation concerns logistics. Kasia asks about delivering swag, building booths, and whether the team gives sponsors clear procedures for handling materials.
Dani explains that there are handbooks, local recommendations, and established processes, especially when production teams are involved. For more complex booth builds, the process moves beyond the Sponsors Team to the production specialists who handle venue execution.
Kasia uses this as an opening to point out a familiar problem: people do not always read handbooks. Dani laughs about that too, mentioning that the Wi-Fi password was one of the most frequently asked questions despite being written down.
Why Sponsor at All?
Near the end of the episode, Kasia asks the most direct question of all: what would Dani say to convince someone to sponsor WordCamp Europe?
By that point, the answer has already been built through the conversation, but Dani still states it clearly. Sponsorship gives companies visibility inside a large, highly engaged WordPress community. It puts them in contact with people they may not reach elsewhere. And it creates opportunities for connection that are harder to build outside a WordCamp environment.
She also returns to an earlier point that deserves emphasis. Sponsoring is not only for the largest brands. Smaller businesses can benefit too, sometimes precisely because attendees have not heard of them before and are curious to learn more.
The Window Is Still Open
In the final stretch, Kasia notices that the website does not state a hard sponsorship deadline and asks Dani to clarify.
Dani’s answer is sensible rather than formal. Anyone who wants to sponsor should get in touch soon. There is still space, but the later a company applies, the harder it becomes to design and build a more ambitious booth setup in time. Kasia sums it up neatly: the crazier the booth you want, the sooner you should apply.
If you are part of the WordPress ecosystem and have ever considered sponsoring WordCamp Europe, this episode makes a strong case for taking the next step. There are different levels, different ways to show up, and still time to get involved. Reach out, ask your questions, and make your move while there is still room to shape your presence at the event.
And if you are not sponsoring but want to be part of it, attending is just as valuable. With thousands of engaged WordPress professionals coming together, WordCamp Europe offers a rare chance to learn, connect, and discover new tools and ideas in one place. Tickets are available at the official tickets page, and if you are even considering it, this is the moment to commit.
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