Matthew Phelps is a sponsorship and partnerships specialist with sixteen years of experience working across conferences, events, and peak associations in Australia. He works on both sides of the table — with brands weighing whether a sponsorship is worth the investment, and with events and associations building programs that give sponsors a reason to come back.
The through-line across all of it is fit. Not audience size, not package tiers, not the logo placement hierarchy. Whether the right people are in the room, and whether the activation is designed around that.
The work
Sixteen years across conferences, industry events, and peak body associations in Australia. The sectors don't overlap much — medical specialties, facilities management, IT service management, small business, rail infrastructure, neuroscience. What does is the model: a rightholder with an audience, a brand that wants access to it, and a gap between what's on the sponsorship sheet and what would actually work for both sides.
The approach
Most sponsorship conversations start with a prospectus. The interesting ones start with a question: what is the sponsor actually trying to do, and does this event give them a way to do it? Everything else — the package, the activation, the contract — follows from getting that right. Getting it wrong means a sponsor who shows up once and doesn't come back.
The three lanes
The work sits across three types of engagement. Brands and businesses weighing whether a sponsorship fits their goals and how to make the activation earn its place. Conferences and events building or sharpening a sponsorship program that holds up past year one. Associations thinking about longer-term partnership strategy — multi-year arrangements, cross-portfolio thinking, programs that don't rely on the annual event calendar.