2020 Sponsorship Information

NWMET Whitman College April 22-24, 2020, Walla Walla logo image

Sponsor & Vendor Info

**WE ARE NOT PLANNING TO CANCEL THE CONFERENCE** updated 4:30pm, March 11, 2020

Conference Hotel:

Marcus Whitman Hotel and Conference Center

6 W. Rose St

Walla Walla, WA 99362

1-855-877-8414

Conference Rate:

Be sure to mention you’re staying for the NW/MET Conference

King room: $112/night

Double Queen Room: $124/night

The Marcus Whitman offers free shuttles to and from the airport.  If you do choose to rent a car, there is not a parking fee at the hotel.

Airport:

Walla Walla Regional Airport

The Walla Walla airport is a small regional airport that currently only offers 2-3 flights per day on Horizon Air.  All flights to Walla Walla are routed through Seattle, so you might want to look into flying into Pasco, WA, which is about a 45 minute drive to Walla Walla.

Shipping Gear:

If shipping equipment directly to the hotel and would like to avoid storage fees, it will need to arrive no sooner than April 20th.  Should you need to ship equipment to arrive at an earlier time, please let us know and we will have you ship to our location at Whitman College.  Please contact the hotel to coordinate anticipated shipping (855) 877-8414. All showcase equipment will need to be removed from the hotel floor no later than 12:00pm on Friday, April 24th.  However, you will probably want to pack-up after the vendor showcase (from 1pm – 4pm) on Thursday, April 23rd.

Prizes:

ALL SPONSORS: Thursday, April 23rd, will be our evening of entertainment.  We will be walking to The Powerhouse Theatre and we request that all vendors supply a gift of at least a $50 value.  This will be a silent auction using “Met Money,” which is collected by attendees throughout the conference. Each auction item will have verbiage explaining which company supplied the item(s).

WINE & ONION SPONSORS:  During meals you will get to raffle a prize that your company must provide.  There is not a minimum/limit on the prizes, so whatever you choose to giveaway.  Each company will be called to the lectern throughout the conference, you will pull one raffle ticket, announce the winner and will have 5 minutes to address the group however you wish. We are willing to allow short Powerpoint presentation, if you wish.

Attendee Information:  

We will update this information as we get closer to the conference, but we’re anticipating anywhere from 60-100 attendees.

Set-up Information:

The conference hotel will begin setting up vendor tables the morning of Tuesday, April 21st.  You should know where your table location is, but we will make sure to label each table.

  • Initial set-up can start the afternoon of 4/21
  • Set-up should be completed by 9:00am on Wednesday, April 22
  • The conference welcome is 9:00am on April 22nd and our preference is to have sponsors in attendance, but it is not mandatory
  • We would like you to remain set-up during sessions so attendees have the option of visiting vendor booths if there isn’t a session of particular interest to them during concurrent meetings
  • The vendor showcase is from 1pm – 4pm on Thursday, April 23rd.  You must be at your table during this time
  • You can clear your table anytime after the vendor showcase, but everything must be removed by noon on Friday, April 24th (campus tour/business meeting will be from 9-12:30)

Additional Sponsorship Opportunities:

We need money for student scholarships:  We’re looking for 2-3 students from any participating/attending schools who could attend the conference with little to no cost to them.  We are willing to accept one or two sponsors to help cover these costs.  We’re hoping for one sponsor of $1500, or two at $750.  Sponsorship will include both verbal and written acknowledgment and potentially helping with the selection process.

Dessert and breaks sponsorship needed: $750 will secure the official sponsor of breaks/desserts.  This will include verbal and written acknowledgment (probably table tents on all the break tables).