HIMSS • EVENT & SPONSORSHIP OPERATIONS
Enterprise Sponsorship Coordination
Coordinating 28 enterprise sponsorships end-to-end for HIMSS21 Digital – a virtual health IT event with Fortune 500 healthcare and technology sponsors – while building the delivery process from scratch under constant change.
01 • OVERVIEW
What it was
HIMSS (Health Information and Management Systems Society) is a global nonprofit advancing health through information and technology. Its annual conference is one of the largest health IT events in the world, drawing tens of thousands of attendees and enterprise-level sponsors from across the healthcare technology landscape.
HIMSS21 Digital was the organization’s first fully virtual event – a ground-up build forced by COVID-19. I joined as a Media Coordinator to help design and execute the sponsorship operations process, serving as the primary point of contact for 28 enterprise sponsors through every stage of the event lifecycle.
02 • THE PROBLEM
What was broken
HIMSS had spent decades running its flagship conference as an in-person event. When COVID made that impossible, the organization had to quickly pivot to a fully virtual format. The problem: there were no playbooks for digital sponsorships, no standardized onboarding materials, and no established templates for how to collect assets, manage deliverables, or repurpose content in a virtual environment.
The team was lean. Twenty-eight enterprise sponsors, including Fortune 500 healthcare and technology companies, needed efficient onboarding, consistent communication, and reliable delivery against their contracted packages. Each sponsor had distinct requirements, timelines, and stakeholders. Without infrastructure, the risk of missed deliverables, broken communication chains, and sponsor dissatisfaction was high.
On top of that, the format itself was a moving target. The news climate, emerging virtual event technology, and shifting organizational priorities meant the team was pivoting on a near-weekly basis. Flexible processes were a must.
03 • WHAT I OWNED
Responsibilities & stakeholders
- Day-to-day sponsor communications for all 28 enterprise partners – primary point of contact from kickoff through delivery
- Sponsor onboarding – guiding partners through deliverable requirements, asset intake, and platform logistics via Cvent
- Deliverable tracking – owning the master timeline and ensuring 100% on-time completion across all sponsor packages
- Creative asset coordination – collecting, reviewing, and routing sponsor assets to ensure platform compliance
- Sales support – developing deck materials and sponsorship package details for the sales team
- Post-event reporting – pulling performance data from Cvent and Salesforce and packaging recap deliverables
- Content repurposing – extending post-event life of virtual sessions as evergreen digital assets
04 • WHAT I DID
Systems, process & execution
Built the Onboarding Infrastructure from Zero
With no existing process for virtual sponsorships, I co-created the sponsor onboarding workflow from scratch. This included creating polished onboarding and sales decks in PowerPoint that gave sponsors a clear picture of their packages, deliverable timelines, and what to expect at each stage. These decks became the standard foundation for sponsor kickoff calls and reduced back-and-forth by giving partners everything they needed upfront.
Sponsor Communications & Deliverable Coordination
Served as the day-to-day contact for all 28 enterprise sponsors across the full event lifecycle. Conducted monthly progress calls to walk sponsors through deliverable requirements and flag any outstanding items. Managed asset intake, reviewed submissions for spec compliance, and routed approved assets through internal channels – keeping every sponsor on track without a single missed deadline.
Created a reusable template for pulling performance data from Cvent and Salesforce and packaging it into sponsor recap deliverables. This standardized what had been an ad hoc reporting process and ensured consistent, professional outputs for every partner post-event. Also developed a content repurposing framework for converting pre-recorded sessions into evergreen digital assets – extending engagement and generating qualified leads beyond the live event window.
HIMSS21 Digital required real-time operational flexibility. As the news climate shifted and new virtual event technology emerged, the team continuously reassessed format, platform capabilities, and sponsor deliverables. I maintained clear sponsor communication throughout – keeping partners informed, calm, and aligned – while absorbing scope changes internally without disrupting external timelines.
05 • RESULTS
Hard metrics
06 • ARTIFACTS
Supporting work
PowerPoint deck built from scratch to guide enterprise sponsors through their packages, deliverable timelines, and platform logistics. Became the standard for all sponsor kickoff calls.
* Sanitized version available upon request.
Master tracking sheet used to manage asset intake, approval status, and deadline adherence across all 28 sponsors. Maintained in real-time throughout the event lifecycle.
* Sanitized version available upon request.
Reusable template for extracting performance data from Cvent and Salesforce and packaging sponsor recap deliverables. Standardized what had been an entirely ad hoc reporting process.
* Sanitized version available upon request.
07 • TOOLS
What I used
Event & Sponsor Management
• Cvent
• Monday.com
• Asana
CRM & Reporting
• Salesforce
• Excel
• Google Sheets
Virtual Event Platforms
• Zoom
• ON24
• GoToWebinar
Communication
• Slack
• Microsoft Outlook
Design & Presentations
• PowerPoint
• Canva
• Word
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