When a team writes Intel/NVIDIA a proposal, what exactly are you looking for, and what makes the difference from receiving just product support to full blown sponsorship?

Sheryl - I’m surprised by how little experience some of these teams have in building presentations/proposals. These are good life skills to have because presentations/proposals are a requisite in the business world. I think the below tips are true for basically any sponsor.

First, the proposal should be your standard PowerPoint presentation. It’s easier to read, especially for those of us who get multiple presentations a day to review.

Second, keep the bullet points short and concise. Pepper each page with photos to break up the monotony. A professional logo as a watermark on each page is a nice touch.

Third, the basic pages should be; a) an introduction to the team, when it was formed, background on the management team, along with any recent major wins, b) roster with photos of players, names, ages, where they are based, track record – anything to help us get a sense of who these guys are, c) any press clippings covering the team or the players, d) website statistics (btw – the team SHOULD definitely have a website up and running when they send out a proposal), e) a calendar of upcoming events they are expecting to attend (a potential sponsor wants to know that this team is active).

Fourth, do your research on the company. You’ll be surprised how far that goes, and how quickly you can get shut down if you say the wrong things because you didn’t spend 30 minutes to find out what the company stands for.

Last, assume you have one and only one shot at convincing someone about sponsorships. Treat every page like it’s going to be the last one your prospect will be reading. Look at the page critically and think if someone who has seen a million proposals will be convinced enough to turn the page and read on. It’s just like sending a resume in for a job. What can you write that will get your presentation to shine and stand out from the pack? Show it to multiple people…family, friends, and teammates get feedback and catch spelling/grammatical errors before sending it out.

Jennifer - Most of the proposals we receive typically focus on information about the team and what they can do for Intel, but what a lot of teams don’t realize is that we need to understand what Intel can do for them. How our products be integrated into their team, their lifestyle and the gaming community.

Intel very rarely just enters into a full-blown sponsorship with a team. Usually our relationships are built over an extended period of time and develop, as both Intel and the sponsored team understand the value we bring to each other.

We look for proposals that provide Intel an opportunity to give consumers a truly new technology experience. We prefer situations and programming that allow Intel to gain exposure for product and provide real life usage models.

Does Intel/NVIDIA prefer working with a dedicated manager whose sole function is to pursue sponsorship options, or will any team member suffice?

Sheryl - It’s always easier to have a manager dedicated to the business side of the teams. I’ve seen first hand when a player has to play double-duty, and it’s just too much work for the player. That being said, teams must be discerning about what kind of manager they work with. Choose the wrong manager, and you can end up alienating potential sponsors.

Jennifer - Intel prefers to deal with one dedicated person from each team. If that person holds a manager title, that is ideal. It is much easier to communicate with representatives who understand both their team objectives as well as Intel’s. This allows the gamers to do what they do best, Play Games!

In the North American community, there have been several teams who have claimed to have more sponsorship and support than they actually had, i.e. NAU. What should players on these teams know about the basics of sponsorship and should they be afraid to contact the sponsoring company for more details?

Sheryl - Written agreements are key – even if it’s informal. You should always get a clear understanding of the relationship your prospective sponsor wants to establish with you. If it’s not clear, it is more than fair to get in contact with them to clarify the details. In fact, if you are truly in a sponsorship relationship, you should be in constant contact with your sponsor – with frequent exchange of information – how you guys are doing, where you guys are going, what you can be doing for them, and from their side what products they have coming out, their feedback on what they’ve been reading/seeing about you, etc.

Jennifer - I’m not clear exactly what is being asked here, but the key is open communication between the team and any level of support they are receiving from Intel. No team should ever be afraid to contact a sponsoring company for details of their relationship.

GotFrag puts out regular content on the female gaming scene and it gets regular harsh criticism by the largely male demographic; Do you see a future for female gaming? What do you think that future is?

Sheryl - Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by the criticisms – I’ve seen it happen in other male-dominated sports. I do, however, see a future for female gaming. In fact, I think it may even help the sport with increased spectatorship, which will be key to elevating this sport to a new level. Just look at Danica Patrick and the Indy 500. Her fourth place finish was the highest of any woman in the sport. She beat out hundreds of guys to get there. As a good byproduct, her placing also ended up increasing the television viewers of the race by 59 percent. I look forward to the day when girls play alongside with or compete against the boys. This is definitely a sport where it can happen.

Jennifer - We definitely see a future in female gaming. As the gaming community continues to grow, more females have started to game both casually and professionally. During the second stop of the CPL World Tour in Spain there was a 16 team invitation- only female CS tournament. The action was awesome, there was a ton of emotion and the matches drew a ton of spectators. The fourth stop of the WT was held at Dreamhack in Sweden and it was great to see the large amount of women who were in the BYOC area.

With the recent Les Seules news of doing a show in Hollywood, do you see the female role in eSports becoming more geared towards marketing and does this help or hurt the development of female eSports as a sport or do you view this as a natural progression?

Sheryl - If this sport is to be taken seriously by the mainstream, it needs to grow in spectator appeal. We need to continue to improve and innovate so we can make it more spectator-friendly, whether it’s the ease of accessing the Shoutcasts and tutorials on the game, or getting behind the scenes to get the human-interest side of the players, I think all these steps are a natural progression to developing this into a mainstream sport and can only help the sport, as long as you do not taint the actual competition (like what has happened with boxing).

Jennifer - Like I said above, I think females have really started to make a serious push into the gaming community, and I think they are here to stay. It’s refreshing to see more diversity in the ranks of the gamers. The female role in eSports is no more geared towards marketing than the male.

Teams in the past claimed to have been sponsored by Intel/Nvidia that did not receive support and how did you, as a company, handle this?

Sheryl - Unfortunately, it’s something we can’t control. We can’t stop a team from claiming that they have a sponsorship contract with us. All we can do is hope that folks like GotFrag can check with us on the facts to set the record straight.

Jennifer - Intel does not publicly comment on past or pending sponsorship disputes.

In sponsoring an event like The CPL, do you see a return on your investment, and how do you measure it?

Sheryl - We view our sponsorship of the CPL as a successful program. We walk the floor, check out people’s systems, and get feedback from the attendees about their experience with our products. As long as we continue to be their choice, the program is successful, and we’ve earned our paychecks.

Jennifer - Our primary goal is to provide a unique means for gamers to experience our brands. I think Intel did a great job at the US stop of the CPL World Tour. We really tried to provide gamers with more then they expected. They came to the event with certain expectations but our goal was to give them more. That is why we held all of the mini tournaments, gave away processors and motherboards as prizes, hosted some of the gaming industries most influential figures on the future of gaming panel, and sponsored a retro night. Our goal was to over deliver and provide attendees with a complete and enjoyable gaming experience.

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