Corporate partners and sponsors generate unique opportunities at GSA. The various mechanisms for company participation are each important to the Society’s programming in distinctive ways.
Meeting sponsorship can be tailored and more expansive than it might first sound. After exhibiting at GSA’s annual meeting over the years, Bruker Nano Analytics opted for greater participation in 2022. In fact, if you attended any of GSA’s section meetings this past spring, you probably picked up a bottle of hand sanitizer that Bruker provided to enhance the Society’s health and safety measures during some of our first in-person gatherings since the start of the pandemic. Bruker also sponsored each section meeting, and their participation in GSA Connects 2022 (9–12 October, Denver, Colorado) includes lead sponsorship of GEO.SCI, the tech demo area you will experience in the exhibit hall; an expanded exhibit booth; and badge lanyards for all attendees.
What compels a company like Bruker to choose GSA as a partner? Jonathan Knapp, Ph.D., Geosciences Market Segment Manager, explains the strategic reasoning: “Our partnership with GSA has been hugely beneficial to us. We have found the personal contact with members of the community at the regional shows to be extremely important. We get more out of the annual meeting by being at each of the regional meetings—it lets us have more intimate conversations and set up dedicated time at the annual meeting. We also enjoy the ability to have detailed conversations with students at their posters.
“GSA has been a great partner to work through innovative ideas with. We think that the ability to showcase new technologies and provide more hands-on and experiential exhibit halls benefits our goals. We aim to expand awareness and adoption of methods, not just our products.
“Our partnership with the Geological Society of America has been part of our overall engagement plan to build more informal connections with the scientific community. It has been a resounding success. It’s particularly important for us to engage with discussions about the development of new methods and technology. Such discussions take time, and attending multiple meetings a year helps us have multiple touch points with important partners.”
Other companies find paths of engagement that meet their needs, as well. Chevron is a steadfast example of a returning program sponsor, actively participating in GSA’s GeoCareers program for many years. This year, they are also supporting GSA’s Expanding Representation in the Geosciences Scholarships, an ideal avenue to demonstrate our mutual priority of broadening participation in the field. We are grateful to companies like Brunton who choose to be an organizational partner, providing exclusive member discounts for their products, meeting sponsorship, unique opportunities like demo fleets for GSA field trips, and the tremendous contribution of personalized, engraved Transits for GSA’s J. David Lowell Field Camp Scholarship recipients. And, longtime GSA vendor Image AV partners as an in-kind sponsor by including extensive audio/visual equipment throughout GSA Connects, outside of GSA’s contracted services.
To discuss how your company or organization can find valuable engagement through these kinds of partnerships, please contact Debbie Marcinkowski at +1-303-357-1047 or dmarcinkowski@geosociety.org.
A Bruker representative was at each GSA Section meeting this spring, along with bottles of hand sanitizer contributed by the company to help promote health & safety measures