Cheers Around the World: a partner appreciation event, 2024

On November 5, 2024, the day before IT Nation Connect, we took BSN’s partners around the world at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. We called it Cheers Around the World.

Why a partner event, not another prospect event

Most event budgets chase new logos. That is where the leads are, and leads are easy to count.

Here’s the truth: events are not just for new leads. They are one of the best chances you get all year to cultivate the partners you already have, to remind them why they chose you and to deepen the trust that makes them stay. In the channel, people trust people more than logos. A partner who spent a day with your team remembers the team.

How it worked

• The timing. The day before IT Nation Connect in Orlando, when partners were already travelling for the show. We did not compete with the show floor for their time. We gave them a reason to arrive a day early.
• The offer. BSN bought each partner a ticket for the day, plus one for their business partner or their ITN Connect travel companion. The invitation was a thank-you, and it said so.
• The theme. The festival already sends visitors around the world, so the event became a trip around the world with a toast to the partnership: to you, and to our shared opportunities.
• The invitation. We started inviting partners in early October, coming off ScaleCon24, with a limited number of tickets and a reservation link.

What to take from it

Put the appreciation event where your partners already are, at a time that costs them nothing, and make the thank-you the whole point. The day after, when you see the same people on the show floor, you are not a booth to them. You are the people they spent yesterday with.

A peer looking back on my programs in 2025 remembered some of them by name:

“But beyond them were the awesome booth designs and marketing programs that you deployed. I remember many of them “Cheers!”, the “Friends Couch”…”

Karl Sand, Product Marketing and Customer Success Manager, SandScape Consulting Services · LinkedIn, September 6, 2025

The show this event led into has its own case study.

If you are planning one, my list of corporate event ideas has more formats that work for partners and customers.

If you want help planning a partner event for your own program, Events Authority offers partner and channel event planning.

Events Authority plans partner and customer events like this one; see corporate event planning services.

When did your partners last hear from you without being sold something? If the honest answer is “at the last show,” get your event assessment.