Before you sponsor a crypto conference, ask seven things: who is actually in the room, how many other sponsors share it, whether the stage is sold, what contact the package gives you, how the room is capped, what you would count as a result, and who you will be speaking to at the organiser. A good organiser answers all seven in writing. If the answers are vague, the return will be too.
We organise Proof of Talk Abu Dhabi and take sponsors for it, so we use our own published numbers as the example and say so. We make no claim about any other event.
1. Who is in the room, as a share and not a headcount
A large attendance figure does not tell you whether the people you want are there. Ask for the share of decision-makers and for who checks it. At Proof of Talk Abu Dhabi, 85% of attendees are decision-makers, 70% attend from abroad, and the room represents €18T of institutional capital. Ask any organiser for the equivalent and where it is published.
2. How many other sponsors are there
Your visibility is shared with every other sponsor. A cap on the number of partners is the clearest sign an organiser protects it. Abu Dhabi has a cap of 45 partners across the two days, and the partner page states it.
3. Is the stage for sale
If speaking slots come with a package, the programme is partly advertising, and attendees know it. Ask whether any slot can be bought. At Proof of Talk none can, and 95% of speakers are chief executives or founders. A sponsor who wants a speaking slot should ask instead how the programme is built, which we explain in how the programme is built without pay-to-speak.
4. What contact does the package give you
Logos are not contact. Ask what lets your team meet the people you came for: a dinner, a roundtable, a meeting space, introductions. Ask for it in writing, with the format, not as a promise to "facilitate networking".
5. Is the room capped
A cap protects density, which is what you are paying for. Abu Dhabi is capped at 2,000 and Paris at 2,500, and admission is by application at both.
6. What would count as a result
Decide before you sign. It may be a number of meetings with named types of company, a partnership started, or a hire. Ask what the organiser can and cannot tell you afterwards, so you do not rely on a post-event report that will not exist.
7. Who will you deal with
Ask who your contact is before, during and after the event, and how quickly they answer. The partner enquiry is the way to put these questions to us: use the partner enquiry form.
What we left out
We do not give a price here, and we do not quote a return on sponsorship, because we have no sourced figure for either. Those come from the enquiry.
Written by the Proof of Talk editorial team, 8 November 2026, from the published Abu Dhabi partner page and edition figures.