Hi Tony, thanks for this great post. I'm currently organizing WordCamp Bilbao for next year and sponsorships is something I want to "change".

We are trying to have a free coworking space for our attendees the week before and after. I've been speaking with some of the possible sponsors and share them (and now to all of you) the next idea:

Using the "hype" of the WordCamp, and the coworking space, let Sponsors organize Meetups/Workshops to share knowledge. They gain visibility, the community learns, the WordCamp gets more presence and the coworking space gets much more visibility (Win-Win-Win-Win?)

Some possible examples (sorry for listing some names):
- WPML: how to make our WordPress multilingual
- WooCommerce: how to **** with WooCommerce/Sensei/etc.
- Hosting Company: basic configurations in our cPanel/Plesk
- Sucuri: how to clean our WordPress ourselves and when to hire a professional

What do you think about that idea as an Sponsor?