For 2026, ACCU will be joining forces with C++ on Sea to present a combined conference. This means a combined audience, so everything reaches further! In the previous two years, only about five regular attendees (not speakers, etc) attended both conferences.
If you represent a company (or even an individual) interested in sponsoring ACCU/ C++ on Sea, welcome! This page sets out the options available. Please note that all prices on this page are exclusive of UK VAT.
Tiers
Tiered packages progressively add features, so Gold includes all the features of Silver and Bronze, for example.
Click the disclosure arrows for more details of each benefit.
Bronze
Logo, with link on website
Your logo will appear on many pages of the website, will be linked to a url of your choice, and may have text that appears when you hover over it. Higher tiers get preferential placement
Leaflet and/ or giveaways in conference bag
You may provide a marketing leaflet (up to A5) and/ or a small giveaway gift to be inserted into the bag that all attendees receive
Thanked in open sessions
Your organisation's logo will appear on a slide and thanked during the opening session each day
Silver
Everything from Bronze, plus:
Booth or roll-up in the exhibition area
The exhibition area is co-located with the main hall. Each pitch is approximately 3m². We can provide a table and chairs as well as power. If you can't be there in person you may supply a roll-up or booth wall to place in exhibition area.
Logo in printed programme
Conference badges contain a printed schedule and other details inside. Your logo will be printed in this booklet
Thanked in open sessions
Your organisation's logo will appear on a slide and thanked, by name, during the opening session each day
News feed announcement
We will announce your sponsorship, thanking you, on a news feed. You may provide a paragraph or two of copy to include in the announcement.
1 free registration
We will give you a code for a complimentary ticket that can be used for booth staff, or for attending the conference
Gold
Everything from Silver, plus:
Mention on social media
We will thank you for your sponsorship on our social media channels
Roll-up in the registration area
If you provide us with a roll-up we will place it in the registration area
3 free registrations
We will give you a code for three complimentary tickets that can be used for booth staff, or for attending the conference (instead of the 1 for Silver)
Platinum
Everything from Gold, plus:
Exclusivity
There is only one Platinum sponsorship, so you get top billing
Poster or roll-up can be placed on main stage
If you provide us with a roll-up, poster or banner we will place it on the main stage
Special thanks and sponsor read in intro sessions
We will give you special thanks each day in the morning opening sessions. You may also provide us a short message to read out during the opening session, or one of your representatives may join us on the stage to deliver the message themselves.
Most prominent placement on website and first choice of exhibition space
Your logo will always be the first (and largest) on each web page and in the programme. If you sign up before exhibition pitches are allocated you will be given first choice.
4 free registrations
We will give you a code for four complimentary tickets that can be used for booth staff, or for attending the conference (instead of the 3 for Gold)
add any of
Sponsored talk
15-20 min speaking slot
You may provide a speaker to talk for 15-20 minutes on a topic of you choice
Not subject to call-for-speakers
Added directly to the schedule. Material may be product/ service focused - but technical content will receive best reception
Speak in the main hall
Will run in the main hall towards the end of the lunch break - not in competition with any other session
Talk listed in schedule
Your sponsored talk will be shown in the schedule as extra content.
Direct Access package
Attendee list
Attendees may opt-in to pass their contact details (including email, affiliation, job title) on to sponsors with this package
Discord jobs board
You may post up to 10 ads on the jobs board on Discord
Discord meeting room
Private/ 1-1 meetings on Discord. For extra privacy, move a potential recruitment conversation with an attendee to a one-to-one call on our Discord server
Video Sponsorship Packages
All talks are recorded and will eventually be made available on YouTube (note that, due to technical incidents, one or two sessions may not make it to YouTube). We're still working out the details, but we expect to split this year(2026)'s videos between the C++ on Sea and ACCU channels.
At time of writing, we have 15.7K subscribers on the C++ on Sea channel and 17.5k on the ACCU channel. For our 2023 videos we averaged around 13k views per video, but some videos have in the 200k-300k range.
We have three forms of video sponsorship available:
Branded channel
Branding, links and copy text on channel page
For the year following the event, up to the next edition, your branding and links will appear on the YouTube channel's main page, as well as any copy text (up to a couple of paragraphs) that you may provide
Autoplay video on channel page
You may provide a short video that will autoplay on the channel page for the duration of the sponsorship
Thanked as channel sponsor on all individual session video pages
You may also provide a link to include here, too.
Pre-roll
Short video embedded at start of every YouTube video
You may provide a short video, up to 8 seconds long, to be baked into the start of every video
Thanked as video sponsor on all individual session video pages
You may also provide a link to include here, too.
Video Logo
Logo baked into every video
You may provide a logo to be baked into the layout of every video
Thanked as video sponsor on all individual session video pages
You may also provide a link to include here, too.
(Note: in rare cases a speaker may opt out of sponsorship materials on their videos.)
Speakers Dinner
£2,450
We hold a gala dinner in the venue, with views over the sea. Attendees may purchase tickets for the dinner, but all speakers receive a free ticket - so most will be present.
This sponsorship involves covering approximately half of the cost of the speakers. In return the dinner will be branded the <your name> dinner, and you will be thanked during the evening for helping to cover the cost of the speakers' meals.
Coffee Sponsor
£4,500
Attendees have access to coffee urns during three breaks a day. This coffee is fine - but a good, hand served, barista coffee is hard to beat. Above the part of the venue we use is a public cafe area serving just such barista coffee!
This sponsorship would let you provide branded tokens or vouchers in the conference bag that can be redeemed in the coffee shop for up to two coffees (or four for workshop day attendees).
This would also be highlighted in the opening address and the sponsor thanked for buying everyone coffee! We introduced this sponsorship in 2022 and it has proved very popular with the attendees since.
Registration Reception Sponsor
£3,000
The evening before the main conference (immediately after the workshops) we open the registration desk and invite everyone that has already arrived to come and register early and enjoy a drink from the bar.
If this event is sponsored we can offer registrants free drinks and will brand the event "The <sponsor name> Registration Reception" in the schedule and you may place a roll-up by the registration desk.
Event Night Sponsor
£1,500On one of the evenings of the main conference we may hold an extra event, such as a quiz night. As attendees will not have much chance to go out to get a meal they would be greatful of something was provided in-house.
Travel & Team Sponsorship
If you send three or more employees from the same company, we offer to mention and thank you in the opening sessions and (if arranged in time) your logo in the "Bronze" section of the website.
Or if you are an employer of a speaker, and you cover their travel and accommodation expenses we can offer the same deal.
Please be sure to contact us to make arrangements if you wish to take advantage of this option.
Upgrades to full Bronze sponsorship (or beyond) are also available.
Community Sponsorship
The community works best when it works together. Swapping logos and links is an effective way to cross-promote events, services and resources within the community. Typical examples are: blogs, meet-ups, podcasts and other conferences. No money changes hands,
Logos will be featured on the website - on the sponsors page and also further down the front page and on the schedule page but randomised on load (not all community sponsors will be on every page view).
Background and stats
The ACCU Conference is an established event with a heritage spanning three decades! This is an event by the developer community, for the developer community - and the entire community is represented. There is a historical focus on C and C++, which is still evident, but the emphasis shifted to "Professionalism in programming" in the early 2000s. Productivity and best practices are common topics that come up - and keep people coming back.
C++ on Sea has been running every year since 2019 - weathering the pandemic in its second and third years, now getting back to the growth that 2020 originally promised.
Each conference typically attracted ~250 attendees - including speakers. So we expect anything from 300-400 for the combined event.
We tend to attract a little over 50% of our attendees from the UK. The vast majority of the rest are from Western Europe, with a small number from further afield.
Most of our attendees are full-time developers (mostly C++ developers), spanning the range of experience, but with a skew towards expert level. Most will likely be employed, but many will be actively looking for new opportunities.