Want to have dinner with Delos Cosgrove, the cardiac surgeon who’s the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic? Just sign up for a platinum sponsorship of the Cleveland Clinic’s 2011 Medical Innovation Summit and you’ll receive an invitation “to attend the private VIP dinner hosted by Cleveland Clinic CEO & President, Delos Cosgrove, MD.” The cost is $27,500 but you’ll have to go stag. If you want to bring along a friend you’ll have to spring for a premier sponsorship, which will cost you $50,000.
Of course, that’s not all you’ll get for your money. With the premier sponsoprship, you’ll also get, among other benefits:
- 12 guest tickets to Summit evening social event
- 20 guest tickets to the Keynote speaker dinner
- Summit final registration list (name and company only)
- a premium item/marketing collateral included in registrant gift bag
- a full page ad in the Summit program
- “recognition as Premier Partner in Summit Press Releases”
And there’s much more. Click here to view all the details of the complete Premier Sponsorship package.
To put this all in context, you should know that with the exception of the dinner with the Cleveland Clinic CEO, the sponsorship packages for this meeting are fairly typical of most medical meetings these days. I suppose we should be glad that at least the Cleveland Clinic isn’t auctioning off its faculty members, as a heart valve meeting did last year (see our story here and here).
I find this very interesting.
We know that money talks, but what is it saying? Is it OK to have mixed motivations, sponsor an exciting innovations seminar on the one hand and seek influence with the hospital and CEO on the other?
How much money-seeking in our society and economic system is appropriate?
Does non-profit status make a difference in how this should be viewed?