Event budgeting is one of the most important factors in the event planning process. Allocating your event funds successfully can be difficult and time-consuming. However, your event budget can be one of your most helpful documents throughout the event lifecycle and can also serve as a helpful learning tool for future events. So, how can you create an event budget that will help your remain flexible for contingencies while optimizing expenses? Keep reading to find out.
1. Your Event Goals
To successfully allocate and justify your event expenses, it’s important that your business goals and your event objectives are in alignment. Your event goals will impact where you will spend the most money on your event. For example, if the goal of your event is to increase brand awareness, you might spend on things like signs, branding, and design. Make sure your event goals are in line with your budget, and keep that in mind as you prepare and allocate money.
2. The Event Type and Format
The format and type of your event is a key consideration in the budgeting process. Consider whether your event is internal or external, domestic or global, and what format your event will be (hybrid, virtual, or in-person). You can start understanding how the format will impact your budget once you’ve defined it.
Promote to global audiences if you’re looking to organize a hybrid or virtual event. The event type, such as trade shows and user conferences, leadership summits, and product launch events, will affect how you spend your funding. It’s important that the event form should be related to your event objectives.
3. Review Past Events
An excellent way to determine what works and what doesn’t is to use data generated from previous events. You can cut down on your budgeting time and amount of guesswork by looking back at earlier events. Historical information might highlight areas where you may have spent too much money as well as locations where you might wish to make additional investments. Virtual and hybrid events provide unmatched access to event analytics.
There is more information available than ever before to help you decide where to put more or less money. Significant data can provide the number of visitors each session, average view time, and the number of visitors that clicked on sponsor sites.
4. Contingency Funds
Every event planner is aware that you must account for the unexpected. Consequently, your event budget should be a flexible, live document that evolves as you go. You should set aside 20% of your budget for a contingency fund.
This additional cushion might assist in covering unforeseen expenses, such as extra guests, estimates that turn out to be more expensive than anticipated, or items you overlooked in your initial budget. You should make sure there is money in the budget set out for extra safety precautions or a transition to virtual only in the case of another pandemic surge close to the time of your event.
5. Ways to Offset Costs
It is wise to consider all possible revenue streams, including sponsorship, ticket sales, and even your own organization, before setting your budget. Event sponsorship is an excellent avenue to raise money, so if you can exhibit ROI and give your partners worthwhile possibilities, you might be able to convince them to commit more.
Platforms for virtual events can provide in-depth analytics that will aid sponsors in understanding the benefits of the alliance. You have additional options for making money at your event besides sponsorship. You can generate income from ticket sales, concessions, exhibit booth fees, and management fees to assist reduce the expense of an event.
6. Consolidating Your Event Technology
Event Management Software is a powerful technology that can manage registration, engagement, data analytics, promotion, and more — all from a single interface.
There are numerous tools you may buy to organize, promote, and produce an event, from the event management platform you select to the engagement tools you employ to drive attendee experience to your registration and ticketing system. Your tech stack is streamlined by a coherent OS, so you won’t have to worry about juggling as many different parts.
Planning Your Next Event?
Whether virtual, hybrid or in-person, Certain has the right technology and a dedicated team to help you host successful events that deliver business outcomes. We’ll help you make the most of your events and seamlessly measure the value delivered whether for a single meeting or your full event portfolio. Contact us today to speak with one of our event experts!