Planning an event can be both exciting and challenging. While the details and plans can be engaging, the logistics can be daunting. The success and profitability of an event or meeting is determined by three crucial components: budget development, planning and implementation. Meeting the pre-determined budget is not about cutting costs alone; it’s about planning ahead, time management and revisiting past years meetings and making changes. In order to plan a successful event, you must review past budgets and observe trends in your industry and events like yours. Establishing a budget development planning process in order to meet your needs and goals will ensure the success of your upcoming meeting or event.
First of all, you must revisit past events. Review the supplier contracts from previous and current events in order to get a grasp of what you can spend. Examine budget processes from previous events and make necessary changes. Research historical trends in your industry and past events to determine what needs to be thrown out, or added, to make your event a success.
Once you have reviewed past events, you need to focus on the tasks that need to be accomplished right now. Discuss the profitability goals for the company and each event. Establish areas of the event that need more dollars than other areas. Review attendance goals for the event, keeping in mind “fall out” trends to determine true attendance. Negotiate and streamline supplier contracts in order to ensure top profitability. Develop a tracking system and monitor daily expenses and profit goals.
There are many on-site expenses that companies often forget when developing event budgets. On-site expenses include hotels, F&B, Audio/Visual, Trade Show, Staffing, etc. Make sure to manage all of these expenses properly. Advise your team on unplanned expenses as they arise and determine the worthiness of each expense. Throughout the process, continue to track all expenses in order to maintain margins.
The post event review is one of the most important steps in event budgeting. Review all supplier billings and make sure they coincide with your previous agreements. If you find additional charges, dispute the unapproved expenses. Once all payments have been reviewed, present final billing and be sure to maintain timely supplier payments. Review the budget vs. actual expenses and provide a report on the variances. Let management know what changes were made and why. Since you continuously monitored the process, you should be able to answer these questions sufficiently. Finally, review all processes and identify problematic areas. Discuss how these should have been handled and plan future events accordingly.
Overall, the keys to developing an event budget are examining past events, developing and maintaining a realistic budget and reviewing the budget and processes post-event. The hard work that goes into creating and sticking to the budget will enable your event to flourish and create maximum profitability for your company. Learn more about budgeting for special events here.