Budgeting is one of the critical elements of event planning and coordination. Irrespective of the scale and nature of an event, getting your budget on point is imperative to ensuring your event pans out as planned.
Having said that, a bigger budget may not necessarily guarantee an effectively executed event. A successful event can very well be planned and executed impeccably even with an extremely restricted budget. Read on to know how.
☑ #1 Begin Well in Time
Well begun is half done. This holds good for event management as well. Start planning and budgeting early so as to think over each expense and eliminate ones you think you can do without. Additionally, this head start will also help you survey locations, liaise with suppliers and create a conducive team within which you can draw our clearly established authority-responsibility relationships. This extra time also helps you get perspective on planning your event better and includes activities, elements, and interactions that can contribute to its overall success.
☑ #2 Visit Historical Data
Begin with visiting your budgets for earlier events to take cues on budget dynamics. Leverage the rich repository of past budgets, whether digitized or in hard copies, to understand past charges of your vendors, nature of marketing spends, venue rentals and a host of other ubiquitous costs in event planning. This insight should give you direction in preparing your current budget make help you start strong.
☑ #3 Leverage Industry Tools
Whether it is social media marketing tools, budget templates, website creation or digitizing your ticketing system, there a score of industry tools that can help you optimize the entire process in question.
Leveraging these tools will not only optimize management but will also slash your costs by a huge margin. Check out Dryfta, a leading event management tool that brings together every facet of event management in one single interface.
☑ #4 Digitize Everything
Not only is the paper format of management costly to operate for instructions, guidelines and other forms of note-making, but it also invites room for error. Follow a principle of digitizing every element of note keeping in your event management process.
This makes it easier for information to reach all stakeholders at once on a real-time basis. It also removes the scope of miscommunication, omission, and mismanagement.
☑ #5 Rope in Volunteers
There is a score of students and aspirants of various disciplines who would appreciate getting an opportunity to work with an organization on a part-time/full-time basis to gain some professional experience purely on a volunteer basis. Leverage this rich pool of energetic and young enthusiasts to bring fresh ideas and a helpful set of hands to your team.
Do, however, construct a mechanism wherein you give them something in return for their efforts. This need not be monetary but could range from certificates, references, or even a prized interaction with a business leader. Also, treat them one among yourselves and give them opportunities to actually learn on the job.
☑ #6 Make the Power of Negotiating Work for You
While you have an established relationship with past vendors, do solicit quotes from other newer service providers who may outdo the quote of your favorite décor specialist, venue lessor or caterer.
Experts say, what businesses offer as their first quote is often an inflated amount in anticipation of a long and rigorous negotiation process with their B2B client. Do not walk away with the first stated number. Rather, master the art of negotiation work in getting the best deal possible.
☑ #7 Minimize Room for Error
There are usually two situations when you have to deviate from your budget and POA – externally stimulated situations and internally stimulated situations. While the former isn’t something you can control, the latter is entirely in your hands.
Investing significant efforts in ensuring there are no mess ups from your team can save you from spending to cover it up. In order to achieve this, go through duties & responsibilities, action plans, time drills, location checks, and automated process several times before you roll it out that one last time.
☑ #8 Plan for Contingencies
No matter how thorough and comprehensive your event management and organization skills are, chances are there may be some unforeseen slips and errors that need to be managed and rectified real-time. Construct a contingency budget that comes in handy in case some aspect does not go as planned on the big day.
☑ #9 Measure your event’s ROI
Get a budget & Expenses Manager tool to keep a record of your expenses and revenues. Tools like Dryfta Budget Manager provide you with real-time insights on your sales, balance amount, pending dues, profits and losses.
Not only does money in the kitty give you tremendous confidence on event day, but it also ensures you aren’t found in a sticky situation should you require an urgent influx of money.
Remember to put these practices in place while planning your event and you shall benefit to the maximum of your money’s worth.
