These days, being an event planner or working in a role that involves planning events can be tough, but it’s also a great chance to get creative and make a real impact. With rising costs in other parts of businesses, lots of teams are finding that their events budgets are being significantly reduced. This means that EAs, PAs, and HR professionals are having to think outside the box when it comes to getting their teams together, whether that’s for a conference or team social.
The most important thing to do is find practical ways to save money while still getting big results. At the end of the day, you want your event to have an impact, even if it’s a night out with the team getting drinks.
So, how do you ensure there’s a return on investment or value when you can’t spend the big bucks? With smart budgeting, savvy logistics, and a little creativity, you can do more with less.
How Do I Set a Realistic Budget?
Before you do anything at all, you need to lock in your budget. Whilst setting a realistic budget may sound a bit daunting, there are a few things you can do to save yourself some stress down the line. Break down your budget by category.
Things to Consider When Setting a Budget for Your Event:
- Venue
- Catering
- Tech
- Decor
- Staff
These categories will change depending on what type of event you’re working on, but they’ll mostly stay the same. You may be able to cut one or two of them if you’re planning something smaller scale for your team.
Next, you’ll need to come up with a list of priorities. Once you have these, you’ll be able to figure out where to splurge versus save. Think about what the things are that you really need for your event to be a success and what are the extras? Can you make some of these extras more cost effective? Are you able to get your team involved with this? You might be surprised at the ideas another person may have.
Finally, when it comes to setting a realistic budget, you’ll need some tools to help get this done. From google sheets to utilising eventbrite’s ticketing services to using Canva to create invitations, you can do a lot of your event planning on a serious budget.
How Much Will a Venue Cost Me?
Finding a venue on a budget is, in fact, possible! Our VenueScanner for Business team can help you find a venue for your event and guide you through the event planning process, free of charge.
We will do all the legwork for you and help with contracts and finding suppliers if you’d like. If you’d like to have a go at venue finding yourself, there are a couple of factors to consider. The earlier you plan your event, the more venues you’ll have to choose from, which means you’ll probably be able to stick to your budget rather than if you were to look last minute.
You can also ask the venue about off peak dates, weekday discounts, and seasonal pricing. Enquire about packages and minimum spends to see if you can save some money. Spend some time making sure you’re getting the best possible deal on the venue for your event.
Maximising budgets is a key conversation amongst corporate organisers. When budgets remain flat year over year, flexibility with dates is key to save money without compromising on quality. – Emma da Costa, Corporate Account Manager, VenueScanner
Logistics Hacks
Next, look for ways to hack the system and stretch your resources. One way to do that is by checking in with your venue to see if they have relationships with vendors or have a preferred suppliers list. Sometimes this can save you some money as they’re used to working together already so the process can be more streamlined. You’ll also want to think about what you can do on your own. You may not want to cater an event, but you might be able to put together a playlist for the music if you can’t afford a DJ. Sometimes you don’t need to outsource everything.
Finally, think about transportation and staffing. For team away days you could see if people in the company have cars, split people into carpools, and then cover the cost of petrol. If you have to get from one venue to another, why not think about hiring a mini bus instead of paying for several taxis, you may end up saving quite a lot of money. Or you can eliminate the need for travel altogether by picking a venue close to your office.
If you’re planning a large conference or awards ceremony and need people to work the event, think about getting volunteers and see what you could offer them in return. If it’s an event they’re very interested in, they may be happy to get tickets in exchange for working for a couple of hours.
How to Use Technology to Save Time and Money
As we briefly mentioned, there are some really incredible tools that you can use to streamline your event planning and stay on budget. Utilising these free tools will help you cut some costs. Instead of paying someone to create invites you can use Canva to put one together.
There are some incredible templates available for your use. If you need to manage your guestlist, Eventbrite is an excellent free tool. Attendium is also a helpful tool in guestlist management for smaller scale events. There are so many project management tools out there from Clickup to Monday.com to Trello to Notion. Most of these are free to use and can make organising your event so much easier. Check out our event stack to learn more about free event planning tools.
Another way to use technology to save time and money is to plan virtual or hybrid events to cut venue costs. While in person is usually better, you may not have the budget to run all of the events you wanted to. If you were planning a panel, you could instead do a webinar so you don’t have to source a venue and plan an entire event around it.
Mistakes to Avoid if You Want to Stay on Budget
Sticking to a budget can be tough, but if you want to try and stay on target, there are a couple of mistakes to avoid.
One thing is not overspending on trendy things. Everyone gets caught up in a trend and sometimes you think it will make your event better, but odds are you don’t need it. You should also make sure you have a contingency plan. You’ll need one if you do end up over budget (which might happen). You’ll also need one if you’re having an outdoor event in case the weather isn’t great. Check if the venue has a solution or if you’ll need to find one externally.
Finally, do not underestimate how long it takes to set up and break down an event. Many venues will put a section into the contract saying how long you have for these things. If you exceed the time limit, you’ll most likely get charged extra.
