Are you planning a corporate event? If it’s your first time, you should know that one of the most crucial things in corporate event management is the budget. A well-planned corporate event can run smoothly without any challenges.
However, having a well-planned budget for corporate events can be overwhelming, so ensure that you have enough resources to do so. It can also be helpful if the event is already planned so that you can work your budget based on everything you need.
In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to set a budget for your next corporate event.
1. Set the Objective of the Event
As mentioned, before anything else, you should already know the event objectives. Whether it’s a product launch, team building, or seminar, you should understand every element of your event for better results.
Once you understand your goals, you can easily allocate everything you need based on its importance. In addition, keep in mind that the prices of everything involved in a corporate event constantly change, so keep your objectives as specific as possible.
2. Break Down Major Costs
Corporate events, or any other events, consist of key expenses that usually include audio-visual equipment, decorations, transportation, marketing, and entertainment. For each of these primary elements, ensure that there’s a list of specific things you need for a more accurate estimate.
When listing all the specific details of each key expense, imagine the event day and think about the things you need per step. However, another way to complete the list of these specific factors is by using historical data.
3. Set a Realistic Budget
Once you have a complete list of the specific things you need for your corporate event, you should set a realistic budget for each item. You can consider the historical data from past corporate events and research the current market for a more accurate estimate of the budget you’ll need.
4. Set Aside Emergency Funds
Even if you already have a list of all the specific items you need for the event, you should still allot something as a contingency fund. One of the ways to understand how much contingency funds you should allocate is by assessing the risks and managing them. As you know, it’s common for corporate events to encounter various challenges. But once you know how to manage them, you can guarantee that you won’t need to allocate much funding, but you can also do so for an additional layer of protection.
5. Prioritise Important Elements
While planning your budget, it’s essential to prioritise the most important things. Besides, once they’re taken care of, it’s easier to take care of the small details. However, if you prioritise the small details over the essential ones, you may have a hard time organising everything you’ve planned for.
So try to give the spotlight to the bigger things you need for the success of your event, and once they’re done, you have a lot fewer responsibilities to take care of.
6. Track and Monitor Expenses
As you move forward to organising the event, take some time to track and monitor the expenses. Ensure that your expenses match the budget you’ve prepared. And before using the contingency fund, ensure you calculate the cash flow to have a more accurate knowledge of how much you’ll need to solve your problems.
7. Negotiate with Vendors
Another essential thing in corporate event management is knowing how to negotiate with vendors. If you know how to negotiate, it’s easier to get discounts and deals. So, while planning your budget, you should already know if you can get products and services at a lower price.
As you know, many suppliers and other vendors offer deals. If you’re planning to get more items, you increase the length of the services they’re offering.
8. Consider Sponsorships and Partnerships
Looking for partnerships and sponsorships can significantly improve your event budget. Of course, there are many types of sponsorships, like in-kind, financial, promotional, and media. However, once you get a sponsorship, you can guarantee that the amount you need for that specific event element decreases.
For instance, if you get a media partnership, you can easily remove a significant amount of budget for media, which you can use for other things, and improve the overall success of the event.
9. Include for Post-Event Expenses
The budget shouldn’t end once the event does. As a part of the success of the event, you should also consider organising post-event surveys, giving thank-you gifts, and coming up with other promotional ideas that can help you improve the next ones and inform the stakeholders that the event was successful.
10. Review and Improve for Future Events
Reviewing and assessing the success of the event is a must. Even if the event is overall successful, there are details or smaller factors that might’ve gone wrong. By reviewing everything that happened, you can easily pinpoint the challenges, take note of them, and improve them for the next events.
Final Thoughts
By following these tips, you can create an organised budget for your next corporate event without experiencing any financial stress.
Let us know if you want to add more to these tips by commenting below!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aliana Baraquio is a content writer for Pink Caviar Events Sydney, a full-service event management and decorative hire company located in Sydney. When she’s not typing out blog posts, you can find her watching anime series or baking cupcakes.
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