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BUSM 4571 Event management
Week 7
Finance management
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Event budgeting
and Event pricing
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Purpose: Helping students...
Know how to budget for a reasonable and effective event;
Approach a virtual event budgeting strategy.
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Your event reflection:
How did you budget for your event?
How did you decide your event’s ticket price?
Was your event a gain or a loss financially? Evaluate your budget and spend.
What could be done differently?
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Why it's important to budget
• A budget is a guide to ensure the final amount spent doesn’t exceed to
original budgeted value
• A budget sets the framework for how much can be spent and forces
planners to figure out what to put more money into throughout the
planning process
• A budget keeps the planning team aligned and provides a metric to
stakeholders
• This budget can then be used to prove event success after the event.
While event ROI isn’t all about money, a majority of it is.
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Best practices to be kept in mind
1. Establish the goal
• The main purpose of an event budget isn't to spend money, but to guide
the organizer to properly allocate funds to the most valuable event
elements
• The budget becomes a reflection of what parts of the event are most
important to the organizers.
You need the jacket A --> You try to earn money to get it
Not because you have money --> You try to spend on any jacket
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Best practices to be kept in mind
2. Use historial data
• Rely on previous research and data when you can to make things simpler
for everyone involved, no need to take a risk of losing time and wasting
energy.
• Examples of must-know vitural event benchmarks:
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[Link] Data compiled from 1,850 virtual events that took place between July 1, 2020, and October 31, 2020
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[Link] Data compiled from 1,850 virtual events that took place between July 1, 2020, and October 31, 2020
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[Link] Data compiled from 1,850 virtual events that took place between July 1, 2020, and October 31, 2020
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Best practices to be kept in mind
3. Pay attention to detail
• Every piece of information relevant to a particular budget item should be
included in the “description” section within the budget plan. This will help you
make decisions further down the line and will also be helpful to future event
planners who refer to your budget.
• It would also be helpful to include a screenshot of the item so you—and your
internal stakeholders—can visualize the end product.
• Make sure to also include the cost of shipping and packaging in event
budget.
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Best practices to be kept in mind
4. Overcommunicate with stakeholders
• All relevant stakeholders should always be on the same page. Internally,
this means communicating key budget information with the team members
who are in charge of financial oversight of the event.
• Similarly when dealing with external communication, you’ll want to be
overly communicative and crystal clear with all relevant event vendors.
• Be transparent and upfront every step of the way and strive to over-
communicate as event organizing is an unpredictable journey.
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Best practices to be kept in mind
5. Stay aware of the latest event trends
• One of the best ways to properly allocate your spending budget is to be
aware of event industry trends and understand which are the best
investments for your event overall:
• Live streaming, artificial intelligence, facial recognition technology, live
translation, data collection.
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Best practices to be kept in mind
6. Consider sponsors
• Event sponsors often provide the funding needed to have a successful
event in exchange for the opportunity to get in front of your attendees,
typically for the purpose of brand awareness.
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Step by step guide to create an event budget
Stage 1: Identify your event strategy
• Determine your event and an overall budget: clearly identify the type of
event you’re planning and the overall budget for the event. It is always best
to begin designing an event around your available resources and not vice
versa.
• Evaluate past events: to understand the areas you over or underspent on.
You may want to adjust your budget or consider new vendors.
• Research to understand the industry: you’ll go into planning with a
clearer picture of industry-standard costs.
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Step by step guide to create an event budget
Stage 1: Identify your event strategy (continue:)
• Listing out the items that are must-haves:
• Venue • Marketing
• Speakers • Event technology
• Staffing • Transportation
• Signage and branding • Furniture and equipment
• Food and Beverage • Emergency fund (last minute
costs)
• Attendee Experience
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Step by step guide to create an event budget
• Stage 1: Identify your event strategy (continue:)
• Get buy-in from stakeholders: it’s time to share the projected budget with
your stakeholders to make sure they are aware of the budget, agree and
approve of it, and keep yourself accountable; to ensure there is no
confusion or surprises down the line.
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Step by step guide to create an event budget
Stage 2: Estimate Your Costs
• Break the high-level expenses down further:
• e.g. MARKETING:
• Social media
• Online Ads
• Email marketing
• Photography
• Design agency
• Event materials
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Step by step guide to create an event budget
Stage 2: Estimate Your Costs (continue:)
• Firm up your projected costs: continue reaching out to vendors for
quotes. At this point, you should be identifying the right vendors for each
area of your budget and entering into formal agreements and contracts for
the event.
• Complete list of line items: a complete list of your expected line items
should be built out.
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Step by step guide to create an event budget
Stage 3: Finalize your budget
• Add a column to your spreadsheet labeled “Actual Spend": it’s helpful
to see these numbers side by side. Despite meticulous planning, there is
always the possibility of changes to your budget.
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Step by step guide to create an event budget
Stage 4: Post-event settling and evaluation
• Evaluate your budget and spend: Identify your total spend wether you are
using budgeting software or spreadsheet.
• Share that number with your stakeholders: will be helpful in measuring
outcomes from the event.
• Pull out insights from your budget: Identify savings & overages,
investigate the reason for future plan.
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Virtual Events Ticket Price Calculator
[Link]
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Break-Even Analysis (in units)
Fixed costs: These
amounts will be spent no
matter how many people
turn up to the event.
Variable costs: Other
costs which will be
dependant upon the
number of people who
turn up and participate.
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Break-Even Analysis (in units)
Entrance fee is: $20.00
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Break-Even Analysis (in units)
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Early feedback to Prepare for your
your assignment 2 assignment 3
• Do you have • Begin with a
any questions? concept.