

If a career in event management prepares you for anything, it’s the unexpected. Create a contingency fund for emergencies Simply put, creating event budget templates upfront can save you tons of time down the road.ģ. Whether it’s a corporate event or conference budget template, a party or wedding budget template, you can use your previous work and research as a starting point for any new events you may plan.

HINT - Creating event budget templates is a great way to never start from scratch. Don’t start from scratch if you can help it
#Event planning tools templates how to
It’s at this time where you can brainstorm on where and how you will raise or acquire these funds, and this can lead to an exercise in how to manage your cash flow so you can stay current on all your bills and payments due. This planning work should give you your first thumbnail budget, which you can then use to establish the capital requirements for your event (which is the approximate amount of funds you will need to fully realize your vision). Once you have identified these key or signature expenses, you can then start to flesh out your other expenses and determine how much you can cut them, if necessary. The items that can’t be cut without compromising the overall goals of the event are called signature expenses, and they could include food-and-beverage, entertainment, speaker and venue rental costs. This starts first with looking at the overall goal of your event and determining what items are most important in achieving that goal and making the biggest impact on your audience. It’s highly unlikely that you have a bottomless pit of funds to pull off your event, which means you need to make smart decisions about what to spend money on. Establish event goals and spending priorities from the outset Here are some of the most important ones. In addition, creating an accurate event budget is critical in properly managing vendors, staff and other event personnel, so it's a step that should never be skipped.īuilding an event budget need not be complicated, but there are a few key best practices to follow before you sit down with a spreadsheet or, better yet, an event budget planner tool to start putting numbers in columns. Hence the need for a comprehensive event budget that accurately lays out how much you have to spend, what you will spend it on and if you have income that will offset those expenses. And you may also have other stakeholders, team members and clients who are interested in how money is earmarked and spent as the event is being planned. In addition, you will probably have quite a few suppliers and vendors involved in helping you, most if not all of whom don’t work for free. Whether your events are simple or complex, whatever kind of events you manage - from corporate events like meetings and conferences to social events like parties and weddings - you will probably be spending and/or taking in money to accomplish your event goals and create an amazing experience for your attendees. Owner, Planning Pod 7 critical tips for managing an event budget.
