Meeting and event planners should think of their budget as a pie, with slices representing key aspects like catering, lodging, AV, transportation and more. Unfortunately, that pie isn’t as a big a treat as it used to be. Most planners have seen their budgets shrink while that pie keeps being divided into smaller and smaller slices.
Personalized experiences, inclusive F&B, and sustainable practices add to an event’s experience. But they come at a time when prices for the basics, including lodging, have increased 20-30 percent.
It’s not your imagination: Planners are really being asked to be doing more with less resources.
“You have to get creative,” says Valerie Bihet, VIBE Founder and Director.
So while you can’t host most events without providing hotel rooms, most meals, and the technology to make the shows pop, there are some workarounds.
Here are some ways she recommends for making the most of your event budget.
1. Know what budget you have to work with before you start any planning.
The first step is the most basic, yet the most important. Planners need to lock in their budgets early so they can then start the process of divvying out resources. Valerie says it’s easy to catch some red flags right away.
“If somebody tells me I have $800 per person to do a conference, it’s not realistic, because I know that you need at least $1,500 to $2,500 per-person per-day,” she says.
Similarly, no matter how important hotels are to an event, if housing takes 50 percent (or more) of your budget, you’ll be sacrificing too much on other essentials.
2. Take your desired event destination into account.
Louisiana and Texas may be next-door neighbors, but there can be a world of difference with prices between the two.
For instance, New Orleans is surprisingly affordable considering its popularity among attendees and planners alike, a benefit Valerie took full advantage of for an annual January event requiring a 100-room block.
That same event moved Austin the following year, but required the attendance to be cut by 20 percent to account for the higher hotel costs in Texas.
Situations like this occur across the country, so do your homework early.
3. Don’t be afraid to try different event formats to maximize your experience no matter the budget.
The definition of creative in event planning is showing the confidence to make changes to traditional formats.
Just because your company traditionally hosts 500 guests in a tier one city doesn’t mean you can’t have success in another city or event format.
Example:
Valerie recently traveled to New York to host a virtual event for a client before preparing several regional events in smaller markets for attendees to gather in-person.
“Tier two and tier three cities are less expensive – try to find a city like that,” she suggests.
Toronto, for instance, has many top venues and popular hotels, but is more affordable than Chicago or New York.
Not only will you save on hotel rates, but also cut down on travel – which helps your budget and meets sustainability goals.
4. Think about Europe
The idea of an overseas meeting can be daunting when considering the cost of air travel, but incentive planners, in particular, can do more with their dollars overseas than in the U.S.
“In Europe, they have what they call a DDR (Day Delegate Rate) package, where they include breakfast, a morning break, lunch and an afternoon break. In the United States, that’s not very common,” Valerie says.
Consider all-inclusive packages that resorts offer that take much of the guesswork out of F&B and other amenities. Such deals can offset higher travel fares.
While we all wish we had unlimited budgets, a few creative choices can overcome higher prices and ensure your clients walk away happy.
