Keeping Event Management Costs Down

In this current economic climate, event management is often focused on keeping costs down but without compromising on quality. So how exactly are you supposed to deliver the same or more while sticking to budget. Given the competitive nature of the event management industry, this is a challenge as if you can't deliver within the budget, the customer will most likely go to another event management company that says they can. Despite these challenges, there are ways that costs can be cut or kept to a minimal level.

Five Tips to Lower The Costs Of Planning And Managing Events

1. Decide on a budget and stick to it - this is the key first step and one of the most difficult. For example, if you find a dream venue that is outside the price range it may be tempting to go for it anyway but this will mean you will have to compromise another area of your event or go over budget. That is why proper planning and a priority list are important.


2. When you have decided on a budget, put things in order of importance and then work out how much you want to spend on each item from this list. This will help to make sure you don't spend a lot of money on something that isn't very important and don't leave enough money for something that is.


3. Install event management technology - this can automate processes such as registration and hotel booking as well as producing reports and storing all the necessary data in one place.


4. Take advantage of technological innovation - after you have invested in event management software, there are other new technologies on the market you may want to look into. These include free software to build branded website; free press release distribution sites; free image libraries that you can take advantage of when creating event literature; virtual conferencing technology that can allow you to hold face to face meetings from within the comfort of your own office which can help cut down travel costs; and third party survey websites that will create and manage the survey for your and analyse the results, which is particularly useful when creating post event reports to investigate the success of the event.


5. Shop around - don't just take the first available deal but negotiate on prices. If an event is taking place in the off peak season, then venues will be very keen to get your business so may be willing to lower their prices. The same goes for suppliers such as caterers and furniture providers.

If you follow all of the above then this will significantly help you deliver a successful event on a lower budget that still meets needs and enhances your reputation in event management.