Corporate Event Ideas for Maintaining a Corporate Event Planning Budget

Recently, I produced an event for a long time client and thought I would share some corporate event ideas that I used during the process of planning this event. I find planning corporate special events just as challenging as planning any other type of event and here are a few tips to think about when considering corporate event planning.

Like any other event, determine a budget when planning corporate events and follow it through. It seems across the board corporate event planning budgets have decreased, and in the case of this event, I suggested to the client that we even cut the budget more than in previous years as a start and then if need be, add to the budget later. Our strategy worked since it seems that vendors as well as event planning providers understand that there are less events happening and are more willing to work within the budget you provide and still help create an outstanding event.

One of the corporate event ideas I discussed with my client and which also helped keep our budget costs down was to bring in our own wine. We weren't crazy about the list of wines offered at this venue and thought why not buy the wine and pay the corkage fee. Thus, we would be serving wines to our liking while saving money (we saved over $500 plus sales tax).

Other event ideas we used to keep our budget costs low were to shorten the length of our cocktail hour from an hour to 45 minutes and also to hold the event earlier in the evening on a Sunday night. By shortening the cocktail hour time, we didn't serve as many appetizers which were charged on a piece-by-piece per person cost, and we also cut down on the amount of cocktails served during the shortened time period. Holding the event on Sunday can save you money when planning corporate events because at most sites, especially restaurants, Sunday is a slower night especially early Sunday eve and you might be able to negotiate a better rate.

When planning your event, think about the timing of the event itself and how to use the time period of the dinner portion effectively. This is another one of the corporate event ideas we put to good use. Since we held the event at a steak house and all dinners were cooked to order, we had quite a delay between our first course and the main course. Thus, we used this extra time by honoring those people in the company who were receiving promotions. Keep in mind with event planning, you still want the event to move thus be sure to set time limits with your speakers.

Summertime company picnics are near, and I hope you can implement some of these corporate event ideas during your corporate event planning process. Planning corporate events still require careful consideration especially with budgets, and there are many creative ways to help you keep those budgets in check. Until next time, remember the Budget Bash mantra: make it simple, stylish, fun and economical to all!