Having a budget for most things in life is important and keeping to that budget is fundamental, knowing what is important is vital for that event to be a success. It doesn’t matter how big or small the budget is, the budget is crucial in order to know where you stand and what you can achieve; from weddings to parties, conferences or team building events, every event needs a budget to act as the glue that keeps everything together. This is key in knowing what we can or can’t afford, yet sometimes we tend to want more than we’ve accounted for.

For my own finances I have a budget plan and it works really well, knowing what is going out and coming in allows me to budget and know what I can spend to ensure I am never in the red. This is a great tip when looking at any type of event, create a budget plan from the start and you’ll find it easier to plan and you won’t be disappointed by any unexpected costs. It does help to stay on top of your budget – it isn’t an easy task but an absolute must to keep your event calculated correctly and hopefully stress free.

Here at Out The Office we have set three easy tips to help you keep your budgets on track and still have a great time.

1. Review any and every expense

From day one note down exactly what you plan to spend or need to spend on your event. A host, travel, venue and activity soon add up. Making a checklist is a great way to know who or what you have organised along the way, and recording the costs of each enables you to accurately keep a record of which tasks have been completed and how much of the budget has been consumed by each. Everything needs to be accounted for and you need to cover everything to reach all expectations for the event so having that understanding of how each item requires payment is golden. Storing information of anyone you are dealing with is essential and to help yourself out this should all be kept in one place so you can easily contact them. If you use the services provided on a regular basis then there is always room for negotiation. Working with the same people over and over means you can build a solid relationship and trust; every vendor is different so having that master list is always handy

2. Setting goals and targets

From the start it is always best to write down what you want out of the event, would your team benefit from being brought closer together? Do they need to improve on their communication? Do you need to integrate new staff? It might just be a fun day out! Whether it’s an end of year party or just a conference, study the needs and requirements closely as these need to be matched as best they can. Take a look at the amount of guests attending and work out a rough cost per head, this makes it a lot easier when keeping in touch with the bigger picture.
If you have a team of people around you discuss everything from the outset, this way everyone is aware of what it is needs to be done. If items that are being bought which were not discussed or planned for then it may be a good idea to bring this to the attention of the culprit spender! Going over the budget even a little bit sometimes can’t be helped. As the event planner do not be afraid to say no if one of your team has some ideas for an extravagant extra.

3. Discuss your plan of action regularly

Staying 100% within your budget means you have done an amazing job, but just remember there is always those last minute items that are needed so make sure you have a little bit left over which will cover most situations. If you are super organized then you could even create a list of situations you may encounter and how much you would need to rectify the problem. Creating checklists and event survival kits for event staff is much needed to make sure everyone keeps on point and knows what is needed from them from start to end.

Conclusion

The event budget should be set from the get go, checklists and shopping around is vital and having that all important plan can really set the difference between having an “ok” event to providing an event that will never be forgotten.

One little slip up can make or break you as the Event Manager or organizer but don’t let this put you off.

We know it all seems stressful but we do it here at Out The Office as a job and we love it, so why not offload the stress and let us help from start to finish and we promise we won’t disappoint.