We’ve all had to “tighten our belt” as the cost of living increases and event planners are no exception. Over 47% of event professionals agree that budget decreases are the biggest challenge they currently face.

How can you operate on a new budget? In a nutshell – live within your means. Remember that your wants aren’t the same as your needs. 

• Identify and give priority to your needs. We can easily convince ourselves that we need something for our event (often something glamorous or expensive) when in reality we can get away with a more budget-friendly option.

• Budget your event’s most important needs first. By prioritizing the things most important to your event, you can determine if any remaining funds can be used to cover additional items.

In this post, we’ll break down how event planners of all types can cut down on costs. 

• First, we’ll look at how those who prefer in-person events can identify, cut back, and eliminate unnecessary items. 

Then we’ll show how using modern technology can help anyone drastically cut back on the most expensive parts of their event while maintaining a high standard of quality.

In-person is going to be the most expensive of all the event types (in-person, hybrid, and virtual). Likely your largest expenses for in-person events will be:

• Venue – Service and venue rates can cost thousands of dollars depending on the size, location, time of year, and quality of the event venue.

• Equipment – You’ll probably need to rent items, such as sound equipment, chairs, or other decor to fit your theme.

• Travel – You may have to budget flights, hotels, and other travel costs, especially if most of your attendees live far away from the event location.

• Food & Drinks – It’s estimated that it will cost as low as $10 to up to $180 a person depending on the style of your event, the type of catering, and the quality of service provided. This can get surprisingly expensive, especially if you are expecting a large turnout.

As we mentioned at the outset, once you determine what’s most important for your event, you are now able to either cut back or eliminate unnecessary items.

• Venue – Do a little research to see if there’s a simpler venue that would fit your event’s needs. Don’t be afraid to try negotiating with the venue owners for a better rate. Also consider planning your event during the off-season to take advantage of lower venue and service rates. 

• Equipment – Look for venues that offer package deals which might include equipment. 

• Travel – Can you find a venue close to most attendees? A nearby event venue means you won’t have to pay for extra travel or lodging expenses. 

• Food & Drinks – You likely will need to provide some sort of food and drinks for your guests but it doesn’t have to be top-shelf cuisine. Consider what kind of food and drinks you really need for your event type. For example:

• • High-profile events with important guests might require a higher-quality menu. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be caviar and champagne. Consider opting for a buffet instead of a sit-down meal or hors d’oeuvres instead of full meals. 

• • Guests might not expect a full spread at less important events. So consider whether you can get away with simple snacks such as a fruit platter and coffee.

Ways to cut additional costs:

• Get volunteers from your workplace to staff your event.
• Use free tools to promote your event such as social media and email marketing.
• Use digital invitations to save on printing costs.
• Opt for less expensive or local speakers to save on travel and accommodation costs instead of bringing in high-profile speakers
• Seek out industry sponsors who see value in marketing to your attendees.

No matter what your circumstances are, a key principle will be to plan diligently and be flexible. The more specific your requirements, the higher the cost. Prioritize your expenses and regularly review and adjust to make sure your budget stays on track.

Going virtual is one of the best ways to plan an event, meeting, or conference on a tight budget. 

Virtual events are by far the cheapest event type option. This is one of the many reasons why a great deal of people prefer virtual events over the in-person counterpart. 

Why are they more cost effective? It’s simply a matter of overhead:

• No Venue Fees – Hosting an event virtually means that everyone will attend from remote locations. Therefore there are no venue rental fees, quickly eliminating one of the largest expenses of an in-person event.

• No Venue Equipment – You won’t have to rent items such as chairs, decor, or A/V equipment that an in-person event would need to set up a venue.

• No Travel Fees – In-person events mean that attendees or employers will have to shell out a ton of money just getting people to the event. With virtual events, though, no matter how far away your attendees are located, there are never any hotel or plane ticket fees. Even if all your attendees live locally, they won’t have to spend any fuel attending a virtual event.

• No Catering Required – Of course, if you wanted to treat your attendees, you could send them a gift package. (Virtual happy hour anyone?) But virtual events don’t require that you provide food and drinks. You are in complete control of how much you are able to spend in this area.

The beauty of virtual events is their cost flexibility. Virtual events can be as cheap or expensive as you need them to be. 

What are some ways you can invest in your virtual event?

• Platform – Since your event is 100% virtual you want to make sure you choose a good foundation with the right video conferencing platform. Which one is right for you? It depends on such things as:

• • Ease of use vs features
  • Security
  • Integration
  • Event goals
  • And of course – budget

The many platforms available offer different features as well as different price plans. And if your budget is really tight, many offer a basic free plan that might work well enough for your event. 

• Some Possible Equipment – Most of those attending will be attending on a device with a built-in camera and microphone. But they might not be high enough quality to fit your event’s needs. 

High-profile speakers, hosts, and others will likely want to upgrade their camera and microphone. Usually, though this will be a reasonably small cost. 

• Hiring a Virtual Event Company – A virtual event company is a team of specialists that will help you get the most out of your virtual or hybrid event. They help you with all the preparations, ensure things run smoothly during the event, and help your attendees get more out of the meeting. 

Some of their duties include:

• • Helping you pick the right platform
  • Using multi-source audio and internet failovers to ensure your online meeting isn’t interrupted
  • Driving engagement with tools like gamification 
  • Resolving technical difficulties
  • Expanding your reach by broadcasting in multiple languages 

Not all virtual event companies are created the same. Make sure you do your homework to make sure your virtual event company will be worth every dime spent.

Virtual events usually incur some costs. But every penny spent by switching to virtual can be used to improve the quality of the event. None of it is spent on outside factors that don’t affect the quality of the program itself, such as travel and lodging.

Hybrid events are what the name suggests; they are events that are held partly in person and partly virtually. 

Hybrid events are more budget-friendly than in-person events but not quite as cheap as virtual events. The in-person part of hybrid events is where the majority of your cost will be. 

• Needing to have some sort of venue, travel, food & drinks, etc.
• The cost for these items will be directly linked to how many plan to attend in person.

You will also need to factor in a setup to tie in to those attending virtually. This could include things such as cameras, microphones, an A/V system, and personnel to run them. 

Not at all! Many feel that hybrid events offer the best of both worlds when it comes to putting on an event. 

Hybrid events:

• Bring much of the flexibility that virtual events offer.
• Promote the most engagement of the 3 event types.
• Allow both those who prefer in-person and those who prefer virtual to happily attend.
• Are cheaper than in-person-only style events.
  

Your goal when budgeting is to ensure the most important part of your event gets the priority that it needs, whether it be an in-person, hybrid, or virtual event. A quality virtual event company will know exactly the best way for you to do this.

How does hiring a specialist help you save money? In the same way that paying a tax professional can help you save thousands of dollars on your yearly federal and state taxes. 

Our team of experts at Virtual Velocity specializes in helping you arrange your budget to make sure the most important part of your event gets the attention it needs.

Curious about what our process is? Reach out to us for a free conversation. We promise you’ll get actionable advice that will help you put on a high-quality event while staying within budget.