13.2. Event Budget

Simply put, a budget is an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.

Budget Basics

Related to your event planning project:

• Income – the money your company has provided to you for the event + any money from sponsors or donations
• Expenditure – the expenses you incur to plan and execute the event
• Duration – the period of time used for the event and the time spent planning the event

When creating a budget, you will start with an estimate of all income and expenses. The first time you run an event, you will have to do your best to guess amounts for income and expenditures. Once you are into a repeat event, you will be able to use the previous event’s amounts as a place to start.

Once you begin to receive more information and more quotes, you will be able to refine and revise your budget. Sound familiar?

Everyone has some experience with budgeting; you may track your personal finances on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis to help you reach your financial goals. If you have planned a wedding or other large event you probably used a budget to stay on track, or if you’ve completed a home renovation you probably had a budget and received quotes from different vendors to complete some work.

This video from ProjectManager on YouTube has some great tips for creating a project budget:

Creating an Event Budget: Where to Start 

When creating an event budget, you must have a high-level plan. It is also important that you know what your source of income is and that you know approximately how much money you have to spend on the event.

Sources of income could include an allotted amount of money from the company you are working for, donations, sponsorship, and from registration fees (if applicable). Knowing your event plan or requirements for the event will help you understand what expenses need to be considered when creating your budget. Those items include things like speaker honorariums (a fee you pay to have someone provide a keynote address), rental fees for rooms, catering costs, and swag bag expenses (some items may get donated by sponsors, but you might have to pay for actual bags and/or ribbons, etc.)

When working on your event budget, any surplus (leftover money) should be minimal, and there should definitely not be a deficit (overspent money). Using estimates that are as accurate as possible will help you stay on track when budgeting.

Items to Consider

To get you started, the following items are some things you should consider when creating an event budget. This list is generic and there are many more items that need to be included to create a complete budget for your particular event.

• Venue – room rentals, parking expenses, security, electrical fees, security
• Food/Catering – meals, breaks, refreshments, corking/service fees, tips
• Rentals – tables, chairs, linens, stages, audio/visual, set-up/tear down, delivery fees
• Décor – balloons, signage, florals, room decorations, table centerpieces
• Transportation – Uber, taxi, bus, train, flights – for guests and speakers
• Gifts/Awards –  swag bag, speaker gifts, thank you gifts, raffle prizes, awards
• Administrative – insurance, marketing costs, printing, planning fees, postage, invitations, permits, apps/software, staffing

*Authored by Heather Beecroft, with editing by Blythe Allman