Speaker 1: Hey guys, my name is Logan Clements. I am a freelance event manager and owner of Logan Strategy Group. And I am super excited to talk to you guys today about event budgets, woo. I have to woo because some people hate budgets. If you're one of those people that's maybe cringing inside when I say the word budget, that's totally okay. If you're someone like me who gets really excited about talking about budgets, that's also okay. Let's kind of start with the basics of what is an event budget? So similar to any personal budget that you have, your event budget is going to be your list of everything that you're paying for as an event. This can include your venue, your vendors, your food, your photographer, your ticket costs, your lighting, your flowers, food, anything. All is included in your budget. I love to use Excel or the Google Sheets because it kind of tracks it in live. Anytime I'm working with more than one person, we use Google Sheets. If you're already feeling overwhelmed, that's totally, totally cool. I'm with you sometimes. I love talking about event budgets because when I'm brought in on a new event, this is the first thing that I like to look at. Before I even look at any photos or designs or anything about the event, I love to get into the numbers. I loved numbers in high school and math. To me, it just made sense. And so when I started getting into event planning, I found myself really drawn to the numbers and found you really can tell a lot about an event just based on the numbers. Even if it's making you cringe a little bit to think about, this is usually where I like to start. And so I broken it down. I have about six of my favorite tips in terms of how I use my budget as my blueprint. When I say blueprint, it's similar to like building a house. You can make it as beautiful and fancy and custom windows and custom flooring and everything, but there are certain things that you just have to have. And so for most events, you normally will have a venue. In COVID times, some of us are using a virtual venue, but you'll have a venue, some form of food and drink, some form of interaction, some form of staffing. And so having this budget kind of really helps you move forward and start your planning process. Event budget tip number one, look at last year's budget. A lot of times events happen annually or they've happened before. And so even if it's not an annual event, maybe it's a monthly event, just take a look at the last time they did this event. Look at that budget, have a look, see what makes sense. When I say I'm the queen of questions, here's where you gotta start to ask some questions. So for one, they don't have a budget, why don't they have a budget? Sometimes something as little as this of not having a budget can show you some inconsistencies with the organization as a whole, if they're missing a budget, because that tells you a big thing from the organizational standpoint is if they don't know how much they're spending, how can they really plan an event? Another thing I like to look at is how did their actuals match up with their estimates? So when I say estimates, I mean usually when you're going through your budgeting process, you'll list out everything you need and then you list out your estimates. So these are things of what you think you'll spend it on. And then you also keep track of your actuals. One thing I found with companies is they don't usually keep track of the estimates. Sometimes they'll have written it in their document and then the minute they have an actual, so they'll delete the estimate and put the actuals in, which that's not horrible, but it makes it hard to see how unexpected costs came along or things were higher than normal. So if you have that estimates versus actuals, you can kind of compare that to see, oh wow, this actually cost a lot more money, why? Oh, this actually came really under budget, why? And then I like to look at the budget also to see does it line up with what people were talking about or raving about the event? Were people blown away by the entertainment and you found out that they were actually a volunteer organization who did it for free? Did people not talk about at all the beautiful decor and you'd spent thousands on flowers and this custom build out? This kind of budget can help you start to see, okay, where does what people are talking about line up with what I spend? And then how do those prices that you're getting from vendors compare to the market average? Depending on how long you've been working in events, this is some stuff you might just know. I used to work predominantly in China, in Shanghai, and so I know a ton about all the costs for vendors in China. I've only been back in the States now predominantly for about a year. And so I'm still kind of new to some of the Seattle pricing and things. And so this is something, a step where I usually have to do a little bit more research on my end, just to see, are they getting the right pricing? Especially if you're a nonprofit, are they giving you nonprofit pricing? A lot of companies will give you slightly lower than what they charge corporate companies because they know you're a nonprofit and the money that you're probably trying to raise with this event goes to charity. And so that's something to kind of think about. If you can look back on what's happened, it really can help inform you moving forward. And if you're in one of those rare cases where there isn't a budget and it's an event that has never happened before, this is where I kind of would turn to some of my event colleagues who work in other industries to try to see if they'll give you a budget or if you're planning a wedding, if you can ask a friend for a budget or looking online kind of just to give you a gauge of something to start off of. It's like writer's block. You know, you're looking at a document and you see that blinking cursor on a blank document is way more intimidating than having something already in front of you that you just get to go in and kind of start to work off of. It's like starting an essay without an outline. Look out there and try to find and see if there's any resources you can find that'll give you that outline so you have something to go off of. All right, event budgets tip number two. Decide how you're going to pay for your event. Now, as a freelance event manager, sometimes this is something that's already been decided without me. But if you're somebody who has to figure out from scratch where you're gonna pay for your event, this is something that you can figure out. Is it something that your event budget comes from your company or organization annual budget? Is it just set aside that they said you have $70,000 for your company annual party? Or is your event based on ticket sales? If it's a nonprofit event, those ticket sales could mean you wanna make sure that ticket sales equal costs so that you make $0 because you're a nonprofit or it's a for-profit event and you're looking to make money. And so you wanna make sure that your ticket sales more than cover your event costs so that you have some profit in there. Or maybe your event's decided by donations, by sponsors and getting a sponsor to pay for your event. Or your budget could also be $0. I have worked events that don't have any budget before. One of my favorites, one of my Shanghai charity events that I work, we had an operating budget of $0. So that's one of the reasons I will say I am a firm believer that you can have a very high quality event at a very low cost. We did have some costs here and there that crept up and so we were able to find sponsors to cover those costs. But you can make it happen. So whether you're working for a company and they tell you it's $70,000 or you and your partner are planning your wedding and you both decide with your savings, okay, we have $30,000 to spend on our wedding, just pick a number and stick to it. And that is gonna be, that's how much, how you're gonna pay for your event. All right, tip number three, think about your priorities. We talked about earlier that event planners will fantasize about the budget-less event, but even a budget-less event will have a budget. Budget meaning a document that's gonna have everything listed for everything they've spent. And so here's where I really want you to start to list out each of your elements. So if you haven't already opened up an Excel sheet or a Google sheet, this is the right time to start doing that, where you've written at top how much you have to spend or how you're paying for the event, and then here you're gonna start to list out your expenses. And so I would start listing out each element, venue, food, decor, photographer. I could keep going on and listing more. This is where you're gonna start to prioritize because we've all gotten lost in that endless scroll you can do on Instagram or on Pinterest, all of the awesome, amazing things that you can have at your event and being overwhelmed by how many things there are. I know I've done it when just trying to plan a friend's like bachelorette party. You get overwhelmed by how many amazing things you can have. But since we're all not made of money, myself included, I had to prioritize. So you gotta pick what of all these elements are the most important to you, the most important. And so this important meaning it's gonna have the biggest impact, you care about it the most, and maybe you're willing to spend the most money on it. For you, that could be the venue. It has to be this specific kind of venue on this specific date. You know, maybe you really wanted to have it with a view of the city. So it has to be in this tall skyscraper building and that's gonna be probably a little more expensive than a restaurant down on the first floor. Or you want a waterfront location. You know, whatever it would be, that would then be one of your priorities. I say that you can pick three priorities. I think that's a good number because you could say you wanna prioritize everything, but all of us know that we don't have really unlimited budgets. And even if you do have that unlimited budget, it's smart to kind of stay within some form of parameters. So pick three things that you're willing to really spend a decent chunk of your budget on. Then the rest of the elements, start looking through those and start seeing where you can start to be creative. And this is where I won't say they're a low priority because I know that turns people off. They think that means they don't care and it shouldn't be nice. I'm a firm believer that having a lower price point does not mean it's lower quality. Sometimes it's true, you get what you pay for, but it's one of those things that if your decor is not the most important to you, maybe you don't need to hire a design agency to create this custom build out for you. You and your colleagues could go to the flower market and purchase flowers and make some beautiful arrangements on your own. But one of the things like, for example, I had a client that once didn't really wanna spend money. They had a volunteer videographer, someone who would shoot video for free, which was great. And the company was so excited to save money on a videographer. Granted, now the videographer gave their services for free because they were new and just learning. And so the video that they produced was not of the highest quality. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't super, super high quality. Unfortunately, the company had planned on using this video to send it out to all its partners, sponsors, social media, marketing. Everybody wanted to use this video and it didn't really line up with the quality of the company. So here's a moment where they should have thought, oh wait, free is good, but this is actually one of our priorities because it's one of our biggest marketing materials that comes out of the cement. We should probably spend more money on it. So this is kind of where this framework I'm giving you can help you kind of start to make decisions around your planning process. Now, if the photos or the videos are just for fun and it's just for the attendees and the board members just to have a fun memory to look back on, sure. Maybe you go for the volunteer, the free videographer or photographer, or the lower cost photographer or videographer and support somebody new in the industry. That's great too. But as you kind of are going through each of these elements, you're starting to kind of figure out, okay, where is a majority of my budget going to be allocated? Tip number four, research your vendors. My least favorite response I get from clients when I look at an event that they've done and they wanna use these certain vendors that they've always used. And the answer I say, why do you wanna work with them again? And they say, oh, well, we worked with them last year. That's great. But I'm a big proponent in always constantly looking for new and awesome vendors that you love to work with. I also think it's just smart to do research outside of the people that you already work with, just to check, to double check the pricing, making sure it's still on market with what everything is valued at today. And just to see what's out there, because I think there's always some new and exciting things going on that if you continue to work with just the same people over and over and over again, you're not gonna get that. Granted, if you love your caterer or your photographer and you know they're phenomenal, keep them, use them. I love to go back to the same people that I love working with when I know that they do good work, but I'm also constantly looking out for new and exciting other things and vendors that are out there. And so this may be, it's also a good time for you to look through your budget and figure out what could you outsource to other people? Like if you're planning a wedding and you don't care about the flowers, I keep talking about flowers because I've worked with a lot of people who don't care about the flowers as much, outsource it to your mom. Let your mom or a family member take over. Or maybe your venue, you're able to find a sponsor who instead of giving you cash is gonna give you the venue for free. So there's ways to be creative with your budget where it could still be a high priority item and you could still save some money on it. As you're doing your research, what do you wanna go to vendors for? What do you wanna try and figure out for yourself? And what might you be able to outsource to other people? I usually like to go for a range of like three to five options for each area. This is really helpful if you've never planned an event before, if it's your first time, if you're new to a new city or you're doing a destination event, I would always, I like to do my research just to see what's out there and start to get some feel for the market. Again, I'll reiterate, I don't think that necessarily a higher price point means higher quality. I've worked with vendors that charge market rates and produce a fabulous, awesome high quality and I love them dearly. And then I've also worked with people who charge very high rates and perform at somewhat of a mediocre level. And it's really frustrating on those sides, especially if you're working with a client that is very budget, how much money we're spending focused and realizing that they've just shelled out lots of money and they're not getting the product that they wanted or the quality that they were expecting. I do also encourage you if you're doing an event that happens more than once, is an annual event, monthly event, whatever it is, do switch it up with some of your vendors, especially the vendors that people are interacting with, like the onstage talent. Sometimes it's fun, even if your talent's great, I would mix it up every so often just to break up the annual event feel. If you have the same person being your auctioneer for year after year after year, sometimes it's nice to mix it up and throw in a different one or throw in a new MC to work with that auctioneer, just to add some spice. I've also worked with some amazing catering companies that are really cool and on the edge of thinking of new ideas and things. So you could keep working with the same vendor, but challenging and working with them to start to do different and new ideas. So to the guests and your guests, it feels like a whole new event, even if you're still working with the same person. So this is the research phase where I think it's super important just to do your homework. All right, guys, we're cruising. We're at tip number five. Set your budget. So you've already figured out how you're gonna pay for your event. You've already figured out what elements you wanna include, and you've done your research on your vendors. So now you're ready to create your budget. If you haven't already opened Google Sheets or your Excel sheet, this is when I would start making sure you organize it all in there. I like to think this step in my building my budget process is very similar to the popular TV show on TLC, Say Yes to the Dress. This is a show all about people buying their wedding dresses and wedding outfits. And so what I love, though, is the consultant, whenever they meet their new client, the bride, the groom, whoever it is, they always ask them, so what's your budget today? And so they make the client tell them a number. They say 2,000, or I'm willing to spend between three and five, or, oh, I'm really, my budget's around 5,000, but I'd really be willing to spend up to eight if I loved the dress. And this is great. This is super smart of the consultants because they instantly know where they're working in. So they're not gonna offer someone this great idea that's way outside their budget, but then they're also gonna know they don't need to keep it too simple and they can have some fun. Same thing with the event planning business. You don't wanna pitch this amazing, beautiful event concept only to find out it's gonna cost you hundreds of thousands and thousands of dollars and your budget's $30,000. So this is where I think it's really, really helpful for you to find a number. This is what you're gonna spend, your total amount. This is helpful to use this number based on your research. Your event is part of the annual budget. That's your budget. Or you and your partner decide, okay, we have $30,000 in savings. We have $30,000 as our budget. Once you've picked out your number, even if you have an unlimited budget, I'll go back to that, even if you have an unlimited budget, pick a number, and now add 10% to that number. Or if the number you picked before was already your max, subtract 10% so that you leave a little bit of a buffer. So many of the events I work, the main thing is just to either make money or don't lose money. And so adding a 10% buffer will kind of save you for some of those little costs that add up over time. And these little costs, I mean, it could be like parking fees for parking near your event venue that you forget about, or if you're charging tickets, credit card service fees, or tipping the wait staff at the end of the night. Just sometimes as you're planning event, you'll find little things can start to add up and you wanna keep track of them all in your budget and give yourself a little bit of wiggle room to be able to cover those costs in your overall budget. All right, guys, we're almost there. The last tip, woo, ba-ba-ba-ba-boo. We're on tip number six. This is for track everything, track everything. You've started and we've talked through, we've talked through how much you're gonna, how do you figure out how much you can spend? How do you figure out how much you wanna spend? And how do you actually set a number and list out all the elements you want? Now we're gonna track it. So I'm gonna say it again. If you haven't already opened your Excel doc or your Google Sheets, open them now because this is where we're gonna start tracking it all on a spreadsheet or a spreadsheet host of your choice. If you don't like Word and you don't like Google, do whatever you have to do. But this is a physical version of your budget and this is gonna be your event blueprint moving forward. I love to create the estimates column based on my budget. So column one, I've listed out all of my event elements, venue, entertainment, food, photographer, decor, gifts, anything. It's all listed out and then that's in column one. Column two, I would put my estimates up top and then I put based on my research or vendors we've already worked with, you're starting to put your estimates based on what you think each of them are gonna cost. Then as you go through and start to confirm your vendors and you're signing contracts and you're locking them in, this is where you're gonna start your third column. It's gonna be actuals. And so this is where I would start a separate column for actuals. I've worked with some people who like to go back and delete the estimates and put the actuals in. But please, please, please, please save your actuals because it's really helpful just to go back if you're ever planning, maybe not even the same kind of event again, but if you're gonna plan another event ever, it's really helpful to have that to go back to look at to see how your estimates compared to your actuals, where you went over budget, where you went under budget. It's kind of your little litmus test to your own fortune telling investigation skills. I also like at the top, I'll either list my entire budget that number I picked in step five, that number I have. And then under that I would have, that's my estimated budget. Then I would have my total budget and I would sum everything that I have in my actuals column. And that gives me starting to having a total number as I'm spending money, as I'm starting to confirm things in, how much money on how close I'm getting to my budget and my limit. As that'll help you when there's certain elements that you listed as lower priority and you're trying to figure out how much you can spend on them, that'll be your litmus test of, oh, I thought I was gonna have $500 for this. I actually only have three. Okay, what can we do that's gonna be high quality and amazing with only $300? I go back to my event budget. It is a living, breathing document. This is unfortunately not something you do just in one afternoon. You can start it in one afternoon, but as you go along, you wanna constantly be updating a budget. I've come across so many event budgets that people created at some point and then just never updated throughout their event planning process. And it makes it really hard to go back and figure out what went well, what could use improvement, everything. My other big tip would be to keep track of the small things. My biggest pet peeve when I look at budgets is seeing this category, miscellaneous expenses, where people have just lumped in all these expenses into like a total number. The best case scenario would be to say miscellaneous expenses that's a category, that's a row, that's a category. But then under that you've sub-listed all of these little things, parking fees, food for volunteers, whatever it is, all these little things that add up and then you can have a total. Or if you don't wanna do that, just say miscellaneous items and then you list your estimates, you list your actuals and then have a notes, your fourth column be notes. And then in there you list out and itemize every single little miscellaneous item. As an event planner, if I don't know where these costs are coming from, I can't help you make them go down. I can't help you optimize your budget if you don't know how $10,000 was spent on miscellaneous expenses. Now, if I knew, oh, it was on food for volunteers, certain things, little things that we forgot about. Okay, now looking back at that, I can plan for this year and know, hey, if we pre-order this food instead of doing it that day of with a delivery service, we can probably find a sponsor or an awesome community partner who would give us nonprofit catering pricing to bring in some outside food for our volunteers and end up saving money. It's really helpful to keep track of everything, especially then if you're looking back on it because it'll help jog your memory. I like to think I have a great memory, but I know that I rely so hard on my notes post events when I have to look back at them, especially if you're an annual event producer doing an event that's gonna happen again next year, take good notes this year. Your future self will thank you. So once you kind of have your event budget, you followed my six steps, this is gonna be your strongest tool in your event planning process. It's gonna remind you what your priorities are. It's gonna help keep you on track. It's gonna help you even celebrate your successes on the end. My favorite is looking and seeing a budget that is well under budget or well under my estimates. That's a really exciting feeling. It's also really nice to be able to get ahead of conversations. If you start to see, you're getting really close to your budget numbers and I love event budgets and hopefully you guys found this helpful. I know I talk a lot about it, but I'm very excited about event budgets and how helpful they can be in your process. So if you need help creating an event budget or have any more questions, feel free to contact me or comment below. I love spreadsheets and budgets and I'm happy to use my love of numbers and nerdiness to help you out. But hopefully you learned a thing or two about how to make a budget for your next event and that'll help you along the way. Looking forward to talking to you guys again soon. Bye.