The pennies you don’t want to pinch

So you’ve been tasked with planning the next event for your company, where do you start? While there are many ways to save money while planning your next event, there are some areas of the budget where you’ll not want to cut any corners.

We’ve picked the top 3 ‘must spend’ areas and outlined the reasons!

Audio / Visual

Audio visual (AV) for corporate events is typically a significant line in your budget. Operate within a range, and if needed, ask your guy to come in at the lower end of the range for this one, but don’t skip the essentials.

• Pay the tech to stay all day – the hope is that they have a quiet day, sitting at the back of the room, watching everything run smoothly, but if something is to go wrong, you’ll be glad they are there!
• Give every simultaneous speaker a mic – sharing is not caring in this case, and can ruin the flow of a good conversation.
• Feed the team – happy techs will do you favours like fix your keynote’s PowerPoint presentation five minutes before they hit the stage!
• Invite them to an early site visit – A great AV team is almost invisible on event day, but stick close to them during a site visit. They see power access, ceiling heights, video angles, bad lighting, and more! Ask for their advice, take their advice, and appreciate the heck out of them!

We highly recommend you get a guy (or girl, or entire company!) that you can use for as many of your events as possible because there’s nothing like working with someone who gets you, gets your style, and starts to be able to read your mind!

Photographer

Get one, pay one. You won’t remember to take photos yourself, and even with an iPhone 10, how good will they be? Hire a professional, and provide them with your essential shot list. Ensure you discuss the purpose and audience of the photos. Think about the content that will help to promote next year’s event –  photos of special guests, high profile speakers, networking sessions, sponsored elements, and you guessed it, the food. A good photographer is shooting all day, capturing every moment, and those photos are what engage your guests and sell your event tickets year after year.

Food

Like it or not, it’s the food that people talk about at an event! It’s an ice breaker during networking (haven’t you noticed, everyone gathers at the food tables!), and during a long day, it’s what keeps the attendees alert and engaged!

• Always start the day with food and great coffee!
• Accommodate dietary requirements, and order a few extras for those people who forget to inform you.
• Treat your guests – while some will choose the apple over the ice cream bar for the afternoon snack, those who choose the ice cream bar will be singing your praises all the way to the post-event feedback survey!
• Leave the refreshments out for as long as the venue will allow you to – nothing worse than sneaking out of the session for a 2^nd (or 3^rd) danish, only to find they’ve been taken away!
• Consider a buffet – it appears as extensive offerings, there is always enough for seconds, and people love to have a choice!

At the end of the day, there are ways to save money on your next event, and there are elements of an event that you can choose to add towards the end of planning after you’ve crushed those ticket sale goals, but the areas above are our Must Spends, the Non-Negotiables, and your Keys to Success!