Budget Planning
[buhj-it]
1. an estimate, often itemized, of expected income and expense for a given period in the future.
2. a plan of operations based on such an estimate.
Planning your budget goes hand-in-hand with executing a successful meeting or event. Your budget will determine the experiences you're able to provide your attendees and your return on investment. In this Education Essentials, you'll gain insight into how other meetings professionals are planning their budgets, how to budget in the midst of economic uncertainty, creative tips and tricks for making the most out of your budget dollars, and more.
How Your Peers Budget
Survey Says...
This month, FICP released the findings of the Spring 2019 Pulse Survey, highlighting key topics within the industry including the state of the market, sourcing trends and negotiation tactics. Listen in on FICP’s first-ever podcast to hear Mike Dominguez, President & CEO, Associated Luxury Hotels International and Joe Scully, Past FICP Chair, and Senior Director, Meeting & Event Management, John Hancock Financial Services dissect the results with Jennifer Squeglia, FICP Board Member and Chair of FICP’s Influence Committee.
The survey found budgets were one of the top-cited reasons meetings professionals are making changes to meeting/event formats in the next 12-18 months, and fewer hospitality partners are reporting increases to room rates and F&B costs, availability and booking of international destinations.
Budgeting for Uncertainty
Budgeting can already feel ambiguous sometimes. So what happens when you’re trying to create a budget in a year of potential economic uncertainty? It's important to understand how economic fluctuations factor into your future fiscal cycle. In a recent blog post, Kyle F. Jordan, CAE, CMM, CMP, Director of Conferences and Meetings at the Financial Planning Association, provides budgeting hacks to prepare meetings professionals for the predicted economic slow-down, which include considering virtual meetings, reviewing historical data, adding a contingency line to your budget and more.
Back to the Basics
Budgeting. It’s the cornerstone of creating a sustainable meeting or event. It can help determine the scope of the event, return on investment (ROI) and more. In this blog post, Sabrina Colquitt, CMP, TIAA starts with the basics and covers why meetings professionals should budget, what they should consider when budgeting and how to build a comprehensive budget.
Looking for resources and tools to help you get started? Here you can find an online event budget calculator, an event budget template and 60 tips for budgeting.
Less Is More
The key to effective budget planning is to make every dollar count. Whether that means choosing a venue with natural character and charm that doesn't need additional embellishment, or removing dessert at lunch and saving it for an afternoon break, there are plenty of hacks to help you maximize your budget dollars. Check out this article that shares hacks from savvy event pros for doing more with less without sacrificing event experience.
Ask Ed: How Do I Squeeze My Budget?
In this past Ask Ed thread, Ed provides suggestions for squeezing your budget and prioritizing items in your budget, including opting for electronic agendas versus print, forgoing a promotional giveaway for an upgraded experience opportunity and more. Read more and respond to the thread with your own experience trimming budgets.
#TBT - Spice up Your Event Within Budget
At the 2017 FICP Summer Symposium, attendees heard from panelists on how to spice up an event within budget. The session was led by panelists Alyssa Cackler, Nationwide Insurance; Anita Carlyle, MCC Destination Management; and Susannah Frances, CMP, Sun Life Financial. Review the handouts for examples of budget-friendly, creative ideas to incorporate into your next event, including ways you can reuse, recycle and repurpose materials, leverage your program themes across different events, use local student groups to perform and more.
Access Great Content Daily
Follow FICP on Facebook and Twitter to get important updates and timely articles. Here's what you may have missed this month: Don't Blow Up the Budget: How to Spend Less for More