EVENT AND CONFERENCE
Putting together a budget is fundamental to the planning of any UK event. Anticipated costs impose parameters or a framework when putting the budget together and these, combined with an organizer’s
previous experience and detailed quotes from potential suppliers, provide the building blocks on which the budget is constructed.
Whether the UK conference or event is being organized for a UK corporate organization or for one in the ‘not-for-profit’ sector, financial management is equally important. There are, however,
some key differences:
• within the UK corporate sector, the budget is set by the UK company and may be allocated per UK event or as an annual total budget which needs to be used effectively to finance a number of
UK events. The budget is required to cover delegate expenses as well as the other costs associated with planning, promoting and staging the event
• within the not-for-profit sector (and with entrepreneurial conferences – see Chapter 2), conferences have to be income generating with delegate fees being charged to defray costs.
The UK events are designed to cover their own costs and perhaps make a profit which, in some cases, is used as a start-up fund to pay for the initial promotion and planning of the next UK event
• within the government and public sectors, either of the above approaches may apply.
Even so, the same principles hold good for all types of organization:
budgets must be drawn up to show projected income and expenditure, systems need to be in place to manage income and expenditure flows and, at the conclusion of the event, a balance sheet should be prepared to show actual income against expenditure.
This balance sheet then forms the basis for planning the next event, particularly if it is one in a sequence of UK conferences taking place on a regular basis.
and the event. With UK corporate events, the income source will be the company itself, but there may also be scope for attracting sponsorship for certain elements. With associations
and other organizations in the not-for-profit sector, income will come primarily from delegate fees, although there may also be substantial opportunities to offset the costs of the conference
through sponsorship and by running an associated exhibition.
Trade union, political party and medical conferences and conventions,
.
Opportunities also exist to attract sponsorships and a list income streams such as:
• grants – from government and/or other bodies
• merchandising – money from the sale of items appertaining to the event, such as educational materials, clothing (T-shirts, hats) and cassette or video tapes (CD-Roms, DVDs)
• advertising – money from the sale of advertising space, for example in the conference brochure, on clothing, and so on.
Many destinations are prepared to host a civic reception or banquet
for delegates, as a form of welcome and expression of gratitude
that the event is being held in their town or city. Some
convention and visitor bureaux (CVBs) offer interest-free loans,
particularly for events with a lead time of several years: the event
organizer may incur expenses, especially promotional costs, well
before any income is received from delegate fees.
Loans are designed to assist with cash flow but will have to be re-paid once
the event is over (and, if the conference has made a profit, the
CVB may require a share of the profits).
Expenditure projections must cover a whole host of items,
but the main ones are usually:
• venue hire
• catering costs
• accommodation costs: delegates, partners, speakers/invited
guests, organizers
• speakers’ expenses: travel costs, fees, subsistence, possibly presentation
materials
• delegate materials: written materials, CDs, badges, possibly
gifts
• social and partner programme costs: entertainment, transport,
other venue hire, food and beverage
• conference production costs: audio-visual equipment and technical
staff to stage-manage the event plus, when appropriate,
set construction
• promotional costs: leaflets and publicity material, press
releases, possibly advertising and/or direct mail, e-marketing
• on-site staff (organizer) costs plus, in some cases, freelance
event staff
• miscellaneous costs: event insurance, security, couriers, interpreters,
taxes (both local/national taxes and tax on profits).
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