What goes into a great event? Part 2 - THE BUDGET

What goes into a great event? Part 2 – The Budget

Well, it may not scream 'exciting', but a working budget is an absolutely key part of any event. This for me is what always comes after the idea – and frankly, if the budget doesn't work, then it means that the idea is best left alone.

There are a whole host of scenarios for your budget, the ultimate of which is that you have some public funding from somewhere designed to splash on your event. That's always a joy, because then you can push the boat out and spend the money making the event as strong as possible. Scenario number two, which also ain't bad, is that you only need to break even, and again this often leaves a bit of money to spend on something 'extra' for the event. However the usual question when looking at the budget is – will it make a profit?

Of course, that's a difficult question to answer in the definite, as there are all sorts of factors that go into how many people but a ticket and how your other income streams get on. So for me, one of the vital things in any budget is to aim LOW. If 200 people at your event represents a huge success, budget on 100 so you know that the budget works if the event does OK. Equally if you want 2000 for a rousing success, budget on 1000. Also be sure to look at your other income streams and keep those realistic. The reason why most budgets don't work out is that they are too optimistic, but if you temper this with reality – and caution – then your event has a much better chance of success.

The other vital factor with any budget is to keep it UP TO DATE! Another great way to overspend and risk not making a profit is to lose track of what has gone where. A regular weekly update, or indeed just adding in some new figures as and when they come in, can be a huge help to your event's success. The difficulty is that once money is committed to something it is very tricky to go back on it, and probably as tricky to cut from other places. So if your budget is realistic, and you keep it current, there's no reason that your event can't be a success in the financial sense.

But obviously it isn't all about finances, and there is an awful lot more goes into a great event. So next time around we'll be looking at step 3 – the venue.