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Planning an event on a tight budget can feel like walking a tightrope — balancing creativity, quality and cost without tipping too far in any one direction. It’s a challenge every event planner faces at some point. However, stretching your event budget doesn’t mean you have to cut corners or sacrifice the experience you’re hoping to create.

With the right strategies, you can deliver a memorable event that wows your attendees while staying within financial limits. It’s all about working smarter: prioritizing the essentials, thinking outside the box, being flexible and knowing when and how to save. From negotiating with vendors to choosing cost-effective venues and using technology to track expenses, there are countless ways to maximize your resources without compromising on quality.

“I try to focus on what matters the most for the event’s success and the attendee’s experience,” says Hannah Deacon, event manager at Baker Tilly in Southfield, MI. “Once I have determined what is most important, I then cut the nonessentials, like excessive décor or giveaways.”

Prioritize Spending

During the venue selection process, Deacon says that she tries to work on concessions that will have the most impact on her overall budget. The AV needs for her events are usually more of a priority, so she tries to negotiate for higher discounts or complimentary extras elsewhere.

“I try to leverage multiple programs to get better rates, waived resort fees (or discounted) and overall better concessions,” she says. “Honest and open communication with the vendor and allowing some flexibility usually will have the biggest impact.”

Reggie Driscoll, CMP, senior meeting professional with the State Bar of Wisconsin, says the majority of the events he plans are for continuing education. So, in prioritizing expenditures, facility rental comes first, followed by speaker expenses, AV and then catering.

“Catering can be more flexible if you need to tighten up the budget or add additional expenses,” Driscoll says.

Being Flexible Is Key 

Flexibility in your event planning can often save a significant amount of money, says Timothy Arnold, CMP, CMM, PCA, regional vice president with HPN Global in The Colony, TX.

“This isn’t an industry where you can be rigid and demanding and expect to have great success,” Arnold says. “It’s a matter of being flexible and being transparent with all the different partners, because hotels, venues and everybody else needs to make money. But they need to understand where we need to be able to save some money, too.”

For example, planners can save money on their events if they have the flexibility to book hotels and venues during off-peak times, Arnold says. This can also lead to other discounts. “If we can fill a hole for the hotel, they will be more open to talking about discounts on food and beverage, audiovisual needs, room rates, concessions and different things of that nature,” he adds.

Hotels and venues located in suburbs outside busy metropolitan areas may also provide better value, Arnold says. “If you’re looking at a hotel in Manhattan, you’re going to pay Manhattan prices,” he says. Finding a significantly less expensive hotel outside the area doesn’t necessarily change the experience of the event, he adds.

Deacon agrees with the importance of choosing a city and venue that align with your budget, to optimize the cost and experience of an event. To do this takes some understanding of market rates and researching the local market and its peak seasons, she says.

“It is important to compare multiple proposals and gather quotes from different vendors to identify the best fit,” Deacon says. “We tend to choose a venue that prioritizes safety and cleanliness and aligns with the event’s needs — such as breakout rooms that comfortably accommodate all attendees and AV capabilities that support seamless programming.”

It’s wise for planners to shop around and get multiple quotes for venues, Arnold adds. If anything, lower quotes can be a negotiating tool with the hotel you prefer. “A lot of times, I’ll take a lower quote from a different hotel and go back and say: ‘Hey, we really want your property, but I’ve got this other quote that’s lower. Is there anything that you can do to meet me in the middle?’ And a lot of times, that helps seal the deal.”

Save on Food and Beverage

You can also negotiate with vendors to keep food and beverage expenditures within budget. Driscoll suggests asking about chef specials, daily specials or what other groups in-house are serving, and if you can piggyback on their order.

“You can also share your budget with the chef and ask about a reduced buffet,” Driscoll says.  “For example, if they have a lunch buffet, could you go with only two options instead of three? Could you not have the dessert on the buffet but have a plate of cookies delivered to each table or serve dessert at the next break?”

Deacon says she collaborates with caterers to use seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, which are often fresher and more cost-effective. Having an accurate headcount of attendees and understanding the group habits can also help planners avoid over-ordering, especially for meals such as breakfast or optional receptions that might have lower attendance, she says.

Not providing lunch and allowing attendees to go off-site is also an option for events that don’t have a luncheon speaker, Arnold adds. “You don’t want to lose them to the pool, but at the same time, there’s ample opportunity to look at this and present it as a networking two-hour break in the conference,” he says.

Having alcohol at events can be a budget buster, especially if you offer an open bar. “Offer one or two signature cocktails instead of a full bar, to reduce liquor expenses,” Deacon says.

Alternatively, planners could provide a cash bar or just beer and wine. “You don’t have to have an open bar for every single event,” Arnold says. For one event he planned, a local vineyard donated wine. While he still had to pay for corkage fees, the cost was considerably lower than it would have been otherwise.

When determining the food-and-beverage budget for an event, planners should also be aware of hidden costs that they might have underestimated, such as service fees, taxes and gratuity, Deacon says. “Ask for the breakdown of fees and estimated costs upfront,” she says.

Leverage Technology 

Driscoll’s go-to strategy for maximizing an event budget without sacrificing quality is to keep track of everything on a spreadsheet on which he outlines expenses line by line. “Prior to the event, we fill in the budget numbers, and then once we have the invoice, we fill in the actual numbers,” Driscoll says. “For the next year, we take the actual numbers from the invoice and add or subtract where necessary. By doing this consistently from year to year, you can get a very solid idea of your actual costs.”

Arnold admits that he is “an old-school nerd” who “lives and breathes in Excel.” However, he has occasionally used AI tools such as ChatGPT to help with budgeting for events. He says he will cut and paste a budget into the app, then ask the program what it would do to shave 10% off the budget.

“For me, it’s like an additional sounding board,” Arnold says. “I’ve often found things that I didn’t think about.”

Deacon uses Cvent software to manage and optimize her event budgets. The system enables her to track a budget across multiple categories so she has an accurate breakdown and understanding of overall costs in each area of the event planning process. “It allows us to provide real-time budget reports to the planning team or clients,” she says.

One of the biggest budgeting mistakes planners can make is assuming that costs are going to be the same year after year, Arnold says. He recalls that the AV costs for one event he planned more than doubled in just one year, going from $8,000 to $17,000 for the exact same program. Thankfully, his contract stipulated that those costs would remain the same, he says.

It’s undeniable that organizing an event on a tight budget can be challenging, but it’s far from impossible. By negotiating better deals with vendors, choosing cost-effective venues and leveraging technology to streamline your budget management, you can stretch your resources without compromising the quality or success of your event.

Flexibility — whether in selecting venues during off-peak seasons or reimagining food and beverage offerings — can help you uncover savings without sacrificing the experience you’re trying to create. The key is to approach every decision with both the attendee experience and financial efficiency in mind.

“Before negotiating, clearly define your event’s must-haves and areas where you have more flexibility,” Deacon says.

Ultimately, event planning on a budget is about finding balance: identifying what matters most, being resourceful with your spending and continuously learning from past experiences. With these strategies in hand, you’ll be equipped to deliver memorable events that delight your attendees while staying well within your financial boundaries. C&IT