What’s an Event Worth?

There is no magic formula for what an organization should spend on producing events, but there are some facts and trends that can be used to better calculate the event line item in 2018 budgets. Beyond venue rental fees and food and beverage purchases, there are many more elements that factor into the cost (and eventual ROI) of an event.[Tweet "There are many elements that factor into the cost of an event. #GovEventsBlog"]

We've pulled together a couple of guidelines from industry research as well as advice from our organizer members, to help with budget allocations for events.

• Marketing spend - You cannot expect to get a big turnout, or even a targeted/strategic turnout, without putting money into marketing the event. This includes costs for paid social advertisements, online ads, email marketing, and reminder calls to all registrants. GovEvents' clients have shared their average cost per registrant for a complimentary event ranges between $100-$250.[Tweet "A few guidelines to help with budget allocations for events. #GovEventsBlog"]
• Invest in follow-up - You'll never see a return on the marketing investment if there is no follow-up after the event. Part of your event budget should include follow-up to turn attendees into customers. This includes ensuring your sales team has time to do these follow-ups in the days and weeks after the event.
• Experience matters - Across all industries, event attendees expect to walk away with a unique experience. That could be hearing something new, using technology to interact in a new way, seeing a new venue, or having a well-known or sought-after speaker. An event in a box will not attract nor retain attendees. Think about one thing that can give your event a unique feel, and allocate budget to that experience.

Additionally, there are some factors that impact the hard costs associated with space, food, and giveaways.

• Free versus paid events - If you are not charging attendees to come to your event, expect about a 50% drop rate of registrants (that is, only 50% that registered will attend), and budget food and other amenities accordingly. For paid events, the drop rate will be much lower, but you still should not expect 100% of registrants to attend, and can plan meals and giveaways accordingly.
• Gifting rules - For events with an audience of government employees, the gifting rule of $20 or less needs to be considered. This rule does not apply to the cost for attending the event. For example, you could offer government free attendance to an event that you are charging industry $50 to attend. Government employees can accept this "gift" if it is deemed that the content of the event is important to their jobs. You cannot, however, hand out goodie bags valued at over $20 and expect government attendees to accept them. For budgeting, this means looking at what you are "giving" people as part of their attendance and budgeting your spend to stay under $20/person, or supplying more expensive freebies for industry attendees.[Tweet "What do you consider and prioritize in budgeting your event spend? #GovEventsBlog"]
• Time of day - The costs associated with breakfast versus lunch versus dinner vary greatly. In addition to considering what time of day works best for attendees, think about the impact feeding people will have on your budget. For breakfast time events, it's not necessary to have a hot buffet with eggs and bacon. Serving bagels, pastries, and fruit is more than enough for most attendees (just don't scrimp on the coffee!). This will make the food and beverage costs considerably lower than they would be at lunch or dinner.

We'd love to hear from you. What do you consider and prioritize in budgeting your event spend? Let us know in the comments.