How to make the most of your event budgets

The event-planning cycle has been shortening for years, especially in the past 12 months, with lead times shorter than ever and some events turned around in a matter of weeks. But short event planning cycles can make it challenging to get the most out of your budget for many reasons.

 

For a start, venue availability is likely to be limited and that can make it harder to negotiate the best rates. Short lead times can also limit your ability to implement a comprehensive marketing plan, secure sponsorships, and engage with potential event participants, impacting both revenue and attendance.

 

Previous research carried out by Radisson Meetings in partnership with Longitude, part of the Financial Times Group, revealed that taking time to plan pays off, with those taking 7-12 months to plan a major event achieving above-average ROI compared to those with lead times of 2-3 months.

 

Define your event goals clearly from the outset. What is it that you want to achieve? Whether it’s brand exposure, lead generation or to foster connections, a well-defined objective will help you prioritize where to focus your event budget accordingly.

 

You can then set KPIs to measure against, for example, number of leads generated, size of audience reached, or change in brand sentiment, and use technology to help you capture and analyse the necessary data to prove those goals were met. Knowledge is power so make sure you use your data and share successes with internal stakeholders as this will be invaluable for proving the value of events and getting budgets approved in future.

 

While each event is likely to have different objectives, taking a more strategic, long term rather than siloed approach to your event program will also help you to achieve better ROI overall. This involves thinking deeply about the annual program and how the outcomes of each event meet overall business objectives.

 

Time is money, and saving time often means saving money. Consider using technology, AI and automation wherever possible to deliver a more streamlined and efficient event-planning process – spending less time on logistics will cut costs and free you up to deliver a better attendee experience.

 

For smaller meetings of up to 50 people, Instant Online Booking by Radisson Meetings is a great time saving tool, offering real-time availability, 360 views of our meeting spaces – plus instant booking confirmation – in just a few clicks. It allows meeting organizers to save hours of precious time when booking a venue by making the process faster and more efficient.

 

Event management technology can also help build loyalty and deliver ROI as it provides unprecedented insight into delegates’ priorities and preferences. Explore new technologies that will help you to better understand each delegate’s event journey and use that knowledge to build long-term engagement and gather insights that can inform future budgeting decisions.

 

To achieve the best ROI, event organizers need first-class support from their network. This means demanding more from your partners and venue providers in terms of event advice, technological capability and relationship management.

 

Working more closely with your venue providers and giving them greater insight into your event objectives will enable them to become more of a trusted partner and better advise and support you on where to make savings and how to spend your budget effectively to reach those goals.

 

At Radisson Meetings, we have invested heavily in training our team members to dive into the detail of a meeting request and to offer consultative support to our clients. This allows us to be flexible and proactive and tailor solutions based on our clients’ bespoke objectives.

Events should also be considered in the context of the overall marketing strategy and spend. Don’t see them as a one-time activity – align events with wider engagement and content marketing programs to ensure lasting results and better ROI.

 

Maximize engagement by creating rich, on demand digital content that can be reused and amplified. This will help to prolong engagement and create a ‘community’ of delegates, instilling a sense of belonging and loyalty to the event.

 

Find new ways to keep the conversation going with delegates post event, for example you could offer a digital platform for further discussion among delegates and speakers and facilitate follow-up meetings. All of this will help to build long-term relationships with your delegates and ensure you are maximizing your event budget to get the best possible ROI.