5 Expert Tips To Budget Your Next Hybrid Event

Use These Budgeting Tips To Stay On Track When Planning Your Hybrid Event 

Event planners have found powerful new types of events that engage their target audience and reach new people. 

Virtual events have established their place in the event planning industry, but hybrid events are gaining popularity as they blend popular virtual components with traditional in-person events. 

However, with many companies looking to spend their marketing budget strategically, there is a myth that staging hybrid events requires additional funds. 

This simply is not the case. 

Hybrid events don’t equate to double the price if you take the time to plan your event budget. Hybrid events increase your ROI because more people will be able to attend.

Let’s look at five expert tips that you can use when creating your hybrid event budget. 

Five Essential Tips From Experienced Hybrid Event Planners 

As you begin mapping out the budget for your hybrid event, think about your event from your attendee’s perspective. 

Ask yourself how participants will access the content and what key takeaways you want to guarantee for all event participants. Be sure to ask for the input of key stakeholders before you take the plunge into budget planning for your next event. 

Once you are ready, use these five expert tips to ensure your hybrid event budget is strong enough to provide a memorable attendee experience.

1. Analyze Cost And Data Of Past Hybrid Events

Before you can crunch the numbers, you need to gauge your vision for the event and understand where you need to set your budget. 

Use previous budgets for hybrid events you or others in your industry have hosted to create a baseline for your own. Be sure to account for your requirements, pricing inflation, and evolving technological needs are all considered. 

Past event data is an excellent indicator of what works and what doesn’t. Keep it in mind as you decide where you can save money, which elements are required for virtual-only attendees, and forecast the budget spend you need for in-person components, like catering, safety measures, and transport. 

2. Align Your Event Budget With Your Objectives 

 The primary purpose of an event budget is to guide an event planner to spend funds on the essential event elements properly. For hybrid events, the event’s objectives must dictate your spending. 

Suppose your hybrid event objective is training and development, for example. In that case, you may save money in the budget by delivering learning content online through a learning management system. 

This will allow you to use the live event time for exercises that apply the skills learned online in a practical way. 

By identifying the key takeaways you wish to communicate, you will be able to make crucial decisions in the event budgeting process and allow for fund allocation where it best supports your event goals,

3. Factor In Technology Costs And A Contingency Fund FOr Budget Busters

As a successful event planner, you already know the importance of creating an Excel or Google Sheets worksheet to track projected costs versus the actual costs of your hybrid event. It will contain typical event costs, such as the following line items. 

• Support Staffing

• Webinar Hosting  

• Swag

• Venue Costs 

• Speaker Fees

While the budget planning process for hybrid events isn’t much different than a live event or virtual event, you will want to keep in mind some essential items that can make or break your budget. 

Always double-check what technology you will need to make your online components flow. For example, you may need to buy or rent cameras or audio equipment to ensure pristine audiovisual quality. This may require additional budget item spend on the front end but offers ROI since you can now record the event and publish the high-quality file on-demand. 

Also, every hybrid event budget needs a contingency fund specifically for last-minute budget busters. This line item should only be used for additional costs and unforeseen emergencies to prevent your hybrid event from going over budget. 

4. Offer Increased Sponsor Value To Pad Your Conference Budget

Event planners know there is no such thing as too much money in the budget. Generate more income by seeking out a sponsorship or two. 

To attract sponsors, you’ll need to guarantee sponsor visibility beyond the duration of your hybrid event. Consider incorporating these techniques to increase sponsor value. 

• Social Media Takeovers 

• Real-TIme Sponsored Webinars

• Signage And Digital Display Advertising 

• Guest Blog Posts 

• Downloadable Product Brochures 

You can even allow sponsors to send push notifications on your mobile event app and provide them with the tools needed to create interest in their product or service through your virtual event platform. 

By offering sponsors more opportunities to be seen during your event, you have the chance to increase your conference budget, which means more money to support your event objectives. 

5. Follow Up With Attendees And Analyze Event Budget Data Post Event 

No event management job is complete without taking a look at the post-event budget numbers. Hybrid events offer an excellent opportunity to measure metrics in ways that strictly in-person or virtual events do not. 

Send out attendee surveys to capture valuable feedback. This will help you tailor your content for future events. 

Compare your final budget with your objectives. Determine whether or not the money you spent allowed you to meet your hybrid event goals. 

Use These Tips To Guarantee Budget Success At Your Next Hybrid Event 

No matter what type of event you are hosting, organizations must be prepared to make format changes to meet the needs of their target audience. 

Hybrid events offer the flexibility of virtual events with the socialization of live events. Think about how you can reach your target audience and inspire them to take action. This notion will help you when determining your hybrid event budget. 

Ready to get started on planning your next hybrid event? BeaconLive can help. 

Contact us today to see how our cloud-based solutions and comprehensive features list can help you make the most of your hybrid event budget.