Ah, the pressure of bringing down company event costs. When it’s your job to plan and execute events that will impress the guests and deliver the results you are hoping for, cost reductions seem almost counterintuitive. Especially since the events industry continues to explode with more creativity and opportunity than ever before, demanding a bigger budget as it does.
So how do you bring down costs without compromising your event’s success? Read our 10 tips for bringing down the cost of a company event and find the ones that are relevant to you. If you follow them diligently, you’ll be able to pull off your creative vision without having to awkwardly explain why you overspent in the budget meeting. Some are obvious yet often overlooked tips whilst others may pleasantly surprise you. Which ones can you implement?
1. Book your venue early 🕐
As one of the world’s coolest and most popular cities, there are perhaps hundreds of events taking place across London every day, each one requiring a venue. The point being that venues, especially large-scale venues for company events, are in extremely high demand in London. Therefore, booking your venue early is crucial to avoid being left with the dregs. Ideally, venues for company events should be booked eight months to a year in advance, especially if you would like to secure something in the Christmas season. Besides, organising an event can be stressful enough without the pressure of finding a venue at short notice!
2. Do your research 💻
Be cautious with every expense. When hiring services and buying decorations, don’t just accept the first offers you’re given, do your research before accepting and see if you can find a better deal. It can be tempting not to if you’re too busy or tight on time but if your goal is to keep costs down, this step is too important to skip. If your heart is set on specific goods or services, getting alternative quotes and prices can give you the bargaining power to get a better deal than you were originally offered for your first choice.
3. Be flexible with dates 🙏🏽
The more flexible you are with the dates of your company event, the more likely you are to get a better price because venue hire fees fluctuate throughout the year based on the probability of demand. For example, wedding venues tend to be busier in summer, bar venues are busier over Christmas time, and everything is busier during public holidays. So if you can work around peak dates, you will avoid paying the ‘demand tax’ often charged by venues during their busiest periods. If you can’t be flexible with dates, be flexible with the type of venue you’re looking for because different types have different busy periods throughout the year.
4. Get sponsored by aligning brands 🫱🏼🫲🏼
For large company events, taking the time to seek sponsorships can quite literally pay off in the long run. The most obvious candidates are drinks companies or banking corporations but be sure to consider sponsors that best align with your brand and values. If successful in securing a sponsor, you can either use the cash injection to balance your expenses or you can increase your budget to go bigger and better. Particularly for company events aiming for a return on investment, it’s a strategy worth careful consideration.
5. Consider the benefits of all-inclusive venue 🏢
Don’t underestimate the difference a carefully chosen catering option can make to your company event expenses. Some venues include catering in their price packages and this can be more cost-effective than outsourcing catering, not to mention simpler! However, this isn’t a rule of thumb. All-inclusive venues with their own event planner and catering are often considered a premium option that persuades you to fork out a little more. Even if it stretches your budget, we can all agree it’s tempting to have everything taken care of in-house by one coordinated team. The moral of the story is, that it’s always worth doing a bit of research to see if hiring the venue and catering separately can work out cheaper.
6. Stick to your budget 💰
To be honest guys, this one is more of a command than a tip. From aesthetic tablescapes with elaborate flower arrangements to balloon arches as photo backgrounds, the world of event decoration has exploded. Now the ideas and opportunities to plan beautiful events are endless, it’s all too easy to get carried away by the hype of creativity. We get it, the more Instagramable the event, the more of a success it’s likely to be but don’t use it as an excuse to let loose! If there is something you can’t compromise for your budget, whether it be the catering or flower arrangements, find the areas you can compromise. It won’t be easy, but you’ll thank yourself later down the line when you don’t get an unfriendly email from the CFO.
7. Choose the right location, not the fanciest one ✅
Whether buying a house or hiring a venue, location always influences price. For a company event, location can have a big influence on its status and appeal. Guests will want to boast about attending an event at the most upmarket, extraordinary, and exclusive locations and it’s your job to deliver. However, the best locations don’t necessarily go hand in hand with the most coveted postcodes. At Canvas, for example, we boast an address book of London venues outside of the obvious upmarket locations like Mayfair that are guaranteed to be the talk of the event.
8. Hire start-up businesses 🚀
Consider hiring start-up businesses for your contracted services including catering and tech/equipment hire. They’re often priced lower than more established businesses and can be more open to price negotiation. Understandably, you want your event to run smoothly and be a huge success which can make it scary to hire those with less experience. To mitigate the risk start-ups pose, have a conversation with potential businesses and see how switched on they are about the service they provide. If they don’t seem confident and competent, look elsewhere.
9. Use Canvas for venue booking 🤘🏽
Booking your venue through a venue-finding platform like Canvas is one of the smartest ways to bring down the cost of a company event. Yes, it’s easy for us to say that, right? But we promise it’s objectively true. Not only does Canvas have a best-price guarantee, but it also free to use and there are no hidden fees. Best of all, it allows you to compare potential venues and their prices all in one place so that it’s easier to narrow down your preferences and find the perfect stand-out venue for your company event within your budget.
10. Send invites out early 📩
A lot of time and money is wasted on no-shows but this can be avoided by sending out invites sooner rather than later. The further ahead the event is, the more likely invitees are to be available and the more time they have to make necessary arrangements like accommodation, transport, and babysitters. If the event is only a few weeks away, invitees are less likely to respond to the invite because they may be unsure of their availability by that point. By sending digital invites with an event alert option, invitees can put the event in their diary and receive reminders closer to the event date.
