Developing a budget for your event is an essential part in effective event planning. Your budget may be set in terms of an allocation of funds however there are other initiatives you can undertake to increase the overall event budget. An event budget relying on a source of income will need to be regularly monitored and updated, as it may affect expenditure. Plan for the unexpected and provide a 10-15% contingency plan. Your budget may include the following:

Expenditure 

• Event Manager fee's
• Permit fees 
• Equipment Hire (toilets, bins, marquees, trestles etc) 
• Power (consumption at site/venue, generator hire) 
• Venue/Site hire 
• PA/production 
• Marketing/Promotion 
• Administration 
• Catering 
• Entertainers/Performers 
• First Aid 
• Staff 

Income 

• Sponsorship 
• Site fees 
• Entrance fees/ Ticket sales
• Grants 
• Donations 

​Every dollar spent in the organisation of an event has an impact.

Depending on the scale of the event, planning might occur from 2 months to 6 months out from the event date. Detailed below is a guideline on various aspects of an event. Each event’s timelines will be different and will have differing requirements you will need to fulfil. It is strongly recommended once you have determined your event date work backwards, detailing the tasks required. This will generally determine if you have enough time and resources to undertake a safe and successful event.

The Event Plan includes two main sections: the Event Detail and the Risk Management Plan. The Event Detail will include all event management information that is listed in the check list below. This will assist you to create your key document throughout the entire event process and act as a planning tool, a working document and a constant point of reference. Event Title, dates, duration 

• Date
  • When setting a date for the event consider:
    
    •  Venue availability
      
    • Availability of key speakers
      
    • External factors/key dates – e.g. public holidays, parliamentary sittings, other events and time of year (towards the end of the year, people’s diaries can get full). 
      
• Location including accessibility 
• Program Overview – aims, objectives/purpose and audience 
• Event Team
  • Based on the event brief, consider who you need in the event team to make your event a success. Consider: 
    
    • Your Team
    • Key Stakeholders
    • Event Management companies such as Weslo Events
    • External suppliers
    • Arrange a team meeting and discuss how the event should be run and each individual team members’ role.
• Timetable/running sheet 
• Event Timelines 
• Contractors – Event Managers such as Weslo Events caterers, rides etc 
• Budget
  • Key considerations when forming a budget include: 
    • Advertising /invitations 
    • Event guest gifts/promotional items 
    • Distributing invitations 
    • Catering 
    • Event signage – e.g. banners, directional signage 
    • Theming 
    • Videography 
    • Photography 
    • Speaker fees 
    • Entertainment. 
• Layout & site map including additional infrastructure 
• Toilets – including accessibility 
• Water 
• Power 
• Signage 
• Traffic Management -transport and car parking 
• Insurance 
• Security 
• Weather 
• Permits (if applicable) 
• Liquor License Permit 
• Provision of Food and/or Temporary Food Event Permit 
• Australasian Performing Rights Association Permits (APRA) 
• Roadside Promotional Boards Permit 
• Temporary Banning of Dogs, Alcohol and other items 
• Fireworks and Pyrotechnics Displays