One of the most common ways to increase the profit margin in any business is to reduce the costs involved in the production and delivering a product or a service. This is no exception to the MICE industry. In fact, it’s very important when you are working within a budget or have been hired and you are trying to execute the event at a minimum cost.Walk along with us as we explore some of the easiest ways to reduce your budgets in conferences, meetings & events.

1. Consider booking a venue through conference venues agent

 Instead of going to the hotel or venue directly to get a quotation, consider the advantages that can be accrued while using a “middle man”. Companies like Meetingsbooker and Cvent.com will get you better deals for a conference in most places in the world. This is because of the solid Agent-business relationships with their respective venue partners. To get the idea, Conference.place is also a good example that hosts conferencing venues in Kenya without owning an  actual venue. These agents are better at negotiating and getting you a better rate, better services, and most choices to choose from.

2. Seek sponsorship opportunities  

Getting a sponsorship depends on how well you communicate the benefits to the prospective sponsors. The first thing to know is who to approach and how to approach them with relevancy in mind. For example, if your event is a corporate cocktail party, how about you reach out to a beverage drinks company. This is a very effective way to reduce the overhead costs from your events and conferences. Companies that are relevant to the type of event you are hosting may be very willing to sponsor at least to get an exposure for their brand.

3. Location Matters

Be sure to pick a hotel, resort, or venue at the most convenient location for almost everyone. When we previously discussed how to find perfect conferencing venues, one of the key things we looked at was the location of the venue. The location is so important that it’s one of the first things you should consider when booking a venue. A venue that is in a central location not only saves costs for you customers but also time  & therefore giving more time to focus on the meeting.

4. Work out your food and beverage budget with the catering manager

This will help you stick to the budget. It also avoids discrepancies during the evaluation stage. This is way smarter than conducting the event and worrying about the food budget later. Even if you want your guests to have plenty of food, it’s still important to have a limit. This will make sure no food goes to waste or money as well.

5.Use local facilitators and keynote speakers to save on travel and, sometimes, accommodation

We cannot emphasize on this enough. Sometimes you may be going too far to seek services that otherwise you would source from the locals. This is one pillar of sustainability and who said events & meetings shouldn’t be sustainable. It will also help the local talent expand their horizon and get exposed more. It’s one act of doing better by doing well.

6. Look for upcoming entertainers and caterers. 

This, however, doesn’t mean that you should compromise on quality to save on costs. A good way to do this to look for those ones who are both upcoming and also attracting a lot of buzz around the community. Veteran or already establish entertainers might ask for a higher compensation since they have already established their niche & worth.

7. Take advantage of social media tools.

When marketing an event, it’s wise to try social media first instead of going for billboards or Television airtime whose performance can’t be measured, why not just use social media. The current social networking sites have allowed us to create measurable campaigns that we can monitor, respond to, target the right audience and have full control of our promotional activities. 

8. Be flexible with the dates and the venue  

It is very important to have at least two to three dates in mind, that way you can be able to pick the one when most people are likely to attend. It also gives a better chance to negotiate for better venues. This will help you achieve most out of your conference as well as cut some unnecessary costs.

9. Contingency plans 

Anything could go wrong, as a matter of fact, there nothing like a perfect meeting or event. Power could go off, the master of the ceremony may decide not show up, attendees may also decide to show up. What if it rains during the middle of an open-air event? The short backs are limitless but how prepared you are as an organizer will determine the success of your event financially.