Virtual event budget Template and Guide for Virtual Event

In addition, event planners are dealing with ever-changing expectations. They must compete for attention spans and work with ever-shrinking budgets. Also, they must prove that they've earned a return on investment (ROI) of their events. They're largely expected to drive the same type of engagement like you'd experience at events that are held in person.

In the next section, we'll discuss how to budget for your online event, what lines you should eliminate in your spreadsheet, as well as how you can track the results of your event to help you get bigger budget for the next one!

Make copies of our complimentary event budgeting template.

In this article

1.    What is the reason to have an event budget (especially for virtual and hybrid event)
2.    The average cost for hosting an event online
3.    Cost breakdown for virtual event
4.    What do you require to have an event that is successful online
5.    How to measure the impact of your virtual event
6.    Add human touchpoints to make your virtual experience feel IRL
7.    Budgeting FAQs for a virtual event
8.    It's time to start event planning

The reasons you should have an expense budget for your event (especially for virtual and hybrid event)

In many ways, virtual events are significantly less costly to organize than traditional occasions. In the end, there's no need to rent chairs or a space for an event, print materials, sort accommodations, or set out platters of charcuterie.

But, establishing an appropriate budget will allow you to make informed decisions regarding the event that you're planning online -- from where to cut costs to finding possible sources of sponsorship as well as cash flow.

If you have a budget for your event prior to the date it is possible to determine what line items are critical, which can be cut, and in which areas you can get creative in creating a memorable experience for your guests.

The average cost for hosting a virtual event

The price of hosting an online event is contingent on several factors including the duration of the event and the number of people who will be speaking and the number of attendees.

Later on in this piece, we'll discuss the costs of hosting an event online, so you can more closely determine the costs of hosting your own event. For now, let's look at what you can anticipate as the ballpark cost of hosting a virtual event:

• For a shorter webinar with up to 500 attendees typically, be prepared to spend between $2,500 or $10,000.
• For a single-day virtual conference, complete with presentations and virtual breakout rooms, anticipate expenses to be between to $4,000 to $20,000.
• If you are planning a virtual conference that lasts for a long time that features multiple sessions, discussion rooms, breakout rooms as well as recorded material You can anticipate to spend between $50 and 150,000.

As you can tell this is a significant range.

Let's dig into the different line items to consider when planning the budget for your virtual gathering, in order to estimate costs more accurately.

Cost breakdown for virtual events

Example of cost breakdowns used for planning virtual events

What are the steps you must take to pull off a successful virtual event

It is technically possible to conduct a virtual gathering by using a simple online meeting room, a camera, and a microphone. If you're looking to ensure a seamless, successful online experience, there are some expenses may be worth investing in.

Gear

It's not a lot of equipment to make speakers online appear professional and polished -however, it takes some.

Instead, have presenters set prior to the time by completing the followingitems:

• Microphones so that the audience is able to hear every sound ( prices start at $40)
• Video cameras that are crisp ( prices start at $24)
• Ring lights that can be controlled for any lighting issues ( prices start at $30)
• If needed, green screens ( prices start at $18)

If you're running an event that is more limited in budget, you may be able bypass certain of the above items -- just make sure to check the speakers' setups prior to of time and instructing their staff on ways to maximize their lighting as well as the levels of background noise throughout the event.

Read more about gear

Virtual event hosting software

The idea is to consider Event Hosting Software as the virtual venue in the which your event takes place. And just like physical venues, different platforms offer you a range of different features.

According to Markletic, here's what you can expect to pay in the cost of a virtual event platform each month:

• Between $50 and $250 , you can hold small virtual meetings with up to 100 attendees for each.
• Between $625 and $8,000 to organize larger virtual events, with 500-2,500 guests.
• Between $25,000 to $40,000 is the minimum amount needed to hold larger events that have more than three thousand attendees.

The majority of virtual event platforms charge per user, and will charge different price tiers dependent on the requirements for your virtual event. (Think number of attendees as well as marketing and promotional features and security measures as an example.)

Be aware of what functions your event platform provides you with. Though some platforms could appear to be more expensive on a surface level -- seem higher priced than other platforms but they could have added features that can will make them cheaper in the long run.

All other software requires

If you opt for one which does not offer these functions, however, make sure you include the following costs in your budget as needed:

• Hosting of landing pages:starting at 39$ per month for an online landing page that is hosted under your own domain. Enterprise plans, which are for businesses that host multiple events of a large scale, can cost up to $469/month.
• Registration forms for events: free for free events, otherwise expect to be charged the ticketing cost (for for example, $0.99 and 2% of the ticket price) per ticket, or for an annual subscription that starts at $39.90 per month.
• Software for managing emails: Starting at $3 per month to send 500 emails per month. Premium and Enterprise plans typically cost between $136-150 per user for a month.
• software for engagement of audiences Starting from 8 dollars per month for audiences as large as 50. Enterprise plan pricing can range between $199/month to $1,000/month.

Speakers

Virtual events take lesser travel and time than in-person events, most keynote speakers will charge approximately 50% of their in-person fee for virtual events. Exactly how much a speaker will charge you but it will typically depend on their experience and their popularity.

According to the Big Speak You can anticipate to pay:

• A range of $2,500-$5,000 to a relative new expert in the space
• Seven,500-$10,000 to an experienced keynote speaker
• A $10,000-$30,000 price range for a thought leader with a large following or published books
• Between $20,000 and $75,000 for the most famous.
• $100 to $200,000 for famous celebrity

Content

If you're planning to record any video or audio to be used at your celebration, be sure to factor production costs into the budget.

If you want to record at a studio, anticipate to spend anywhere between $300 to $500 per hour to film. If you're recording remotely the cost will drop to between $125 and $200 per hour.

In any case, warns Zephan Blaxberg, CEO of video production studio ZMBMedia, expect that your costs for production will at least three times more than what you'd initially expected. For post-recording edits Budget between $100 and $200 per hour.

"Keep in mind a 1:3 ratio for pre-event recordings that is, for each minute of recording, you will receive approximately three times as much amount of time charged. Even though your presenter might have a brief talk lasting only 60 minutes, your livestream technician will be arriving one hour before to setup the studio and begin preparing. They'll also stay for at least an hour following the recording has been completed to back up footage and begin the editing procedure."

Marketing and advertising

You can ask you (and your team! ):

• How long does our marketing team plan to devote to this event?
• What can we do to promote the event to prospective attendees?
• How much will we invest in social media promotion?
• What is our marketing email going to take on?
• Will we work with influencers to help spread word regarding our event?
• What kind of post-event marketing will be like?

Be aware that marketing and advertising can be some of the costliest portions of hosting a virtual event.

"The biggest spend we have is on advertising and experts or thought leaders that we bring on as speakers," says Miles DePaul director for Demand Generation at Superside. "This is the point where the power of the Superside brand comes in. Once people get more acquainted with our brand, and take advantage of our information Our participation increases, and the event budget will begin to decrease. It is cheaper to advertise because our cost-per-click goes down with greater brand awareness as well as more organic promotions pay off. Speaker fees are reduced since great speakers are eager to work with us, or will offer discounts."

After you've developed your plan, you'll be able to have a better understanding of where you can use your current resources (such for example, your advertising team and the existing software for email marketing), and the areas where you might have to invest more (for instance, on influencer partnerships or landing pages hosting).

Swag or gift cards

• A branded notepad to take notes ( $4.66)
• Custom socks ( $9.78)
• A custom tote bag ($3.99)
• A plain mailer bag ($0.87)

Shipping costs can vary based on attendee location, the materials within the swag bags are priced at $19.30 that's less than $20.

Partners or sponsors

This is an opportunity to take out the costs of your virtual event budget. (We are always interested to hear about it.)

Sponsorship opportunities may look distinct for virtual events as they do for in-person events however, they are still available. Prior to the event, the sponsors will be highlighted across all of your pre-event marketing such as your event's web page and social media pages along with your newsletter for the company, as well as reminder emails. It is also possible to send attendees emails with details of special deals by sponsors or partners.

During the celebration, you could display the logo of your sponsor on slides, run sponsored polls in their name or host a panel discussion with your sponsors, or showcase their short-form video. If your sponsors would like to provide sponsored products to attendees and attendees, they could be included in your swag bags.

Finally, don't forget to mention sponsors on your post-event material such as on-demand videos email messages, emails sent out after the event and social media updates, as well as videos snippets. In this way, you're giving worth to sponsors because they will continue to get broadcast time for a long time after the event been concluded.

More event sources

How do you measure the impact of your virtual event

It's likely that you've guessed that there are plenty of expenses that go in hosting an amazing online event. To demonstrate the return on investment of your event , and ensure funding for future events, it's critical to track and document the results of the event.

A few metrics you might consider tracking include:

• The brand's awareness is measured by event registrations, website traffic as well as event impressions and engagements on social media.
• Leads and customer generated are tracked by registration for events, responses to event surveys, and any actions taken by the new leads (such like announcing a trial trial).
• Education of the audience: measured through the average number of sessions attended by guests and the amount of participation during discussions, Q&As and chats.

"Our strategies for events are at its best in delivering value across the full funnel, influencing buyers to not only become problem-aware but also to influence more meetings with sales, and eventually, revenue," states DePaul.

Then he adds:

"The primary metrics we take a look at in relation to every occasion, regardless of whether it's online or live, are (1) the total amount of attendees from our perfect customer profile (ICP), (2) the total number of attendees that we have in the ICP, (3) opportunities created from accounts after engagement at an event and (4) the revenue generated by accounts that were engaged during an event.
 
  Certain lower funnel indicators, such as the design subscriptions will, typically require a long time to complete, therefore this is only just one aspect of the ROI calculation. The most reliable indicator would be whether we're able to bring event participants back to our site, consume more content, and take the bottom-of-funnel actions like viewing our pricing page or requesting demonstrations."

Include human touches to make your virtual experience feel IRL

When hosting a virtual event It can be very easy to forget that real attendees are seated behind screens and it's easy for people to lose interest or get disoriented.

DePaul and Superside and the Superside team recognize the value of thoughtful, even personalized components when they design their online events. "Throughout this entire journey, we increasingly try to incorporate a personal touch through things like direct mail, gifting or user-generated content or videos," he says.

There are several ways to help your audience feel more connected to your event, other viewers and speakers.

• Make use of tools to engage your audiencefor example, online chat or interactive survey as well as Q&A segments for ensuring that your event will be a two-way conversation rather than a monologue.
• Allow attendees to get together and chat in breakout rooms. Also, set up a LinkedIn group to ensure attendees are able to connect to one another after the event. This helps bring a networking component (and additional value!) for your online event.
• Send out swag bags, or use a prize to encourage participation. These little things can foster excitement and keep attendees engaged all through the day.

DePaul's continues:

"For instance, our biggest event in 2022, Momentum Summit is heavily advertised by short videos of our speakers. These were employed in ads as well as personalized 1:1 emails. As visitors arrive on the landing page you'll see videos from speakers, as well as our staff discussing the issues we'd like to address at the event instead of a static text-heavy landing page.

We also encourage our more VIP registrants to attend and bring their colleagues along with things like snack boxes, or to buy their lunch on the day of the occasion. At the event itself, we prioritize peer-to-peer connections via discussion during the event chat, smaller executive roundtables and inviting them to our Superside Communities for conversations that continue well beyond the event."

Budgeting questions for a virtual event

Are you still unsure regarding budgeting your next virtual event? Here, we'll address a few commonly asked questions and link you for additional resources that can help in your preparation.

What's the budget average for a virtual event?

According to Statista 34% of marketing professionals say they invest between $500-$1,000 per participant on an online conference.

What is the budget you can use for a virtual event?

How can hosting virtual events earn money?

What are the most important things to look for in a virtual events platform?

It's time to start planning your event

Organising a virtual gathering can be plenty of work -- but it also provides unique opportunities to increase your following, work with innovative sponsors and presenters and entertain attendees. Apart from hosting, the platform makes it easy to design a beautiful landing page, automate email reminders for events, connect with the audience, incorporate your existing marketing platforms as well as analyze event post-event analytics.