Determining the actual costs of an event can be daunting. Even the smallest details should be considered, from the budget directly related to the conference structure to the sponsorship revenue.

To streamline the process, there are documents called conference budget templates which provide a comprehensive overview of the necessary expenses and help to ensure that no costs are overlooked. The document features numerous handy tips, but it must be correctly crafted to reflect your conference budget precisely.

In this article, we will show you how to create the perfect conference budget template for your event. Follow each step carefully to ensure the document correctly reflects your expenses and venue.

The conference planning template is a document used by companies and event organizers to plan how much will be needed to execute a specific event. It considers different aspects of the organization, like the required software and the number of participants.

The more detailed your template gets, the more it helps during the decision-making process of your conferences. It is common for event organizers to decide what to focus on and which items need more expenses.

The conference budget will never have fixed costs and will always change depending on the type of event and its size.

There are several reasons why event management from all over the world uses the conference planning document. The main one is to avoid surprises when paying for all the expense items and extra event costs. With a well-written document, you ensure that the final value of your conferences will be the same as planned on your budget.

Moreover, the budget template also helps you to take note of everything that is important for the event’s execution. Details like software and tax exemptions are typically forgotten by those planning how much money it will cost, while the template puts these items on paper to ensure that they won’t be overlooked.

More than a list of items, the conference budget document helps with decision-making. You will constantly have to choose between different items depending on your resources, and the conference budget form enables you to make those decisions.

Now that you know what the conference budget form is and why it is crucial for any event organization, it is time to see how you can create your own template. Follow these steps to create a clear document that precisely reflects everything you need for your conference to succeed.

Income

Calculating the income is one of the most important parts of your conference budget templates. They are your main source of money for executing your events.

Most of your income will come from registration fees from the participants. But there are also other sources, like sponsorships, for example. Calculating this value correctly will give you an idea of how much you can spend creating the event.

Expenses

You will find three different types of expenses when making conference budget templates. Each one will impact your events differently, and understanding their differences can be a game changer. The three main types of expenses you will find when calculating your conference budget are:

• Fixed Costs

• Variable Costs

• Contingency Costs

Fixed Costs

As the name suggests, these costs usually won’t change, regardless of the number of attendees or any other detail. When listing these fixed expenses, try to prioritize the most important ones.

Creating an order for them will help you see which ones are essential for the events to happen and help your document look more organized.

Variable Costs

Those costs will depend on various factors of your event, like the number of participants and suppliers' taxes, for example. The total cost of these items can drastically differ depending on where you buy them from, so it is always important to research before purchasing anything.

List these costs to better understand where you spend your money. Like your fixed costs, you can also list these items based on importance.

Contingency Costs

The last of the three types of cost is contingency. With the conference budget, they represent the extra costs that were not planned in advance.

You must leave some space for these values to not have any surprises along the way. When calculating contingency costs, event organizers usually save 15% of the total value for these items.

Taxes

We know how annoying taxes can be, and for conference budget templates, it is no different. The only exception for this is if you run a non-profit organization, but if it’s not the case, you’ll have to pay them.

You must research taxes since they might vary depending on many aspects, like the country where it is being made or the channels where it will be broadcasted. Each place will have different rules and taxes, so there is no formula for the calculation.

When it comes to the creation of a conference budget form, there are tons of options available. Each one has its own tools and features, from known software to specialized programs.

Among all the options available, we highly recommend using Microsoft Excel. MS Excel not only has one of the best tool sets available, but it is also an industry standard, meaning you won’t need extra software for other business tasks.

If you don’t have a Microsoft Office activation key, you can find Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus Key Retail Global at RoyalCDKeys for a considerably lower price. This way, you can access all the tools and save money.

If you don’t want to create your template from scratch, don’t worry. Here are some templates you can download and edit using Excel to fit your expectations better.

Choose a template with all the fields you need to calculate your budget precisely. Here are some examples that you can use:

Template #1

Event budget document. A template that features graphics and automatic calculations for different types of costs.

Get this template

Template #2

Planning worksheet template. Document in a worksheet format featuring a list of costs that can be edited according to your needs.

Get this template

Template #3

Conference budget document for small businesses. Template featuring the main categories of this type of document for startups and small companies.

Get this template

Calculating the conference budget is an indispensable step when planning any kind of event. A precise value can avoid many problems and help in the decision-making process.

For it to work correctly, every value and number must be correct to best represent your actual situation. Make sure you double-check everything before spending any money on the supplies needed.

Now that you know everything you need, it is time create your own conference budget spreadsheet. With a well-planned document, you avoid numerous problems with the final value of your event or a miscalculation of how much you need of a specific material, for example.

Don’t forget about the taxes. Doing good research on the taxes policy of your country can help you save a ton of money.