Budget

At this point in planning, the structure of the planned conference is in place; number of rooms, amenities, food and beverage, audiovisual requirements, printing, supplies, and most other expenses are apparent.

Remember, at this point aside from the venue contract being signed, the basic structure of the conference and needs and desires are known, but not purchased. A sample budget is in Attachment 7.

At its heart, a budget comes down to two columns: income and expenses. At the end of the conference income must equal or exceed expenses. It’s really just that simple.

Conference expenses represent any cost that is tied to the planning, execution and closing of the conference which the wing pays for itself. If members are paying for their own hotel rooms, it’s not reflected on the conference budget. If the hotel is direct billing the wing for all hotel rooms (as in CAP collect the money and issues sleeping rooms to attendees registered), then it is part of the budget. This is why we recommend having members reserve their own rooms using their own credit card (in hotel-speak, this is called “Each Pays Own, or EPO).

Conference income in CAP is mostly represented by attendee registration and any sponsors the wing attracts.

Calculating Expenses

Calculating expenses can be quite detailed. That said, most expenses can be grouped together into larger categories. Consider having each team lead on the conference committee (IT, Registration, Administration, Protocol, Food and Beverage, Awards, etc) present their own budget for their own area. Working with the Conference Finance Officer and Wing Finance, the CPO collects these and creates a master budget calculating all the expenses. Don’t forget to use the wing’s tax-exempt certificate if it has one.

Get prices for all item categories and all outside vendors to determine accurate numbers. Ask the hotel to provide pricing based on the requirements specified in the F&B, room set and audiovisual spreadsheets you provide to them. After negotiation (venue audiovisual quotes can usually be negotiated down and food and beverage tailored); estimate fuel, etc.

Determining Registration Prices

Most planners have a target number for registration and banquet that they wish to meet. This number is based on tradition as well as an estimate of the actual costs.

Once this master number is established, for discussion’s sake it’s $15,000.00, determine if, and if so, how much, any sponsorships or wing seed money will be used to offset expenses. This is done prior to calculating what to charge the attendees. Let’s say that the wing has a sponsor and also wishes to kick in some money. The offset is $3,000.00. Subtract the offset (the income not generated by attendee fees) from the total expenses. This total, $15K - $3K = $12,000.00 is the amount that is ultimately charged to the attendees.

Breaking Out and Pricing Registration Events

Almost all conferences have a 2-3 tiered pricing structure for conference attendees:

Cadet or Adult
- Conference Only
- Banquet Only
- Conference and Banquet
Early-Bird
On Time/Onsite

Cadets can be charged less, at least for the main conference if there is room in the budget. Some wings also create a cadet package which includes an all-inclusive rate for cadets: shared rooms, meals and registration.

It’s also a good idea have early-bird and regular registration, where price goes up each time a deadline passes, at the end an onsite registration costs the most. This is used to incentivize early registration so that conference planners and the hotel have more accurate numbers.

Calculate the cost of a banquet ticket and a conference ticket to break even, then charge $2-3 more for whichever category and whichever option paid. Why? Some costs are fixed and must be recovered no matter how many people actually purchase. The $2-3 extra isn’t profit, it’s a buffer between anticipated attendance and reality.

In the above example, one anticipates an ultimate charge of $12,000.00 to the attendees, with $7,000.00 of that allocated to the banquet. Next, estimate the number of expected attendees, paid and comped (free): Let’s say the gross number is 200 people will register for the conference and 140 will register for the banquet.

Of those, 10 are comped basic registration for a total of 190 paid registrations and 10 people are comped for the banquet. This leaves 130 people paying for the banquet. The per paid attendee (PPA) represents that cost. Here’s how the numbers look:

Day Conference Cost:	$5,000.00
Divided by Day attendees paid	190 people
Cost PPA	$26.82 per paid attendee
Banquet total adjusted cost:	$7,000.00
Divided by Banquet Attendees paid:	130
Cost PPA	$53.84 per paid attendee

Now that the PPA is known, it’s time to value the tickets. For simplicity’s sake, cadets and seniors will be charged the same.

Investment and Implied Value

It’s definitely true that CAP members are on a budget. But it’s also true that CAP’s wing conferences hold a lot of value for the member and that many of the presenters are top- notch and also are looked to as subject matter experts in their field. Simply because they might be donating their time and talent doesn’t mean that their presentations are worth less than if they were charging. Many of the wing conferences have content that would be valued in the hundreds of dollars per attendee if the conference was held by a for- profit company.

This should be noted because although the day conference (in this simple example) may cost each paying attendee less then $27.00, it’s real value to the attendee is much more. It should be priced as such. It’s reasonable to charge $20-$25 more than the actual cost. This does two things: it implies value to the member for time and effort spent. It also further offsets costs for people who are comped, who do not show up and for the banquet.

Configure the pricing structure to aim for the target registration cost while including a buffer of $2-3 per paid attendee to account for unanticipated expenses. In the above example, a $50.00-day conference registration, a $65.00 banquet ticket and a $100.00 All Access pass (representing a $10 discount to the member over paying for events separately) isn’t unreasonable.

The key to an effective budget is a realistic and accurate breakdown of costs and anticipated attendance.