Basic Event Planning

Where

Choosing the location where you will hold the event is just as important as the event itself. Find a location that is visible, known, affordable, and easily accessible. The facility should be able to accommodate visual aids and catering needs. Local hotels are a great resource because they have a planning coordinator who will walk you through most of the process. Remember, you can always bargain with the hotel for free rooms, lower room rates, and the cost of A/V rental. Colleges and universities also provide low-cost training and meeting spaces. For round tables, also consider using banks’ boardrooms.

• If you hold your events at the same hotel, try to negotiate a “bulk” rate for the facility because that can often result in substantial savings. Booking programs one by one at the same location is often much more costly in terms of both time and money.
• Don’t forget to identify your chapter as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization (501 C-6). You can save big $$ on sales tax!

Why

Decide the reason for the event. Is it a membership drive, informational/educational, fund raising, or recognition?  Will there be limited interest, or will most members find the subject appealing?

• Start by selecting a speaker who can appeal to your entire audience and draw a crowd.  Most of the time the speaker will know what to talk about, but he or she also needs solid direction about the targeted audience and the relevant subject to be addressed. Before the event, talk to your speakers about the audience and what they will be most interested in hearing. 
• Good speakers who usually do not charge include local university presidents or faculty; a political figure, such as a mayor or governor; other bank executives; or RMA Board members. You may also elect to hire someone, such as a popular sports figure, college coach, columnist, comedian, or motivational speaker.
• Always prepare a back-up plan in case your planned speaker has to cancel on short notice. 

Event Pricing

Do a break-even analysis so you can arrive at a fair price, one that covers all costs and is affordable for local RMA members. You also must decide whether the chapter wants to subsidize the event, make money on it, or simply break even.

• Consider partnering with another organization or association that will enhance the networking potential of your event. Several successful events include local chapters of the Turnaround Management Association, the AICPA, state banking associations, and legal entities.
• Allow ample time to promote the event. Send out invitations at least a month in advance, advertise, and take other steps to attract the attention and interest of prospective attendees.
  • Use RMA’s Online Registration Web site
  • Can also use Web sites such as Paypal to register for events
• Recruit a team of volunteers to help with the administrative duties—before, during, and after the event. The following are suggested volunteers:
  • A coordinator.
  • Invitation designer.
  • Someone to handle mailings.
  • Writer, designer, and volunteer to produce and place advertising.
  • An individual who collects the reservation money, assigns seating, and keeps attendance.
  • A few people to work the registration and greeting desk.
  • An emcee/host. Don’t forget to recognize new members and mention upcoming events!
  • A person to purchase door prizes.
  • Someone to transport materials to and from the site.  
• Have an event-planning schedule and an event-task sheet showing each person’s duty and the timing associated with each duty.
• Communicate with your volunteer committee often—by phone, e-mail, or meetings.
• Have RMA materials present at the door or place them on seats.
• Have comment cards on the tables with a few survey questions.
• Consider having assigned seating with at least one board member at each table. This will allow for better networking opportunities.
• Introduce the RMA board and new attendees, and speak briefly on RMA membership and benefits.
• If you have the time, sponsors and exhibitors might be a great way for the event to make additional money for the chapter. Food, cost of location, and refreshments are just some of the ways sponsors can help pay for your costs.
• Wrap up the event by holding a final meeting with your volunteer staff. Close out the bill with the location coordinator and tally up the comments and survey responses.
• Use an event sheet to record key contacts and make notes regarding location, service, etc.  Have the Programming Chair keep all event sheets in a binder for future reference.

Break-Even Analysis

Fixed Costs (also known as overhead) are all charges that apply regardless of the number of people attending. Examples of fixed costs include:

• Room charges.
• Audio/visual equipment rental.
• Speaker fees (Including travel expenses).
• Speaker gifts.
• Cost of the speaker's food for the event.
• Printing and other marketing expenses for the event.

Variable Costs are charges that relate directly to the number of people attending the event. The most common variable cost is the per plate cost of food being served at the event.

Example:
A chapter is holding a lunch event at a hotel. The cost to rent a laptop and projector is $300 and the hotel charges $200 for the room. Lunch cost per plate is $21.50. The hotel charges a 17% gratuity on the total bill. The 5% sales tax has been waived since the chapter is a non-profit organization. The speaker is local but charges a $100 speaker fee. The chapter plans to market the event by mailing flyers to all members and non-members in their database.

Fixed Costs:

Room Charge and Equipment ($500*1.17)	$585
Speaker Fee	$100
Speaker Lunch ($21.50*1.17)	$25
Printing Flyers	$25
Mailing Flyers	$185
Total Fixed Costs	$920

Total Variable Costs:

Lunch ($21.50*1.17)

$25

2) Setting the price
The break-even analysis can be done a number of ways but the best way to do it is estimate the number of people that will attend and then set the price per person based on that. First, determine the Total Cost of the event (Fixed Cost plus (Per Person Cost x Expected Number of Attendees)). Then, divide the Total Cost by the Expected Number of Attendees, as shown below:

Total Variale Costs:

Formula for Break-even:

• Number of people expected to attend:
  Base this number on historical results, but be conservative when setting this number. Use a number that can be realistically achieved. If you price the event according to this number but fail to draw that many attendees, you will lose money on the event. If you have a better turnout, you will make money on the event.
• Price per person:
  The price per person is the minimum you need to charge based on your number of expected attendees in order to break-even. In this example, you would need to charge at least $40.00 per person to break-even if you had 60 people attend the event. In this case, consider charging $40 for members and $45 or $50 for non-members. This will give you a little cushion if you have non-members attending. If your objective is not to make money but just break-even and you know that half the attendees will be members and half will be non-members, you could charge $35 for members and $45 for non-members and you would still break-even at 60 attendees.

3) Can your market support the price?
The break-even analysis is a tool for setting the price of the event, but you still need to make sure it makes sense. If you don't think your market will support a lunch at $40.00 per person, then you will need to find a way to reduce the cost so you can lower the price.

It is a good idea to do the break-even analysis when setting the menu for the event. Some entrees might sound really good but might not be worth the price. If you offer more than one option for lunch, set the break-even on the highest priced entrée. This will build a cushion into your numbers assuming some people select the lower priced entrée. For example, a vegetarian lunch option will usually cost at least $5 less per person but you will charge the same price regardless of what entrée is selected.

If you have a premier event that you know will get a good turnout, you could charge more. An example of this is the Southeast Michigan Chapter's annual "Automotive Industry Update," which features local speakers that do not charge a fee. This is their signature event and is held every year at about the same time. Many bankers bring customers or referral sources to this event. They keep the cost low by doing a breakfast event that consists of a continental breakfast. The speakers are well respected in the industry and are happy to represent their companies in front of a large group. Because they are local, there are no travel expenses. The chapter can charge between $60 and $85 per person for this event, depending on speakers and location. They usually price it to break-even at 60 to 75 people, but can draw somewhere between 100 and 150 people. They will usually make somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000 on this one event, whereas most of the other events during the year will break-even.

For more information and for additional resources, please contact the Regional Manager for your area.