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Planning a corporate event requires multiple moving parts. To ensure success across all your business goals, the first step to planning is understanding your budget. Having context on the average cost of hosting a corporate event in Australia makes for effective organising and budget management. Ensure you make informed decisions across venues, catering, entertainment, and logistics for your corporate event. Avoid unexpected expenses and meet your business goals with a successful event.
Our guide will equip you with a comprehensive breakdown of the average costs and tips you need to know to manage your corporate event budget effectively.
Why Budgeting Is Crucial for Corporate Event Success
A proficient understanding of budget will help you navigate price ranges in the event market, ensuring an informed decision is made. Navigate your budget and balance between quality and affordability.
You will need to break out your event categories, including your venue, catering, AV, styling, marketing, entertainment speakers, travel and more, ensuring no element is missed. Budgeting can be challenging when prices fluctuate, there are hidden costs, and last-minute changes take place. When you plan your budget early, you can effectively manage your resources, setting aside a contingency budget to cover unforeseen circumstances that will unavoidably arise. Overall, this leads to better event management and organisation, ensuring a successful outcome to impress everyone.
Average Venue Costs Across Major Australian Cities
Selecting the location of your event will affect your budget planning. Hosting a corporate event in a big city ensures a variety of venues and vendors to pick from; however, this comes at a higher cost. Holding a corporate event in a small city or rural area will have fewer options but at a lower rate.
Here is a quick overview of typical venue costs across Australia’s states.
Venue including catering:
- NSW (Sydney): $120–$300 per person
- VIC (Melbourne): $100–$250 per person
- QLD (Brisbane): $90–$220 per person
- WA (Perth): $100–$240 per person
Venue rate only:
- New South Wales (NSW) $1,000 – $4,000
- Victoria (VIC) $800 – $3,500
- Queensland (QLD) $700 – $3,000
- Western Australia (WA) $600 – $2,500
These numbers will fluctuate and are dependent on a variety of variables, including room size, event type, event timing and amenities needed.
When hiring in the CBD or at waterfront locations, the rates can increase by 50%. Weekends and holidays will also increase rates. Major and prestigious venues such as museums, art galleries and hotels will come at a more premium cost, typically over $5,000. In contrast, community halls can be as low as $500 per day.
The more people at the event, the greater the catering needs and the larger the room hire. Every event type will have different criteria that will need to be adjusted for in your budget.
A company-wide conference may require multiple rooms, keynote speakers, and catering for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. An awards night may include entertainment, experiential AV and fun experiences. A boardroom for a client meeting may only be a small group involving simple catering.
Take into consideration that adding catering may mean you need to hire additional service staff. These extras will come at an added cost.
Catering Costs and Options for Corporate Events
The average cost of catering in Australia is based on several factors, including your location, chosen venue, menu selection, ingredients, and service level.
Venues in the hospitality industry often include catering and waitstaff as a service, saving you time and energy.
Corporate catering includes providing food and beverage services for business gatherings, meetings, conferences, seminars, and company functions, such as celebratory events like awards nights and Christmas parties.
Your event catering will be a factor in the success of your event, as it leaves a lasting impression and creates a positive atmosphere. Your corporate event catering should aid in building relationships and encouraging interactivity. Food plays a significant role in overall satisfaction. Here are some Catering Ideas to Impress Guests at Your Next Corporate Event.
The type of catering you choose will influence the cost of your catering. Catering can begin from small canapés at $10 per head to plated meals at $150+ per head. Well-established names and good-quality ingredients and produce will come at a higher cost.
- Buffet: $12 – $28+*
- Plated meals: $75-$80+*
- Finger food: $48 – $80+*
- Food carts can also come at a set rate, from around $1,200 per cart.
*Numbers are based per person
Things you should take into consideration include:
- Menu choices: Choose a variety of items that everyone can enjoy.
- Dietary requirements: Ensure you cater to those with allergies and dietary preferences.
- Service styles: This will come down to your event type. For awards nights, galas and fundraisers, select a sit-down menu. Add roaming platters or a live station for an extra touch. For business breakfasts, select a buffet menu for ease and convenience, so your attendees can grab and go. For networking events, select roaming platters or a buffet to encourage conversation and interactivity with others.
Balance quality and budget by understanding your event. Selecting seasonal ingredients, opting out of extras and simplifying the service style, for example, a self-service buffet can contribute to savings.
Audio Visual and Technical Equipment Costs
Having the appropriate AV is essential for the quality of your event. A well-established venue may provide AV equipment such as microphones, lighting and projectors, lowering the cost of your overall AV requirements. You will still probably need to hire a proficient AV staff to run the show. For more elaborate set-ups, such as electrical pyrotechnics, technical lighting, and extra staging, the cost for AV can range from $1,000 to $20,000+, depending on the needs of your event. A photographer and videographer can cost $1,000 – $10,000+ depending on experience, reputation and which services they include in post production.
Entertainment and Speaker Fees
Keynote speakers, entertainers and performers costs range considerably depending on their demand and notability. Prices begin at $1,000 and can go up to $50,000+. The bigger your event, the more it will influence the type of performers, speakers and entertainers you hire. For a larger event, you may also need to hire more entertainers, increasing your costs.
You can save on budget for speakers and entertainers by picking start-ups and those seeking exposure. Another alternative could be selecting a colleague within the company who is willing speak on a topic and has experience and wisdom to share.
Additional Expenses to Consider
Other common costs include event staffing, decorations, marketing, and transportation. Decorations and event management start at $5,000. Additional staff ranges from $55 per hour to $2,000+ flat fees.
Marketing can be organic. If you are working towards a goal, you can utilise Google and Meta paid ads, starting with as little as a few hundred dollars.
A tip is that you can negotiate with suppliers to aid in meeting your goals and manage your overall costs. Always have 10-15% of your budget saved as a contingency fund for unexpected costs that arise.
Budgeting Tips for Cost-Effective Corporate Events
Here are some practical tips for staying within budget without compromising your corporate events’ overall quality.
- Book early: You are more likely to be able to negotiate with a vendor if they are not already fully booked. Early bird deals and packages are also available when booking early.
- Be flexible on your dates: Booking off-season times, such as winter or Monday-Wednesday, will have lower rates.
- Bundled packages: Venues that provide full-service offer packages at a more affordable rate. The bonus is that these venues are professional in their service and save you time on having to plan your event.
- Budget reviews: Set regular budget reviews to ensure you are staying on track. Be transparent when communicating with stakeholders. Let them know what is feasible and what is not with the budget provided.
How to Use a Corporate Event Budget Template
Keep track of your budget by utilising the templates available to you. You can use free tools such as Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets or utilise an app such as Monday.com, Cvent, Trello or Asana. These tools will assist you in sharing and tracking your budget, as well as sharing it across your team or clients.
When budgeting, ensure you break down your categories and items. Provide an estimated cost, actual cost, and the variance. Finally, track your payment plan and due pay date.
Here are some free downloadable sources:
Start Planning Your Corporate Event Budget Today
It is essential to understand the average costs involved in hosting a corporate event in Australia. Knowing typical expenses for venues, catering, and entertainment aids in effective planning and reduces mistakes or unwelcome surprises.
Running successful corporate events for over 50 years, Navarra Venues has the experience and expertise to ensure that your event will be a success. Consult the experts and get a comprehensive corporate event package with Navarra Venues.
