How to Put Together an Event Planning Proposal
When receiving a venue search enquiry from a client there are a number of steps a venue finder needs to go through to ensure a detailed and relevant event proposal can be produced and sent back within an approved timescale.
In this blog we highlight the procedures involved and the turnaround time required in order to provide an accurate and detailed proposal.
Firstly understanding an event brief, a client’s needs plus their like’s and dislikes will help greatly in conducting a venue search and determine what types of venues to contact.
It is always much easier to work from a comprehensive brief where a client can provide all of the following details:
- Event dates
- Location
- Numbers
- Event schedule
- Food & drink requirements
- AV
- Budget
- Type & style of venue
We have to ensure all the relevant enquiry information is relayed to each of the venues in order for them to quote back competitively and correctly.
Next comes the venue search and depending on how vague or in-depth the event brief we will decide on how many venues to contact.
At DeSouza Associates we use our on line portal alongside our years of venue knowledge to choose which venues are suitable to send the event brief to. Also the venue we consider must match the clients brief and budget.
Then it is a waiting game for venues to respond. This can take some time as the venues may be responding to other requests or chasing other bookings so that they can offer the space for our booking. If it is a larger booking it can take the venue a little longer to respond to ensure all the information is collated.
Once venue responses have been received, every bit of information needs to be checked and re-checked to ensure that all the relevant information has been answered.
Once all of the venue information has been received, it needs to be formatted into a suitable event proposal. DeSouza Associates uses an online portal which system generates the proposals which includes the bespoke event information required by the client along with general details to sell the venue on its location, facilities and amenities on offer.
Once the event proposal has been generated we always ask a colleague to check the details to ensure that there are no errors and the event brief has been answered. Only when this is done can the proposal be sent to the client to review.
Budgets are of great importance for clients these days, so must be taken into consideration when speaking to venues. We negotiate hard to get the best possible rates from the venues on the initial proposal we will quite often have to re-negotiate, more than once!
To ensure the price best reflects a client’s budget we do show on our proposals total costs highlighting any cost savings wherever applicable and also any added-value to the booking.
