Initially, your budget serves as a guideline and may need revision as estimated costs become real.

Consider ALL factors, including:

• Taxes
• Tips & gratuities
• Support materials
• Printing
• Postage
• Signs
• Name tags/badges
• Sleeping rooms
• Meeting room charges
• Food and beverage
• Audio/visual
• Labor
• Supplies
• Telephone
• Speaker fees
• Ground transportation

Room & meal tax will vary from location to location. Tax and gratuities for meals can add more than 25% to your food bill.

Be sure to plan for the unexpected, perhaps 5-10% of your total budget. If you need it, it’s there; if you don’t, you come in under budget.

The choices for a meeting site are almost endless. You can choose from:

• Airport Hotels: Well-suited for short fly-in & fly-out meetings
• Suburban Hotels: Outside the city itself & generally quite self-contained
• Downtown Hotels: In the heart of a city or urban area
• Resort Hotels: Great for leisurely meetings since they offer a variety of recreational options
• Convention Centers: Best for large meetings, trade shows and exhibits; usually near a number of hotel facilities
• Conference Centers: Dedicated meeting facilities; good for smaller meetings when several break-out sessions are necessary
• Colleges & Universities: Many have good meeting facilities & can offer sleeping accommodations when school is not in session

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