Episode 49: Elevating Your Event When Cost Is a Concern

Jeff: Welcome back to the Elevate Your Event Podcast, where we talk about all the various ways you can make your next fundraising event better and maybe even more cost-efficient. Not really my wheelhouse talking about saving money.

Lori: For sure.

Jeff: But that's what we're going to do today. I think our topic is how to elevate your event when cost is a concern. And we understand that, right? Okay. So let's introduce our cast of experts that we have in the room here, starting with Lori Mackay.

Lori: We'll go this way.

Jeff: Matt Riley.

Matt: Jeff Porter.

Stephanie: And Stephanie Mason.

Jeff: All right. So we had a good pre-podcast conversation about this because we always hear that cost is a concern, right? Why wouldn't cost be a concern? You're a nonprofit, but every business should think that cost is a concern. So for us, it's like, how can we maybe talk about the various ways that you can step up or elevate your event and not do it in ways that's going to cost you a lot more money, right? Is that kind of what we're thinking about?

Lori: Yeah, sure.

Jeff: Okay. Let's do it. So anyway, let's go around. We'll have everybody kind of share a couple of ideas, and then we'll dive in with a little back and forth. So, Lori, why don't you go first?

Lori: Okay. So I think the number one thing that I think about to elevate your event is to elevate your event experience, and that doesn't always require bigger, better food or bigger, better drinks or a bigger, better band or anything like that. That could just be the guest experience as they walk into the event. Are they being welcomed? Are they being told where to go, what to do? Frequently, I've been at events where guests walk in and they literally are just looking around. Your guests should never be looking around. So being nice is free. Being nice and being intentional with your guests doesn't cost anything else. So put your team up front, make a welcoming entrance, and then have a smooth check-in process. That doesn't cost anything to do a smooth check-in process.

Jeff: I love it.

Lori: Yeah. So that's my first and foremost. And it does not mean you need to serve champagne at the door. You can if you want. But you don't have to.

Jeff: But you don't have to.

Lori: But if you're a jerk and you're serving champagne, I would go with being nice and not serving champagne.

Jeff: Or just having anyone at the door. I can't even tell you how many events I work where nobody is at the door. I mean, just thank them for coming.

Lori: Yeah. Hey, welcome. I mean, I love it when you have board members and the people that know everybody up at the front, except they can get a little long-winded. Especially when they're in the check-in line trying to schmooze. Please don't slow down check-in. Please, please, please, do not slow down check-in. Talk to them well before check-in.

Jeff: No, I think that's right on, because everybody's always thinking about, oh, I'm going to make my event better by spending more money somewhere. But just make it a better event, right?

Lori: Yeah. Absolutely.

Jeff: We have a thing at our church, actually, but it's greeting people or welcoming people from the streets to the seats.

Lori: That's good. Tag that one. I like it.

Jeff: So from the parking lot, they know where to park. There's people showing them. There's people showing them where the entrance is or helping them get there. Once they hit the entrance, there's people welcoming them, showing them where to go for check-in. Maybe you have somebody showing them where tables are or whatever your setup is.

Lori: 100% agree.

Jeff: Makes sense. Well, let's talk about the food, right?

Lori: I'm passionate about this one.

Jeff: In previous podcasts. Would you like to speak out of turn and go next? I'm just saying I'm passionate about it. We'll see what you all say. Well, I was suggesting that maybe you ditch the plated meal, right, and maybe try something different. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, maybe your fancy gala should have food trucks at it.

Lori: Oh, please. Or food stations.

Jeff: Yeah, food stations. All throughout the whole place. Anything where, I mean, and ditch the passed hors d'oeuvres, which I always, those always cracked me up, and I'll tell you why, because everybody who walks around with the passed hors d'oeuvres, all they want to do is get rid of the plate.

Lori: Yes.

Jeff: Right? And so they're dying for you to eat. Like, can you eat all six of these fried green beans? No, I just want one. I'll just take one. Thank you very much. Oh, have another one. Oh, you like that one. Have another one. So I don't think your guests even really love them anyway. I mean, I get it. They might be hungry, but you can even just put something out. But if you got food trucks, you eat what you want. Food trucks. Food on demand. Who wants it? And it makes running the show more efficient. Because you're not waiting for plates to be put down and cleaned up and clinking and clacking. And you don't have to time it and be like, oh, I got to pick up the salad plate at a certain time and put the entree down so we can do our presentation and bring that up before we do the live auction because desserts during the live. And it's like, I've seen that try to get coordinated. And it's so stressful.

Stephanie: Yeah, and people can try different kinds of food. Like, they're just not stuck with beef, chicken, or vegetarian. They can, if you get different kinds of food trucks, or depending on what your theme is, you can tie in the food trucks better than just kind of your standard ballroom catering meal.

Jeff: Yeah. Change out the venue. If you're at a hotel, hotels don't have a lot of flexibility on cost. Maybe try something else, right? That might be a cheaper venue rental. It might mean more work because you might have to find a caterer and you might have to find different types of entertainment or AV. We get that. And those might introduce other costs.

Stephanie: That's true.

Jeff: But weigh it all out and see. I mean, hotels are getting expensive. I think they are, yeah. And I'm kind of done with hotel events.

Lori: Yeah. Hotel events. I'm sorry. If you have a hotel event, I'm sure it's lovely, but it's just not my favorite events. Just don't invite Lori. It's just not my favorite events to attend, personally.

Jeff: Yeah, I don't necessarily get super excited about it. We've got some podcasts about trends, and I think it's trending away from that. And I'm not here to pick on any of the hotels, and I think some of them will ultimately kind of change up their vibe a little bit as well. But I agree with you, right? They've been around for a while. It's a reliable place. In certain markets it's probably the only nice place to have an event. But think outside the box. You can do it at an outdoor venue, and maybe you have to change the time of the year to support that, but there's a lot of things you can try that don't force you to have to go back to the hotel if you feel like the hotel is a big cost center. And it usually is. I don't think your guests are going to care. I mean, I think your guests are there to support you. So, don't get them wet and don't serve them bad food.

Lori: But I've seen both of those.

Jeff: Yeah. But from a venue perspective, change it up. We talked about changing up the food, change up the entertainment. We just had this big conversation, and again it's not like we're trying to save money at our derby event, but last year we did the Front Minute Country and it was 30 or 40 thousand dollars to bring that band in. And this year we're bringing in an act who's, I mean, 10% of that price.

Lori: Yeah.

Jeff: And what we decided was, sure, I mean, I'm sure our guests liked them. I mean, I know they had a great time. Was it that much of a great time where they honestly are like only coming to our event to see the concert? No, right? They're coming to our event to support us. And so we tried it. We said what kind of fan base or outside new market can we attract with this kind of thing? But when you're running a fundraiser and a table is $5,000, I mean, then they're there to support you. And so we decided this year we're just going to try something different. We're going to not bring back a super expensive act, right?

Lori: Yeah, I think unless you have a relationship or maybe you can get a bargain on a name-brand act. But other than that, I don't think it's really necessary. And probably in your community, there's probably some really good local cover bands that fit your donor base and just be done with it. People will still have a great time.

Jeff: Or maybe you don't even have a band.

Lori: Maybe you don't have a band. No. Just good speakers. How about that?

Jeff: You could. I mean, I've been to events where there's been no live entertainment, and it's fine. I'm just talking about what we did. I'm not suggesting you have a band. If the type of event you're doing is not kind of conducive to that. But that's one of the areas when you're looking at your cost base, like where can we save a little bit of money? Think about what's really going to drive a better guest experience, which in turn would drive better revenue, and what's not.

Lori: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: Well, let's talk about the refreshments. Got to know your audience, first of all. Well, I mean, so think about this. In a lot of cases, what we hear from people is, all I can get donated is kind of your standard beer and wine, right? So maybe I'm serving Bud, Coors, Coors Light, something like that, Michelob Ultra. Well, go to a local microbrewery and see what they'll give you, right? So if you want to elevate the types of refreshments you're serving and you don't want to spend any more money on them, it's just going to take a more aggressive effort to ask around. Some ways that you can get around that is see if they'll do a tasting, right? So, for example, maybe at our derby event, we actually serve decent bourbon, but maybe we're serving just kind of average bourbon. But then I bring in a local distillery who's got really fine, high-end stuff. I let them sell their stuff there, and I let them do tastings. So I'm not giving it out to everybody because everybody's just getting a little teeny taste, but it elevates the event a little bit because people get to experience that.

Lori: Yeah.

Stephanie: I've also been to an event where the bar wasn't an open bar. It was a cash bar, but on the tables for dinner, they had the wine on the table. So the wine was included, but the bar was a cash bar. People didn't seem to mind. I still saw plenty of people participating.

Jeff: I think you're on to something there because I think we always assume I have to make my event have an open bar. And maybe what all you can afford in terms of your budget is beer and wine. Maybe that's all you get donated and you realize that cocktails get expensive. But maybe you have some guests that are annoyed because they hate beer and wine and they want a margarita or something. Let them pay for it. And I think, try it. I mean, if you can't afford an open bar and you can't afford it in a VIP session, then just talk to your caterer or whoever's running your bar and say, can you just run a cash bar for mixed drinks and we're going to put beer and wine on the tables?

Lori: Well, and how often have you been to a wedding where there's a cash bar? You don't go order a drink at a wedding and go, I hate these people more now because I'm paying for my drinks. You love the people you came to the event for. Your people are still going to love you if they have to pay for a drink.

Jeff: Yes. I agree. I don't remember how much I spent at the last wedding I was at. I remember all the speeches.

Lori: All your speeches that you gave.

Jeff: I only had to give one. I mean, yeah, there's been, I mean, especially a lot of my friends got married very young and couldn't afford to have a full-on bar. It wasn't until I got older that I was showing up at weddings with an open bar. But that's not like the norm out there. Unless you have a Polish wedding. Have you heard what a Polish wedding is?

Lori: No. I have not.

Jeff: So it was funny. I was talking to a friend of mine and she said, well, maybe you guys need to have a Polish wedding. I said, well, what is that? And they said, well, the groom pays for the rehearsal dinner. Okay. And the upgraded liquor.

Lori: Oh. All right.

Jeff: So I look, I was like, okay, well, my son's getting married soon. Does that mean I have to pay for the upgraded liquor? So anyway, advice to our listeners, if you're having a wedding and that's the event you want to elevate, and you're the parents of the bride, you just tell that groom to pay for the better liquor.

Lori: Yep.

Jeff: Yeah. Maybe that's the way to go. Okay, well, there's some elements, and I think one of the things that we always talk about it, because obviously we're a software company, there are certain things that I do think if you invested more in them would generate more money. And so while we realize that you're trying to cut costs, sometimes elements that we think are part of more of a profit center shouldn't be cut. Maybe they should be doubled down on or at least increased. And I would say, obviously, mobile bidding software is one of those.

Lori: Yeah, absolutely. Tying into what you said when we started, right? It provides a good check-in experience for people. It gives you correct donor data so you can actually thank your donors that participate. So yeah, definitely agree with that.

Jeff: And what tends to work well is using software that's actually going to generate not just a great guest experience but kind of gamify it a little bit. So when you're looking at these tools out there and it's like, oh well, this one's like $200 but it doesn't send out an SMS message when they've been outbid, it's not easy to get in and out of the interface, it's a little clunky. So did you save some money? Sort of. Maybe you could have spent a thousand dollars more and gotten way better software. Well, what's $1,000 at your auction? I mean, probably five bids, six bids, right? And so look at and kind of understand, like, if I invest more in certain parts of my event, what is that going to get me? I think mobile bidding is one. I actually think a live auctioneer is one.

Lori: Oh, yes. Totally agree.

Jeff: Do you even do a live auction? Live auctioneer all the way.

Lori: Yeah, the local news anchors, usually not going to cut it. Oh, the board member who's like, oh, Jim Smith. We don't know who Jim Smith is.

Stephanie: Yeah. They had a board member do a paddle raise once at one event I was at, and she was so touched by the amount of donations, she started to cry. Which is, that's great. It's endearing, but I was like, man, you have five more levels to get through. She's like, thank you so much. We're not stopping here, ma'am. I get it. You exceeded your goal at the $5,000 level, but we got $2,500 coming next, so we need to get going.

Jeff: So, yes, I think somebody who's skilled and trained in that area makes a real difference. And look, I know, I get it. It's no different than mobile bidding software, right? There's mobile bidding software that, quote, unquote, is free, although it's really not free. And then there's mobile bidding software that's a few grand and you're wondering what the difference is. And we'll explain it if you call us. But the same with auctioneers, right? There's an auctioneer who's going to charge you $500 and then there's an auctioneer that's going to charge you maybe $5,000. I'm not saying you need to go for the $5,000 auctioneer, but understand what the difference is. Go watch them. Go to one of their events and watch and say, how are they going to interact with my crowd? Because they have to be a personality fit with your crowd too. But they do make a difference.

Lori: Absolutely. Yes.

Jeff: And so, again, one of those things where it's like, I don't think the assumption should be to find the cheapest auctioneer. In our experience, that rarely works out well. Same with mobile bidding software. Here's another one that I didn't think about until recently, but we did this event. I'm on the board of the Foundation for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And we did an event for two years, steak and tees, kind of a golf and dinner setup. And it was great, right? It was at a kind of a rustic barn. And next year we're talking about moving this to a very fine steakhouse in Denver. And is there going to be a cost difference? Absolutely. There's going to be a cost difference. Okay. But as we're thinking through it, and again, we haven't finalized all of this yet, but we're thinking, yes, this is going to cost us more, but A, we're going to be able to justify a significant increase in our table price. Because you're going from rustic barn to fine dining steakhouse. The other thing is, I think we can invite a different type of clientele to this event, and it gives us the opportunity for maybe more significant donations in our paddle raise. I mean, we're kind of weighing out all the different possibilities. And if we just looked at it from a cost standpoint, this is going to be a $20,000 difference.

Lori: Yeah.

Jeff: But you can cover that hopefully in ticketing and sponsorships.

Lori: For sure. Yeah.

Jeff: And I think just because of the name recognition of where we might do this. And the fact that people are like, I want to go eat there. That sounds awesome. It is awesome. So.

Lori: I think Lori wants to work that.

Jeff: I might just want to work it. I probably will work it.

Lori: Don't give me pizza. Don't give me pizza.

Jeff: That's another thing. I think if you're going to feed volunteers, feed them a meal. You don't have to feed them fine dining steak. But, okay, maybe in this case you would. But I agree with you. Like, there are certain areas of your event where it makes sense not to cheap out. How you treat your volunteers is definitely one.

Lori: Yep.

Jeff: Right. There are things you can drop, like at your event. I mean, we've talked about a lot of these things. If you're at a golf tournament, maybe you don't need all this expensive swag.

Lori: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: Now, I have some guys that run golf tournaments that are going to argue with that and say, the reason why people come to my golf tournament is because of the swag bag. But that's why they return.

Lori: Yeah. They would return because you would know you were getting a swag bag. If it was your first time, there's a reputation for it.

Jeff: But here's the sticky part with that. You better have really expensive foursomes in. Because where else are you making money? You're going to make money in your sponsorships. Okay? And then you're going to make money on a per golfer basis. And if you're spending all the money you're making on a per golfer basis on stuff for them, which, look, as a person who attends golf tournaments, fine with me. I'd love it. I want the nice stuff. But you better have some really good sponsors in to cover that.

Lori: Yeah.

Jeff: I think people will come back to play a round of golf, especially if you, I think the course matters more.

Lori: Yes. And the experience on the course.

Jeff: Yeah. So I think that's one thing you can lose. You can lose the valet parking. I think people out there directing traffic work fine. Or, have volunteers run golf carts. I mean, that's sometimes cheaper than the valet. Valet companies don't all work off tips, you guys. I mean, they definitely charge as well. So you got to be a little bit careful of what that might cost. But kind of pack all that in. And then outside of that, when you're looking at your consignment, think about, maybe that one item that you're selling for $5,000 that's costing you $4,500, maybe find something else that's going to cost you $2,500 and might sell for $5,000. Right. And there's extra money.

Lori: Oh, yeah.

Jeff: I think sometimes we lose touch with what might be possible with some of those consignment items. Or, look, I'm not here to tell you that you need to go find cousin Vinny to give you his brick and rich condo again. But maybe try to get a little creative with some of the auction items that you get. So you can try to reduce the cost of those.

Lori: Yeah, definitely leverage your network first.

Jeff: Yeah. I think so. Get the freebies. Ask around. Don't be afraid to ask. If you give yourself more time, then you have time to kind of get through this, right? If everything's under the gun, then that's when things get expensive, right?

Stephanie: That's very true.

Jeff: So we've got to think about those things. So we covered a lot. We talked about the guest experience and how just being nice and creating an amazing guest experience doesn't cost you anything. And elevates the experience that your guests have. It is absolutely right on. It is words of wisdom. It is brilliant advice because in so many cases, we're all looking at what's on our P&L. We're not thinking about maybe we should just say hi at the door and thank them for coming. Or even just schmooze the tables.

Lori: Yep, sure.

Jeff: So we talked about that. We talked about maybe elevating or changing how the food works. I think a lot of people think a food truck is kind of a downgrade. I'm telling you guys, it is not. They are fun. And look, if you want to hide the food truck, fine. Just create stations. But do something where your guests get to roam. They get to mingle. They get to try things they want. They're not stuck at the seat because they leave anyway. And then you've got an auctioneer trying to wrestle them all together and shushing them and doing all this stuff.

Lori: Yeah.

Jeff: That's the stuff that downgrades an event.

Stephanie: I like that about the stations. I have also been to one where they've had different stations instead of the actual trucks. So that's definitely an option. And also what's nice about that is, and even with the food trucks you can do this, it doesn't have to be a whole serving of everything. So if you have different kinds, it can be a half portion. And people can go around and get little tastes from all those. A little tapas style.

Jeff: Yeah. I like that. It's fun. I absolutely love that. And then we talked about also parts of your event that maybe investing more in might actually generate more revenue. So maybe it's not an area to be concerned about the cost. What tends to matter more is the profit. Maybe the concern about cost should actually go the opposite way: don't cheap out in these areas. Mobile bidding software is one. Live auctioneers are the other.

Lori: Right. Yeah.

Jeff: And then even creative things of saying, I mean, we just completely countered ourselves by saying we're going to upgrade our venue, but we're doing so in a way that we feel like might actually make a difference. Other than that, get a cheaper band.

Lori: If you have it at all.

Jeff: Buy cheaper liquor.

Lori: Everybody gets drunk, like, whether it's a $5.50 beer.

Jeff: No, I'm just kidding. No, I mean, you all know also, as you're thinking through your event, you know the areas you don't want to cheap out in. Right? And usually they're the areas that you think are the most critical to creating that experience. And then obviously we have our opinions on what areas we think actually make a difference. But combine those, think about it with your board, kind of put together your P&L and your thoughts. But don't always think that when you're looking at it and you're saying, we want to net 75 grand from this event or 100 grand from this event, the only way to get there is by cutting costs. It's worth looking at what areas can generate more revenue and how to drive more sponsorships, how to drive more out of your live auction. You might take your auctioneer budget from a thousand bucks to three thousand bucks, but you're expecting more than a $3,000 gain in your live. Model that.

Lori: Well, and let's remember that cheaper is not always better with ticket prices either. I've had people try to low ball their ticket price thinking they'll get more people in the door and it kind of backfired on them. And to be honest, make sure your ticket price, in my opinion, should be covering the cost of the actual event. And everything above and beyond is gravy. That's your actual money you're making. So it helps to be really smart about it.

Jeff: We ran into that, right? At our Derby event, I mean, we've ran this event for 15 years. I can tell you, we've tried all various sorts of things, put it that way. And one of them was we messed with the ticket price a lot. And what we came to find was, we had a lot of people saying, you got to lower the price, you got to lower the price, we're going to get more people in the door. And guess what we found? The people that paid the lowest ticket price, that's all they spent.

Lori: Yeah, that's not the people you want.

Jeff: They came for the free liquor and they drank and they watched the horse race and they left. And so you have to understand that once we raised our minimum ticket price up closer to $200, those people who are going to spend that kind of money are going to get interested in your silent auction. They're going to get interested in your live auction. They're going to get interested in your cause if they don't know it yet. So just think about that.

Lori: Yeah, more bodies is not always better.

Jeff: It's not. And I think if you were thinking or planning an event and said, we just want to do a benefit concert and it's all about the concert and, oh, by the way, it's a fundraiser, you can try that approach. That was hard for us to do because we ran a concert and we're like, our highest-in tables are five grand. Our second highest tables are $2,500. And then we go down to $1,000. I mean, at that point, it's no longer about getting a thousand people in the door. Right. But everybody has to make that decision on their own. But I think 100% agree that sometimes when you're looking at the revenue side of things and you're looking at your tickets, ask yourself, if I lower this ticket from 150 to 100, am I going to get that many more people in the door? And honestly, if I get them in the door, am I going to get anything out of them? Or are they just going to make the bar line longer?

Lori: Hmm. Yep.

Jeff: Crazy. All right. Well, good luck in the areas of your event that you want to lower the cost in. It will still elevate the event. It's not about cutting cost. It's about elevating an event with a little bit of cost-cutting wisdom around it. Look, we're here to brainstorm with you. So if you guys have any questions about that, if you have any ideas or thoughts saying, hey, have you tried this, reach out to us. We'd be happy to kind of walk you through different scenarios and see what makes the most sense for you. But until then, congratulations. I know this is hard. I know that you probably are struggling annually trying to figure out ways to net more money out of these fundraisers. And we appreciate that. We do the same thing. So hopefully these ideas were valuable to you. You can come up with others on your own. And so until next time, happy fundraising.