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Money matters. How to save big on a small budget.

Interview with Seth Lienard, Senior Event Planner, University Events Augsburg University

Whether you’re planning an event for a non-profit organization or a small business, you don’t have to feel constrained by a small budget. As a Senior Event Planner at University Events, Augsburg University, Seth Lienard knows more than a trick or two about saving big on a small budget. We’re fortunate enough to have him share them with us this month.

Q. Tell me about University Events and Augsburg University and what you do there?

A. Augsburg University is a small liberal arts college in Minneapolis. Because we’re centrally located, we get a fair number of event requests. I am a Senior Event Planner and we work a lot with on-campus events such as admissions, student groups and alumni events. I also work with operations, coordinating AV services, and day-to-day procedures to ensure event requests are channeled to one of our four event planners in the office. Our team makes sure all events are handled appropriately, from small gathering to large galas.

Q. Tell me about some creative ways you’ve stretched your event budgets?

A. At the university we work primarily with on-campus clients or non-profits that have limited budgets. Occasionally we get bigger budget events, but many of our clients have less capital to spend.

Clients will typically come in with an idea of what they want but don’t have the budget for, so I start by asking them, “Why is this necessary?” For example, if they want to serve steak, I’ll ask them to consider whether a less expensive option is actually going to affect the experience of the guest? Perhaps they could actually save money by paring food down to one exciting item, and not necessarily the whole gamut of everything they want.

We also will get requests for things like draping to cover up a part of a room that they might not like. I’ll suggest that we not concentrate on big ticket items like draping, but instead re-direct the guests’ focus and shift attention in other ways using lighting, AV, or event set up to ensure a great experience.

Additionally, we do a lot in-house--for example, our own florals--and we pass those savings onto our clients, both internally and externally.

Printing is another expense that isn’t always necessary if you can use a PowerPoint presentation on a screen in the room rather than paying to print paper agendas. It all brings us back to that “why” question. People come in with fun ideas but a lot of times they can’t afford them.

Q. Any tips for saving on food and beverages?

A. First, we save money by working with our Dining Services right here on campus. One repeat event we had this year has always been a sit-down dinner. But the clients were seeing guest numbers continually increase every year and it was hitting hard at their budget. The first thing we did was shift the event from a sit-down dinner to a reception style event. We also shifted the time of the event so that it wasn’t taking place over a meal time. We had several fun food stations and it worked out well.

We have an on-campus caterer and chefs with whom we’ve built trust over the years. Because we’ve built those relationships, they will work with us to find ways as food service professionals to give clients the experience they want while saving them money. For example, they might try to find dishes that are appropriate for multiple dietary conditions, so something that is both gluten-free and dairy-free but is still delicious. This way, we’re saving money on not having to prepare and provide as many specialty meals.

Q. Tips for saving on décor?

A. I have a personal background in AV, so I’ll often turn to that to create décor solutions. For example, if you have an ugly hallway, it’s less expensive to turn the lights off and add décor lighting instead. It’s not that we don’t want to have draping, but a more economical solution is to shift focus.

Get creative whenever you can, do it yourself if possible, and do things that will last and be re-usable. For us, we create large printing or signage that can work at multiple events that are cyclical, like admissions signage that can be useful for up to three years. It’s important to look into the future and be strategic with that foresight. For example, use a registration sign for your current event and five others scheduled in the future. The same can be applied when it comes to florals. We can group our events that are using flowers and reuse them at the next event. It’s a sustainable practice that also saves money for our clients.

Q. And what about saving money on a venue?

A. Because we are a venue with our own planners, we do save a lot and don’t typically pay for venues for internal events. However, if we do go off site it can be tough because when venues seem less expensive if often means we end up having to bring much of our own equipment, like tents and chairs.

The best advice for cost-effectively working with a venue is to build partnerships and relationships with the people running them. Let them know your budget and your goals and they’ll likely offer creative solutions to your challenges, as well as help you reach your goals.

Seth Lienard, Senior Event Planner, University Events | Augsburg College Event + Conference Planning | lienard@augsburg.edu

Seth Lienard has been working professionally at Augsburg University in the University Events office since 2011. Seth started his events career as a setup staff and audio/visual technician but soon discovered he loved more than just setting up microphones. He has since earned his MBA and currently specializes in student-life events, operations, and A/V. He currently resides in Minneapolis, plays in several bands, and sometimes disappears for trips to the north woods.