3 Reasons to Budget for Your Event Staff Early

Written by Lori Gershaw

Lori Gershaw started her career in the event industry in 1989 as an Independent Meeting Planner and grew her business into a full-service meeting planning company.   In 2003 she founded her second company, GCG Event Partners, a nationwide network of Independent Meeting Planners and On-Site Meeting Managers.

August 15, 2022

The pandemic changed a lot of things in the event industry, not the least of which was on-site event staffing. While Meeting Planners are working harder to adjust to all the changes, securing Onsite Professionals for their events seems to have taken a back seat. I’m here to encourage you to start thinking about your on-site staffing needs much earlier in the process. Here are 3 reasons why:

1) There is a labor shortage

  • When everything shut down during the pandemic heavily impacting the Event Industry it meant many meeting planners lost their jobs. So why is there a labor shortage now when events are starting to return? Because many meeting planners got jobs in other industries, while others simply decided to retire early. At the same time, new meeting planners weren’t entering the field due to the lack of jobs.
Many Meeting Planners and Professionals Have Left The Industry

1) The price of labor has gone up

  • Not only is “Supply and Demand” in effect, but inflation has affected the cost of labor across the board. You can’t use the same formulas from pre-pandemic times to budget for your on-site staffing now. Do yourself a favor and factor the higher rates into your budget early in the process. Other related costs are impacted too. If you’re covering parking, rideshares, mileage, and/or meals, all these costs have been impacted. If you don’t plan ahead for the increased costs, your budget might be thrown off.

1) On-site meeting professionals are in high demand

Plan ahead to secure the best Onsite Professionals
  • If you want to work with qualified professionals to help make your event a success, be sure to place your orders early. Waiting too long means the best staff will have committed themselves elsewhere.  On the other hand, placing your orders too early may not make a difference. The best meeting and event professionals can pick and choose the events they want to work and may not want to commit themselves too early. There’s a sweet spot. Placing your orders between 6 to 12 weeks prior to the event should yield the best results. That means NOW is the best time for your Fall events.

Times have changed, but that doesn’t mean it needs to take you by surprise. Be prepared and everything should work out smoothly.

GCG Event Partners is a nationwide network of On-Site Meeting Professionals, Trade Show Exhibit Booth Professionals and Virtual Meeting Moderators. We’ve been in business since 2003 and seen many ups and downs in the economy.  With a few adjustments to how you think about event staff, we should be able to get over this hump together and ensure your events are a success!

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