Budget making is equally important for all. No matter if you have been serving in the Dubai industry since decades or you are a totally new person, budget making will keep you secure during client inquiries and help you maintain a strong event profile.
Most often, MS Excel can do brilliant job for your budget making. But you can surely try any spreadsheet software as well. You just need to make 4 basic columns.

• Products and Items
• Expected Expenses
• Realistic Expenses
• Descriptions

Furthermore, you can analyze the columns on the basis of ‘time requirement’ and ‘difficulty levels’. Here are the techniques of making a detailed budget out of this basic information.
1-      Find Out Venue Rental Prices
Firstly, find out the most suitable and lucrative venue. The next step is to meet the sales manager of the venue and track all the costs including baggage handling, storage, space rentals and housekeeping etc.
2-      Track Catering Expenses
Track the food expenses and the money to be spent on beverages and related items. Most often, an additional 30% cost of all the catering expenses is given in the form of tip.
3-      Step Forward to calculate Transportation Expenses
Transportation charges include parking, traveling buses, coaches, shuttles, equipment transfer vehicles and other related expenses.
4-      Calculate Décor Expenditures
Apart from the basic décor items like flooring, carpets, tents, centerpieces and vases etc. you should also count other decoration items in the expenses.
5-      Calculate Equipment and Entertainment Expenses
Generally, equipment and entertainment charges include microphones, cables, A/V equipments and speakers. But nowadays, the trends have changed and people use other basic and entertainment equipments including DJ, projectors and LCDs etc.
6-      Estimate All the Printing Charges
Printing can literally cost you a lot of money. Advertising materials, event booklets, badges, invites, banners and posters are common printing items.
7-      Find Out Gift and Giveaway Items and Expenses
A response of gratitude is always remembered by the attendees. This is why; you should never let a guest go empty handed. Just be creative with gifts and giveaways and calculate the costs of items.
8-      Estimate Activity Expenses
Many organizers love to include activities in their events to attract greater public and generating interest. These activities include tennis, free spa services, biking and bowling etc. Calculate all the activity expenses.
9-      Calculate Miscellaneous Items
Apart from the aforementioned items and categories, there might be some other items in your list. Note them in the miscellaneous category and calculate their expenses.
10-   Contingency Fund Calculation
A very practical technique is to calculate at least 20% of the total budget and put it in the contingency fund which you will take from the budget. It will help you to stay within the budget as your realistic expenses can easily go above than the projected and assumed expenses.
11-   Summarize All the Assumed Expenses
Assumed expenses can be lower or more than the actual expenses. Your client should not be shocked after the event. So it is always better to summarize the assumed and projected expenses and give a brief to the client.
12-   Summarize All The Actual Expenses
The calculation of actual expenses will be done after the event. Calculate the subtotal of all the actual expenses. For your personal learning, compare the actual and assumed prices.