When working on a zero budget, your negotiation and communication skills are absolutely vital. These skills come from practice, but if you don’t know anything about negotiation, make sure to learn the basics.
Here are some QuickTips to prepare you for negotiation:
You can get a product, service, or anything else for your event in one of three ways:
• Pay for it is not really an option at this stage of the event organizing. Further down the line you might have some money from ticket sales, but not in this early phase.
• Barter and get it free. As they say, ask and you shall receive. Negotiate a barter deal where you offer something in return for goods or services. Remember two things:
1. In many cases you using a service benefits the provider of that service.
2. The value of your event as discussed in the previous paragraphs.
• Get paid for it. Think Hollywood movies and product placement. If you can manage this part, you are a bad-a** event pro.
In terms of sponsorship, endorsement, partnership or in our case placement, the film industry can be similar to the event industry. General Motors for example paid good money to have a prominent presence in Michael Bay’s Transformers series, because they understood that the movie’s audience loves cars as well. There’s no reason why your audience shouldn’t be interesting to a brand, company, or service out there. But the best part is when there’s good synergy between them it will make your event an even better experience for your audience.
What Needs to be Negotiated
Now that you see your value, know your options and understand the basics of negotiation, you can start negotiating anything for your event. Here are some helpful QuickTips to work with:
Everything Else...
You need to negotiate a few more things like catering (food/drinks/hostesses), technical equipment (AV/lighting/stage), entertainment (artists/activities), goodies (prizes/swag). Again use the draw of what your event is going to offer and the draw of your audience to arrange for these things at no cost.
Your Time is Valuable Too
You can negotiate practically anything, but keep in mind that time is money.
In some cases paying for services or goods can come out cheaper than negotiating. You should:
What’s the result? Calculate and make the right choices. For example, negotiating free water for a half-day event for 50 people may not be worth the effort and man hours involved. If you are organizing a multiple day event for 500 people, the time invested to negotiate the bottled water may be worth it.