How to Make the Ideal Event Proposal Template

An event proposal can serve several purposes, including obtaining sponsorships, obtaining a client as an event planner, obtaining buy-in from stakeholders and higher-ups, and so on.

So, creating a well-written, attractive, and effective event proposal is crucial in ensuring any event’s success by having all relevant parties on the same page.

For an event planner business, having the ability to write a good proposal alone can help create a significant competitive advantage over your competition. Obviously, an event proposal is also important in securing sponsorships, which is often a crucial part of funding any event.

In the need to create an event proposal but don’t know where to start? Not sure about relying on free event proposal templates available on the internet?

You’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we will share how you can create your own, perfect event proposal template to help you achieve your objective.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

•What should be included in an event proposal template?

•How to structure an event proposal effectively?

•Best practices on writing the perfect event proposal

And more.

Without further ado, let us begin with this guide.

What Is an Event Proposal?

An event proposal is, simply put, a comprehensive document that details every element of an event. It is typically created at the early planning stages of an event and can be created for several different purposes, including:

•Created by an event planner/event organizer for a client who is going to use the event planner business’s service

•Created by a marketing department in a company in order to secure buy-in from higher-ups. In short, an internal event proposal.

•Created by an event organizer for sponsors who might be willing to sponsor the event.

And for other purposes.

However, although the purpose of the event proposal document can vary, the main function remains the same: proposing the event to another party to secure buy-ins in one form or another (sponsorship funding, a “go” for the project, agreement with a client, and so on).

Who needs to write an event proposal?

While everyone involved in event planning can certainly benefit from writing an event proposal, it will be the most beneficial for:

1. Event planner agencies to win clients over

For event planners or organizer agencies, an event proposal is obviously critical for winning clients over.

In this case, the event proposal’s main function is to communicate the event’s concept, Unique Value Proposition (UVP), and especially how the event would benefit the client in achieving its goals.

2. Marketing and communication departments

For marketing and communication departments looking to plan an event internally, an event proposal is crucial for securing buy-ins from higher-ups, so the event can get a go.

The event proposal’s purpose here is to showcase how the event can value the company and how the event is aligned with the company’s business goals.

3. Anyone looking to secure sponsorships to fund an event

Sponsorship remains one of the most popular ways to fund an event, and an event proposal can function as a sponsorship proposal for securing these sponsorship deals.

Here, the event proposal’s main role is to communicate how prospective sponsors can benefit from sponsoring the event, as well as to explain the event’s concept and agenda to these prospective sponsors.

What’s The Content of an Event Proposal?

The event proposal can be structured in various different ways depending on its purposes, but it should include the following elements:

– Goal of the event

This section should discuss why the event is being held in the first place (its purpose) and its goals.

Goals should be as specific as possible, and we should be able to assign KPIs and monitor key metrics to keep track of the event’s performance against this goal(s).

– Event timeline

When the event is going to be held, as well as the timeline of the event planning process.

If possible, come up with the exact date/time of the event as early as possible in the event planning cycle. This will be useful in certain scenarios, for example, when securing a venue for the event.

However, at the very least, provide a rough timeline/agenda of when the event is going to be held.

– Event stakeholders

We should also elaborate on who the stakeholders of the event are. Knowing the people behind the event may help the event proposal’s reader in weighing the value of the event.

Discuss relevant internal stakeholders (team members, the CEO, etc.) and external stakeholders (prospective partners, vendors, prospective sponsors, speakers/talents, etc.)

Also, elaborate on the role and responsibilities of each stakeholder whenever possible.

– The event plan

•What is the event going to be about? A conference? A musical concert? A trade show?

•Who are your target attendees? How many attendees are you estimating to visit your event?

•What’s the event’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP)?

•When and where will the event take place? (if it’s a virtual event, how will the virtual event be delivered?)

•What do you want your attendees to experience from your event? What do you want them to feel as they get home?

It’s not enough for the event proposal to just simply list the type of event, how many attendees you’re planning to get, and so on. But the proposal should clearly elaborate your vision about the event and how you are planning to execute this vision.

– Your credentials

Your past experience and credentials, as well as key team members’ credentials. In short, your proposal should aim to convince them about why they should work with you, hire you (if you are an event planner), or sponsor your event. It’s crucial for your event proposal to reflect confidence and inspire trust.

– Relevant data

Provide your readers with relevant data they may need to make their decision. For example, if you’ve hosted another event in the past, provide attendance data of past events, the demographics data of past attendees, and so on. The more data-driven your proposal is, the higher the likelihood it can help you achieve your objective. However, make sure to only include the relevant data.

– Unique Value Proposition

Elaborate on what makes your event unique and what’s your event’s competitive advantage compared to its competitors throughout the proposal. Also, people do judge the book by its cover, so make sure the event proposal is well designed and written well so it’s attractive and easy to read. Use clear layouts and attractive images/charts/infographics to elaborate any data effectively.

– Services offered (for event planner businesses)

If you are an event planner creating a proposal to secure clients, then it’s important to explain the scope of the services you are offering to do for this specific event. Or, you can also offer different packages.

Make sure to explain to prospective clients in detail, with optimized readability (i.e. using bullet points), and as clearly as possible to make sure you get your point across.

Also, you may want to add your policies as an event planner to help manage the prospective client’s expectations. Clearly elaborate elements like due dates of payments, cancellation policies, deadlines, damage policies on rented equipment, and so on.

Set up your KPIs

In this section, discuss the KPIs you are going to monitor throughout the event planning process and during post-event evaluation.

The actual KPIs to include here would vary depending on the type of event, format, size, complexities, and any other factors. For example, a virtual conference should have KPIs that look vastly different than an in-person musical concert.

Cost estimate

This section is especially important if the event proposal is used for securing funding (i.e., for sponsorships.)

List at least the high-level expenses of the event, including:

•Venue (for an in-person event) or virtual event platform (for virtual/hybrid event)

•Food and beverage (including equipment rental)

•Speakers/talent/presenter/entertainment (also include travel and accommodation expenses)

•Marketing expenses

•Technological infrastructure and equipment (A/V equipment, live streaming equipment, software solutions, etc.)

•Logistics

Calculate the total cost of these high-level expenses and consider adding 15% to 20% on top of it as a contingency fund. This is to prevent you from having to secure more funding every time you exceed the projected budget, among other emergency reasons.

Our Event Proposal Template

How To Use This Event Proposal Template

In this event proposal template, we will provide the basic structure you can use as a foundation for your event proposal. Obviously, you can modify the structure and add sections as you see fit, depending on your event’s unique needs.

Section 1: Introduction (Your cover page)

[EVENT NAME]

Website URL|Social Profiles|Contact info

Section 2: Event Outline (1-2 pages long)

Should discuss the Time and date of the event and the location/venue of the event (if it’s an in-person event). If it’s a virtual event, describe the event’s type and how you are going to deliver the event online.

This section should also include a brief description of what the event is about, as attractively as possible. Keep it short and to the point, but well-written. If this section is not attractive, readers might just skip the whole proposal altogether.

Details you may want to include in this section include:

•History of past events (especially if this is an annual event)

•Overall concept of the event

•Projected attendance number, other relevant data you can present

•Speakers/talents/entertainers who will perform at the event

•Your event’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP), what makes it special?

•The budget needed (if this is a sponsorship proposal)

•Cost of the event (if you are selling an event to other companies as an event planner)

Section 3: Your credentials

This section should clearly explain who you are, and make sure to include:

•Your company name

•Your company logo

•Contact information

•Company overview (how long have you been in the event planning business, successful past events, etc. )

•Your resume

•Team resumes

•Scope of work

And other relevant information that can help elaborate your value as an event planner. The goal here is to convince the reader that you are a credible, trustworthy company capable of delivering the execution for the event.

This section should also cover why you are organizing the event:

•The purpose of the event (if you are selling an event concept to a company, elaborate why this event is needed by them)

•The objective of the event (goals should be specific, realistic, and measurable)

And why you are the right company to achieve these objectives.

Section 4: Target audience of the event

This section should be a comprehensive discussion of the event’s target audience:

Who are your target attendees?

•Demographic data (age, gender, income, job title, interests, and so on)

•How will you attract this target audience?

Numbers and data

•How many people do you expect to attend the event?

•Elaborate how you’ve estimated this number

•Add relevant data to back up your estimation

When proposing an event to potential sponsors, it’s crucial to elaborate on how the event’s target audience can benefit the prospective sponsors. Ideally, your event’s target audience should be similar to the prospective sponsor’s target audience, the more similar, the better.

Section 5: Event promotion plan

No matter how well you’ve planned your event, it won’t provide value to the proposal’s readers if you can’t attract enough target attendees.

This section should elaborate on your plan on how you are going to promote the event via various channels. In short, why and how you can attract your target audience.

While there are various ways to promote an event, and your event marketing strategy should be custom-tailored to your event’s unique values, here are a few marketing channels you might want to cover in your event proposal:

•Social media. Fairly obvious, your target audience is most likely on Facebook, so you should promote your event on social media.

•Optimal event page. The event page should act as a one-stop hub of information, while at the same time should also have a functional registration page

•Influencer marketing. Working with relevant influencers (mention them on the proposal)

•Email marketing. If you already possess a sizable email database, you can mention it in the proposal.

•Contests and giveaways. You can tie this strategy with sponsorship packages (i.e. giving out sponsors’ products as giveaways)

If possible, also elaborate on your past experience (and past success) in promoting your events.

Section 6: Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

This section is about showcasing the event’s unique value and competitive advantages over its competition.

If it’s a brand new event, this section should focus on showcasing:

•The confirmed venue if it’s a famous/historical venue. You can also elaborate on why this venue is a great choice for your event and your attendees

•Confirmed speakers/talents/entertainments

•Confirmed supporting partners

•Confirmed sponsors

If you’ve run the event previously (i.e. if it’s an annual event), then you can also provide photos, social proofs (testimonials and quotes), and relevant data from the previous events.

Section 7A : Sponsorship Package and Benefits (For prospective sponsors)

If the event proposal is going to be addressed to prospective sponsors, this section should emphasize what they will get from sponsoring the event and how much it will cost.

You can either send a custom-tailored single sponsorship package to a particular target sponsor or send multiple packages so they can choose between different options.

Clearly elaborate what will they get in the package

If it’s an in-person event, what onsite benefits will the sponsor get? Also, explain how you are going to incorporate their logo and how you’ll approach co-branding on your event’s marketing materials. Mention any pre- or post-event co-branding promotions the sponsors will get.

Cost of sponsorship

Be concise and to the point. Make sure prospective sponsors can clearly understand how much the sponsorship will cost.

Exclusivity

Mention whether the sponsorship will be an exclusive opportunity, and if not, mention how many opportunities are available at different tiers of sponsorship packages.

Section 7B: The scope of your service and policies (For prospective clients)

If this event proposal is going to be directed towards potential clients (if you are an event planner company), then it should be structured a little differently, and you should focus on three main things:

1.The cost/budget of the event

The estimated cost of the proposed event. This will function as a quotation for your project, so we should make sure the event is attractive, budget-wise. However, make sure you are not lowering the estimated cost too much just to make it appealing. You may end up needing to request a higher event budget once it was approved, which can significantly hurt your reputation.

Provide a summarized breakdown of expenditures and estimate the cost of each item (especially high-priority ones). Again, make sure to provide a safe estimation so the actual spending won’t exceed this budget.

2.Scope of services offered

Manage the prospective client’s expectations well and explain clearly (but briefly) the scope of services you are offering to do for this specific event. Ensure this section is optimized for readability so prospective clients can clearly understand it.

3.Policies

Use this section to clarify elements like the deadline for the proposal offer (typically up to 60 days after the proposal has been received, due dates of payments, cancellation policies, and so on.

Section 7C: Relevance (For internal buy-in/approval)

If the event proposal is going to be used for internal purposes (i.e. getting approval from higher-ups), then this section should focus on elaborating why this event is important and how this event can help the company in achieving its marketing and business objectives.

Use data to prove your argument and remember that the focus here is to convince stakeholders and higher-ups that your event can benefit your company, aligns well with the organization’s overall objectives, and is also cost-effective.

Section 8: Call to Action

This should be a fairly short section with the focus of convincing the reader to get back to you and provide their approval for the event (or for sponsorship).

Provide a clear deadline to get back to you (i.e. 60 days upon the submission of the proposal), and to encourage them to give their answer faster, you can offer incentives like discounts, better sponsorship benefits, exclusivity, and so on.

Section 9: Closing

The last (but not least) section is about reiterating your event’s key selling points, unique value propositions, and contact information. Thank the reader for their time, and make it as easy as possible for them to find out where to contact you.

Best Practices for Writing the Perfect Event Proposal

Above, we’ve shared a customizable event proposal template that you can use to create an attractive and effective event proposal.

Here, we will also share some best practices in using the event proposal template to make the most of it:

1. Make use of storytelling

Leveraging storytelling techniques in your event proposal can lead to an improved experience, resulting in an improved level of engagement and interest from the proposal’s reader.

Here are some examples of how to include storytelling in your event proposal:

•Present a case study of your previous event. Tell a story of how this past event resolved a client’s problem or helped a sponsor achieve its business objective. This type of story can be very effective in securing buy-ins, winning over clients, or securing sponsorships.

•Tell a story about your company as an event planner agency. Don’t only stop at an attractive and engaging story about how your company was formed, your past successes, etc., but try to also involve attractive and compelling visuals (photos, images, infographics, and even videos.)

•Include short profiles of your team members and relevant stakeholders, tell your reader about your valuable team/stakeholders with short but concise, compelling stories.

•Here are also some best practices to follow when including storytelling elements in your event:

1.Keep a traditional storytelling structure whenever you use this storytelling approach. In general, you can use the basic 3-act structure for most purposes: a beginning (act 1), a climaxing middle (act 2), and an end (act 3).

2.Focus on the narrative that your event and your company’s core values can help your proposal reader’s problem or add value. Be clear about your solution.

3.Whenever possible, make the story about the reader (prospective sponsors, fans, etc.,) and don’t focus solely on yourself.

4.Don’t overly hard sell when you are writing the story about your company or your team. Be authentic and genuine. In general, leave sales out of your stories.

5.Avoid telling too many boring details, which can cause readers to lose interest          

2. Be clear about your event’s goals

It’s very important to communicate clearly and directly about the event’s goals as early as possible in the event proposal.

Be clear and concise when communicating your event’s goals, and you can also use this opportunity to tell readers how these goals can align with theirs.

3. Find the right balance between attractive and informative

On the one hand, you’d want to squeeze as much information as you can inside the proposal to convince the reader. On the other hand, an event proposal that is too cluttered will be boring and unattractive.

It’s crucial to find the right balance between both, and the secret is to ensure an optimal structure, which in turn, will improve readability. The event proposal template we’ve shared above has been optimized with this balance in mind.

4. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes

Ultimately your event proposal should be about what they will get from your event, and the more effectively you can elaborate on this, the more effective your proposal will be. Try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes and try to understand how to convince them.

If you have older proposals from previous events, then evaluate them and try to read them from a prospective client’s and/or sponsor’s perspective. Does it instill your credibility as an event planner? Would you (as a client) want to collaborate with this event planner?

Think of how you’d want your company (or yourself) and the event to be perceived by the reader and write the proposal accordingly.

5. Prove how you understand the reader

An important ingredient of any effective event proposal is proofing how you’ve understood the reader’s (be it a potential client or sponsor) vision, mission, and objective for sponsoring an event or hosting an event. If you can prove that you’ve understood their needs, it will dramatically increase the likelihood of conversion.

An effective approach is to recap what they’ve expressed to you in the initial interview and/or pitch email, so they’ll know that they’ve been heard.

6. Communicate your unique values

A good event proposal should be powered by your unique values: both your company’s unique characteristics and traits, as well as the event’s unique concept and other competitive advantages.

Sizzle these unique values throughout the event proposal. Showcase your company’s strength and also your event’s unique values, and give the reader clear and specific reasons why they should invest or participate in your event. You can do this by making sure your proposal is well designed with strong visuals, including testimonials/references, featuring photos from past events, and other ways to show how you can meet and even exceed the reader’s expectations.

7. Elaborate the logistics

Great event ideas are one thing, but an attractive and effective event proposal should also prove that you will be able to effectively and efficiently execute the event.

In the event proposal, you should effectively highlight your ability to handle logistics, for example by providing a structured overview of different details of the event and showcasing how all these details can fit together to create a cohesive and attractive event.

8. People do judge the book by its cover

The design of your proposal counts: make sure it’s written with the right layout to make sure the proposal is presented in a manner that is pleasing to the eye. Make sure reading your event proposal is a great experience for each reader, and if necessary, hire a graphic designer to help you in this aspect.

Make sure all the information in the proposal is easy to follow and understand, but don’t compromise the accuracy of the information you are going to include in the proposal.

An effective way to include more information without making your proposal too cluttered is to add photos, images, and infographics. If the proposal is going to be delivered in a digital format, then you can also add videos.

9. Don’t be afraid to talk about money

If the purpose of the event proposal is to secure sponsorship or to convert clients, then obviously sooner or later you’ll need to discuss money. However, just because we shouldn’t be afraid about discussing money in your proposal, we should still do it properly.

It’s crucial to treat your event proposal as a way to prime your reader until it’s time to talk about money. Anticipate potential obstacles, and offer the solutions before you mention price.

When it’s finally time to discuss money, however, be as clear as possible. If you are not clear with your price, the reader may end up stalling the proposal, which will be a bad thing for both of you.

It’s best to provide a comprehensive and detailed budget estimation to show them that what you are offering is reasonable. Also, it’s okay to ask for a relatively high price if you can prove the value of the event, so don’t always aim to lower the price and compromise the quality of your event.

Closing Thoughts

An event proposal is very important if you need to secure any buy-ins before you can execute the event, whether it’s approval from your boss and stakeholders, winning a client as an event planner company, or securing sponsorships for your event.

In short, the purpose of an event proposal is mainly about convincing its reader to give a go for the event.

With that being said, to be effective an event proposal should mainly elaborate on three things:

1.How the event can provide benefits for the proposal’s reader

2.Why you (or your company) is their right choice in executing this event

3.Why the money they’ll spend on the event will be worth it

However, it’s also crucial to keep the event proposal short and concise so that it won’t bore the reader.

By using the event proposal template we’ve shared above, you can create an event proposal that effectively elaborates these three points, while also maintaining the right balance between being informative and attractive.

‍