In 2021 and 2022, I was asked to host a training session on budgeting and finance in events as part of the Training Academy. This is an initiative by Underbelly, producers of London Wonderground, supported by The Earls Court Development Company, and delivered in partnership with the Young Lyric Team at the Lyric Hammersmith.

The two hour session was a combination of introducing the group of 18 – 25yrs to the basics of budgeting and finance. To get started, we discussed some of the important things to know before you can start building your event budget – the who, what, when and where. We then went through some of the key elements such as understanding the different ways events can make money, as well as some of the different types of expenditure associated with running an event.

Towards the end, I split the group into teams and gave them a hypothetical client brief that allowed them to develop their own budgets. This exercise allowed them to think about the very many stages of their event. It helped them consider costs and ways for them to get creative with the resources they have.

Fiona lead a fantastic workshop with our participants – she made budgeting accessible, fun and interesting and the group came away with so much more confidence when tackling finance. She created an open, informal atmosphere where the participants felt comfortable asking questions and walked them through budgeting for a project including tracking revenue, expenditure, funding and sponsors and profit. We had a range of experience in the room and she was really adept at individualising the way she worked with each person. We loved having her with us and I hope we can work with her again very soon!

Charlie Bindels – Producer (Education) – Lyric Hammersmith