Pricing your fee: percentage, flat, hourly
Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min
Ontario planners charge 10–20% of budget, flat packages, or hourly for consulting. Each model changes the client's incentives and yours. Choose deliberately.
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Planning your own event well.
Host: guides, ideas and tools from EventPlans.ca for planning events in Toronto and the GTA.
Module 2 workshop: discovery to proposal in a week
Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min
Take a mock client (a tech company, 180 guests, holiday party, $35,000) from discovery call to signed proposal.
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Building the budget from the goal
Module 3: Budgeting · 15 min
Start from the envelope, split by category using GTA ratios, then price line by line. Use the budget calculator and learn when…
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Typical cost splits by event type
Module 3: Budgeting · 15 min
A holiday party, a gala, a kids' party and a conference spend differently. Memorise the four shapes and you can sanity-check any…
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Contingency and the reserve
Module 3: Budgeting · 15 min
Ten percent, held by the planner, released only for scope that was not in the brief. Learn what it covers, what it…
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HST, gratuities and service charges in Ontario
Module 3: Budgeting · 15 min
Thirteen percent HST on most lines, 18% gratuity on food and bar at most venues, and service charges that are not gratuity.…
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Tracking actuals and cash flow
Module 3: Budgeting · 15 min
Deposits, milestone payments, final balances and the week after. Build a payment calendar so nothing is late and nothing is paid twice.
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What an event planner actually does
Module 1: Foundations · 15 min
The job is risk management disguised as hospitality. A planner turns a goal into a date, a room, a budget, a vendor…
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Guest profile and the guest journey
Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min
Who is coming, what do they expect, what will they complain about? Build the guest profile and walk the journey from invitation…
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Goals and success measures
Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min
Every event needs a measurable outcome: leads, attendance, donations, survey scores, retention. Set it in discovery and it writes the debrief for…
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The discovery meeting
Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min
Forty-five minutes with a client decides the next six months. Learn the question order that surfaces the real goal, the real budget…
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Module 1 workshop: plan a 40-person birthday on paper
Module 1: Foundations · 15 min
Apply the lifecycle, the terms and the tools to a small real event. You will produce a one-page brief, a budget envelope…
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