Event Services Contract template

Contents

Parties and the event

This contract is made on [Date] between [Your company], called the Planner, and [Client company], called the Client, for the launch of [Product name] at [Venue] on [Date], from 6.00 pm to 10.30 pm, for 220 invited guests.

1. What the Planner does

1.1 Planning, coordination and the run sheet. The Planner designs the event, recommends and books vendors, holds a fortnightly planning call from January, builds and maintains the run sheet, manages bump in and bump out, and runs the night with two coordinators on site. A final run sheet and vendor contact sheet go out 10 days before the event.

1.2 What the fee does not cover. Guest invitations and the guest list, product samples and demonstration stock, staff travel and accommodation, media and influencer fees, and any work after 11.30 pm on the night. The Client provides the product, the demonstration units and its own presenters.

2. Vendors

2.1 Who contracts with whom. The Planner recommends vendors, negotiates terms and manages them, but the Client contracts directly with every vendor marked Client in the table and pays them directly. The Planner is not a party to those contracts and is not liable for a vendor failing to perform, though it is responsible for managing the vendor and finding a replacement. Each deposit falls due on the date in its own quote, with 10 business days notice from the Planner, and where a missed deposit loses the date the Client carries the price difference.

3. Budget and spending authority

3.1 The budget and the limit on spending. The event budget is $40,000 excluding the planning fee. The Planner may commit up to $2,000 on any one item and up to $4,000 across the whole event without further approval, as long as the budget total is not exceeded, and anything above those limits needs written approval from the named contact of the Client. The Planner keeps a running budget showing quoted, committed and paid on every line, and issues a closing statement with every vendor invoice within 15 business days of the event.

An unapproved commitment is not a Client cost. Money committed above the limits in clause 3.1 without written approval is carried by the Planner, not the Client.

4. The planning fee

4.1 How the fee is worked out. The fee is 15 percent of the event budget, fixed at $6,000 on signing. If the Client raises the budget by more than 10 percent the fee is recalculated at 15 percent of the new budget and the difference is added to the final instalment, and if the budget falls the fee does not drop below $6,000 because the planning work is already done. The Planner takes no commission or rebate from any vendor, and a trade discount is passed to the Client in full.

5. The day itself

5.1 The run sheet governs the night. The run sheet below is the outline agreed at signing. The final version is circulated 10 days before the event and every vendor works to it. The Planner runs the night from the floor and is the single point of contact for every vendor between bump in and bump out.

5.2 Decisions on the night. The Client names one representative who is at the venue from 5.30 pm and who can make a decision on the spot. Where that person cannot be found within 10 minutes, the Planner may make a decision costing up to $500 to keep the event running, and tells the Client the same night.

6. Changes, postponement and cancellation

6.1 Postponement and things nobody controls. One postponement to a date within six months carries no extra planning fee, subject to the Planner being free and to what each vendor allows. Where the event cannot go ahead for something outside the control of both parties, neither is in breach, the Planner is paid for work already done, and both work to recover what each vendor will release.

7. Insurance, safety and permits

7.1 Cover and compliance. The Planner holds public liability insurance of $20 million, gives a certificate of currency on request, and collects one from every vendor it manages before that vendor is confirmed. The venue holds the liquor licence and runs the bar. The Client is responsible for the product being safe to demonstrate and for any permit the demonstration needs.

8. General

8.1 Photographs, confidentiality and liability. The Planner may use event photographs in its portfolio 30 days after the event unless the Client objects in writing first, and never uses an image of the unreleased product before the launch. Each party keeps the other party information confidential. Neither party is liable for indirect loss and the liability of the Planner is limited to the planning fee paid. Notices are by email to the named contacts, a variation to the budget, date or scope takes effect only in writing, and this document with the vendor table is the whole agreement about this event.