Two 120-person events can have the same date, venue type, and budget, yet demand completely different work.
One client chooses quickly, has a single decision-maker, and respects cutoffs. Another brings six stakeholders, revisits approved vendors, changes the guest count, and asks for a new program sequence after printing. The event size did not change. The coordination load did.
Consider an illustrative $6,000 planning fee. You remember 35 hours in vendor work and day-of coordination, which looks like about $171 an hour. Then you count the rest:
The project took 86 hours. The illustrative effective rate was about $70 an hour.
The issue is not whether $6,000 is right for an event. The issue is whether you knew the event had become an 86-hour job while there was still time to manage it.
Scope creep rarely announces itself as a new event. It arrives as another venue visit, another vendor option, another family decision-maker, or “one last” layout change. Saying yes may be the right client-service choice. Saying yes without checking the project total turns flexibility into a pricing method.
Keep discovery, budget, venue, vendors, contracts, guest logistics, timeline, day-of work, and follow-up under the right client and event. Tasks and time remain together even when the work stretches over months.
Run the timer for vendor calls, site visits, timeline work, client meetings, and event-day coordination. Auto-stop protects against a timer left running after an interruption. Separate billable and non-billable activity so business development does not distort an event’s true cost.
When the client wants three more vendor options or reopens an approved layout, review the hours already used. Decide whether the request fits, replaces something else, or needs an added fee. The running total gives the conversation a fact base.
Compare estimated and actual time after the event. Maybe guest count matters less than stakeholder count. Maybe venue sourcing is predictable but late program changes are not. If you expect 90 hours and need $85 an hour, the illustrative fee target is $7,650. Your history, not a broad industry claim.
Use reviewed time for invoice lines, apply the correct client rate, produce a branded PDF, and keep paid, unpaid, and overdue status visible. The invoice can reflect planning and coordination instead of reducing the engagement to “event services.”
Tympi helps you see:
Good planning makes complexity feel invisible to the client. Your own system should still make it visible to you.
Start with one upcoming event. Track the calls, vendor research, site visits, budget work, timeline, guest changes, event-day hours, and follow-up. When it is over, compare the hours you sold with the hours you delivered. Then send the invoice without reconstructing the last three months from email.
Free plan - 5 clients, 5 projects, 50 time logs, and 3 invoices per month. No card.
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