You have decided that you are now an expert in project cost estimating, and you want to hold some public classes or workshops on this topic. You completed some training in the past, which has given you confidence in your abilities. Your first project is to develop materials, then market and hold your first seminar. You plan to do all of the work within the next six months. You want to create a good cost estimate for this project. Below are some of your assumptions:
You will charge $600 per person for a two-day class.
You estimate that 30 people will attend.
Your fixed costs include $500 to rent a room for both days, setup fees of $400 for registration, and $300 for designing a postcard for advertising.
You will not include any of your labor costs for this estimate, but you estimate that you will spend at least 150 hours developing materials, managing the project, and giving the actual class. You would like to know what your time is worth given different scenarios.
You will order 5,000 postcards, mail 4,000, and distribute the rest to friends and colleagues.
Your variable costs include the following:
a. $5 per person for registration plus 4 percent of the class fee per person to handle credit card processing. Assume everyone pays by credit card.
b. $.40 per postcard if you order 5,000 or more
c. $.25 per postcard for mailing and postage
d. $25 per person for beverages and lunch
e. $30 per person for class handouts
Assume 30 people register for and attend the class.
Part 1: Using Excel, create a spreadsheet to calculate your projected total costs, total revenues, and total profits given the preceding information. Be sure to have input cells for any variables that might change, such as the cost of postage, handouts, and so on. Calculate your profits based on the following number of people who attend: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60. In addition, calculate what your time would be worth per hour based on the number of students. Try to use the Excel Scenario feature (under the Tools menu) to create a scenario pivot table showing total profits based on the number of people who attend. You could also create a data table showing the profits based on the number of students. If you are unfamiliar with the Scenario feature or data tables, just repeat the calculations for each possibility of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 students.