Meetings and Events Procurement Intelligence Report, 2024 - 2030 (Revenue Forecast, Supplier Ranking & Matrix, Emerging Technologies, Pricing Models, Cost Structure, Engagement & Operating Model, Competitive Landscape)

Every organization and its procurement team look forward to negotiating the best deal while procuring a set of products or subscribing to services. Rate benchmarking involves price/cost comparison of more than one set of products/services to analyze the most efficient combination that can potentially help the procurement team in getting the optimum rate.

When analyzing rate benchmarking of meetings and events, the type of event planner and their experience in the field, and the location of the event play an important role. For instance, events planned in developed countries like the U.S., U.K., Japan, and Spain will be more expensive than emerging or developing countries like India, Brazil, or Africa. The salary of an event planner in the U.S. is around USD 50,000 each year. Similarly, an event planner in India earns, on average, USD 3,500 per year. In Spain, the event planner's salary is around USD 51,000 each year. The difference can be attributed to higher vendor/ supplier services expenditures or expensive supplies sourcing in developed countries compared to developing countries.

The average salary of an event specialist in the U.S. is between USD 45,000 to USD 50,000 per year. Whereas, in India, the event specialist earns on average between USD 6,000 to USD 12,000 each year. In Tokyo, Japan the average salary of an event specialist is between USD 45,000 to USD 50,000 every year.

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Labor cost is one of the key components of the total incurred costs while offering a product or service. Therefore, an organization must decide on whether the focus industry should be retained in-house or outsourced if the organization is providing its products or services at competitive prices. If the organization decides in favor of outsourcing, it must understand the difference in the salary structures of suppliers before selecting a supplier and formulating a negotiation strategy.

According to our research, the meeting planner at BCD Travel Services B.V. receives a 10% - 12% higher base salary compared to the salary received by the meeting planner working in companies such as CWT M&E, and Cvent Inc. However, the year-on-year increment rate in all these companies majorly depends on the Key Result Areas (KRAs).

Organizations may find it cumbersome to continuously track all the latest developments in their supplier landscape. Outsourcing the activities related to gathering intelligence allows organizations to focus on their core offerings. At this juncture, our newsletter service can help organizations stay updated with the latest developments and innovations and subsequently assist in preventing disruptions in the supply chain. We have identified the following developments within the meetings and events market over the last two years:

In September 2023, Bizzabo launched a premium event service known as Bizzabo Studios for virtual and in-person events. The platform was created in collaboration with creative agency Smyle to provide end-to-end meeting production planning, management, and marketing services. This will help to offer better solutions to the clients as Bizzabo Studio offers services such as template designing, registration setup, and end-to-end event configuration.

In September 2023, Headbox introduced a novel tool named “Journeys”. This tool enables users to assess estimated travel emissions for attendees heading to various potential meeting venues, aiding in the comparison between in-person gatherings. Leveraging the U.K. government’s “Conversion Techniques” and Google Maps, the tool calculates greenhouse gas emissions across various transportation modes. This feature is part of Headbox Zero, the company’s suite dedicated to sustainability.

In April 2023, CWT Inc. introduced a meetings and events carbon footprint calculator. This tool merges data on hotel accommodations, travel, meeting venues, and food & beverage carbon emissions for corporate gatherings. As a result, this can provide comprehensive insights into environmental impact. Catering to both CWT event organizers and clients, it empowers them to make more sustainable decisions for large-scale global events ranging from 200 to 50,000 attendees.