Companies are more convinced than ever that in-person meetings and events drive real business results, but a new survey from Global DMC Partners (GDP) indicates 70% of planners continue to fall short in documenting the ROI of their programs.
“Planners know their events are working. They see it in stronger client relationships, in deals closed and in employees who feel more connected to the organization. But when budget season arrives and leadership asks for proof, sentiment is not a line item,” says Catherine Chaulet, president & CEO of GDP, the world’s largest network of destination management companies and specialized event service providers. “What cannot be measured cannot be reported, and what cannot be reported becomes an easy target for cuts.”
GDP’s latest Meetings & Events Industry Pulse Survey drew 162 responses from meeting and event professionals worldwide—predominantly U.S.-based planners (71 percent) at the senior management and ownership level—and the results highlight a growing disconnect between the pressure to demonstrate event ROI and the tools available to do so.
Chaulet calls bridging this analytical gap from “intuition to evidence” the MICE industry’s “next frontier.”
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She continues: “Planners who can connect their events to revenue, engagement or retention outcomes are in a stronger position to advocate for continued, and growing, investment. Those who cannot risk being left without a compelling case when budget conversations happen, and in today’s economic environment, those conversations are happening now, often behind closed doors and without a seat for the planner at the table.”
The Measurement Opportunity
In the survey, 68% of planners report stakeholder pressure to prove the business impact of their meetings and incentive programs, with one in five describing that pressure as significant or extreme. Yet, shockingly, only 30% currently use robust data or analytics tools to track ROI. About a quarter of respondents say they plan to adopt such tools but have not yet, and 44 percent have no ROI tracking in place at all.
Bottom line: 70% of the industry cannot definitely answer the question leadership teams are increasingly asking: What did that program deliver?
What Data-savvy Meeting Profs Are Doing
According to the GDP survey, 58% of organizations continue to rely on typical post-event satisfaction polls to gauge effectiveness. Yet others do employ best practices that go far beyond these. These include:
- Tying events to revenue growth (41%)
- Linking them to sales conversion rates (27%)
- Tracking client engagement scores as a direct outcome of events (37%)
- Measuring employee retention and satisfaction gains (31%)
- Tracking partnership and deal closure rates (nearly 20%)
“These are not soft metrics. Revenue growth, sales conversions and deal closures are the language of the C-suite,” Chaulet notes. “The organizations that have invested in connecting their event data to business outcomes are building the case for continued and increased investment. The question is why more have not followed suit.”
Companies Continue to Invest in Human Connection
Even as the measurement infrastructure catches up, the survey affirms that investment signals are strong. Three in four respondents (74%) expect their events budgets to stay the same or increase, including 35% anticipating moderate growth, despite persistent cost pressures across venue and hotel rates (cited by 68%), food and beverage (58%), general inflation (44%) and airfare (41%).
“That companies are making and protecting these investments speaks to a deep organizational confidence that in-person connection delivers,” Chaulet says.
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Attendee demand supports the picture. More than a third of planners (36%) are seeing attendance increase compared to previous years, and 44% report stable numbers, evidence that appetite for in-person engagement remains strong.
“This data confirms what we see across the industry: Companies deeply believe in the power of bringing people together, and they are backing that belief with real investment,” Chaulet concludes. “The next step is giving planners the tools and frameworks to translate that belief into measurable proof. The organizations that can show their leadership exactly what a meeting or incentive program delivered—in revenue, in retention, in relationships—will be the ones that earn bigger budgets and stronger seats at the table.”
