Skip navigation
2017-2018 forecast Photo by Eti Ammos / © Getty Images

Special Events Releases 2017-18 Corporate Event Forecast

Our latest corporate event forecast predict a little bump up for 2018

Every year, Special Events commissions a research study from Penton to forecast trends in the corporate event market, both for the current year and for the coming year.

This year's study for 2017-2018 shows:

  • The majority (64 percent) expect the number of corporate events staged in 2017 to remain about the same as their “typical” amount. One in four (29 percent) expect to stage more
  • Respondents anticipate slightly more growth in 2018; 40 percent expect to stage more corporate events in 2018, while 54 percent expect the number of corporate events to remain flat.
  • Roughly half of respondents (46 percent) report increased expenditures on corporate special events in 2017. Overall, the typical respondent organization increased spending an average 2.7 percent. Similarly, 46 percent expect increased expenditures in 2018, with an average increase of 2.3 percent.
  • While the majority of respondents (55 percent) expect to spend less than $500,000 on corporate events expenditures in 2017. The typical respondent reports average expenditures on corporate events will reach $1.6 million in 2017.
  • Over a third of respondents (38 percent) contract with independent event planners, and another 12 percent are considering doing so.

See the full story—including 10 years of look-back data—in the Summer issue of Special Events. Not a subscriber? We can fix that—just click here.

Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish