Research Outline

Growth in In-House Event Planning

Goals

To find data indicating that there has been a growing preference for hiring in-house corporate event planners versus outsourcing to external agencies.

Early Findings

  • No data points indicating the growing preference for in-house event planning among SMBs were found. However, we have provided insights that may be useful.
  • According to the BLS, there were 110,120 event planners in the United States in 2018.
  • The "industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation" are Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (9,130) ; Traveler Accommodation (8,830); Other Support Services (8,460) ; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6,530) ; and Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5,450).
  • In 2013, a 33.2% growth in the number of event planning jobs over the following 10 years was projected. The anticipated driver of growth was the need to bring together employees from different regions owing to increasing globalization (this suggests that companies would benefit from having an in-house planner who understands the company culture better).
  • Enterprises depend more on "in-house marketing operations (73%) and event planners (68%)" than event marketing agencies (38%).
  • In 2018, there was a 17% growth in the number of companies hosting 20+ events. On average, a company spends 5-8 weeks planning an event.
  • In 2018, there was a 32% increase in the number of marketers who thought that "events are the single-most effective marketing channel" in comparison to other media vehicles such as digital.
  • Successful businesses spent almost twice (1.7x) as much on events as average businesses in 2018.
  • According to a survey conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, for 93% of organizations events are a priority and for 57% they are high-priority.