Benchmarking Events
Benchmarking Events: Beyond Global Averages to Regional, Client Sector, and Event-Type Insights
In the dynamic world of event planning, understanding how your event measures up is more than a reporting requirement, it’s a crucial and strategic advantage. While global benchmarks can offer a broad sense of progress, they rarely provide the depth and relevance needed to drive meaningful improvements.
At event:decision, we believe the real value lies in going deeper. Benchmarking your events not just globally, but regionally, by client sector, and by event type. That’s where insight becomes action.
Why Broader Benchmarking Matters
Global averages can be useful as a directional indicator, but they often mask critical differences. For example, sustainability practices in the UK & European conference market differs markedly from those in the US, in travel behaviour alone. Similarly, a tech industry exhibition can have different social considerations compared, say, to a healthcare congress.
When you rely solely on global data, you risk:
- Drawing the wrong conclusions from incomplete context
- Misidentifying underperformance or overachievement
- Missing sector-specific opportunities for improvement
That’s why we’ve built the Impact: Responsible Event Review tool to go far beyond one-size-fits-all.
Read more on the Impact Q1 2024 event industry sustainability performance update here.
event:decision’s Comprehensive Approach
event:decision’s Impact: Responsible Event Review tool empowers planners to assess their events across the full ESG spectrum – environmental, social, and governance – using a data-rich benchmarking model, beyond just providing global benchmark, the tool enables comparisons and is built for relevance.
✔By Region
Understand how events in your geographical market perform, accounting for factors like:
- Local travel infrastructure and behaviours
- Regional regulations and compliance norms
- Cultural expectations around responsibility and engagement
✔ By Client Sector
Benchmark against peers within your industry. This helps event teams:
- Stay aligned with industry norms and client expectations
- Maintain competitiveness and authenticity
- Respond to sector-specific ESG demands
✔ By Event Type
Not all events are created equal. Comparing a sustainability forum to a product launch, or a virtual leadership summit to an in-person expo, delivers little of practical value.
- Our benchmarking framework provides context-specific insight that recognises the operational and strategic nuances of different event formats.
Tailored Insights for Meaningful Improvements
A more nuanced benchmarking approach ensures that event planners receive relevant data, leading to more effective strategies. For example, if social factors are lagging in your sector, targeted initiatives can be developed to address this gap.
Let’s say your event’s environmental performance is strong, but your social engagement metrics are lagging behind others in your sector. That’s a targeted improvement area you can address with focused strategy, not guesswork.
And if that’s not enough: As you complete your Impact Review, you’ll see real-time guidance on how many of your peers are already actioning each factor, and even discover curated sustainable suppliers directly linked to each improvement opportunity.
Empowering Responsible Event Delivery
Moving beyond global averages means moving towards better decisions. By framing your benchmarks in the right context; region, sector, and event type – you get more than numbers. You get clarity, direction, and credibility to plan and deliver more responsible and sustainable events.
event:decision’s Impact: Responsible Event Reviews not only help you understand where you are, but also guide where to go next – with transparency, meaning and insight at every step.
Ready to See How Your Event Stacks Up?
If you’re still benchmarking against global norms, you might be missing critical insights.
Explore how Impact can reveal specific, actionable insights and opportunities for your next event.
