“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams
This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite Founding Fathers. It's a quote that I try to live by in both my professional and personal lives. It helps me remember that my emotions or beliefs are not enough sell an idea to my superiors, or to convince me that my bank account balance is sufficient to purchase that new guitar I want.
For example, when I wanted to incorporate a comic strip into our content strategy, I thought it was a cool idea, but that wasn't enough. I had to gather tons of facts and statistics to make a business case for it. (Luckily the facts bore out in my favor and I was given the go ahead to test this project.)
Event managers are confronted with the same reality when making decisions for their future events.
Each year the event market changes, sometimes for good and other times not so good. Flight and hotel prices fluctuate, new event technologies spring onto the scene, and other technologies get updated or become obsolete.
To help you stay in the know, I've compiled a list of ten important statistics that will help every event manager prepare for the rest of 2017 and into next year.
1. Air travel has never been less expensive, with some flights in 2017 seeing an 89% decrease in price since 1974. (Source: The Washington Post)
2. The top three most popular event management software products are: Eventbrite, Cvent, and Eventzilla. (Source: Capterra)
3. The typical cost of hiring a full service event planner accounts for 15-20% of the total event budget. (Source: Cost Helper)
4. Social media is the most effective way to spread the word about an in-person event (Source: Marketing Charts)
5. 67% of live video viewers are more likely to attend an event similar to one they watched (Source: Livestream)
6. As of June of 2016, the event ticket sales market had seen a 4.8% increase since 2011. (Source: IBIS World)
7. On average, 46% of total event revenue comes from registration/ticket sales. (Source: Planning Pod)
8. 71% of all ticket purchases are made online. (Source: Bizzabo)
9. The average daily hotel rate has increased from $126.14 in June 2016 to $129.12 in June 2017. (Source: Statista)
Average daily hotel rates (Source: Statista)
10. 74% of product or service users become regular customers after an “experiential" marketing event. (Source: EventTrack)
Other important trends for event managers
We don't only deal in statistics on the Capterra event management blog. We also help you plan your events, choose the best event management software, and explore new event planning trends sweeping the market.
Here are a few posts to help you learn more about the event management market: