As we navigate an already volatile year, it's time to uncover the meetings and event trends shaping 2025. For the February and March 2025 editions of the Northstar/Cvent Meetings Industry PULSE Survey, we surveyed over 1,300 event professionals to get a firsthand understanding of the industry's trending pain points.
In this post, we’ll explore the latest survey findings and share actionable insights to help event professionals like you adapt and optimize your event strategies. Whether you’re organizing a corporate conference or an intimate social gathering, you’ll find ideas to help you overcome these uncertain times and create truly memorable experiences.
Industry Insights Shaping 2025 Meeting Trends
As expected, event costs remain a top concern for meetings industry professionals. As the global economic and political landscape shifts into rocky territory, planners are feeling less optimistic about the state of their event programs.
Still, planners and their organizations recognize the value of events in achieving business goals, and a clear preference for in-person events remains, even as anticipated attendance rates decline.
Another bright spot? Suppliers are doing all they can to meet event professionals where they are, making improvements in areas previously identified as key pain points by planners. Let’s explore these trends in more detail to see how planners are managing new challenges and building more flexibility into their event programs.
Economic Outlook and Global Politics Shape Planner's Concerns
Global politics are creating new challenges for planners, with 61% saying they have been impacted by political, economic, or social changes. Of those, 65% say the economic outlook is the biggest factor negatively impacting their meetings and events programs.
In our December survey,58% of planners reported organizing meetings with a maximum of 100 attendees, and 26% of pIt’s not the economy alone that’s working against planners. They’re also up against major geopolitical headwinds. According to our latest survey, 63% of EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) planners are less likely to produce events in the US. This represents a pointed and swift decline from sentiment in January, when 54% of planners said they were actively sourcing or researching events in the US.
Possibly due to this anticipated decline in international and government participants, planners are less bullish in their attendance estimates for the year. Back in October, 39% expected growth in 2025 event attendance. That number has now dropped to 29%.
Unfortunately, these new challenges have dampened planners’ spirits, with 52% saying they’re less optimistic than they were two months ago. This is the first time pessimism has won out in our surveys since the pandemic ended, and it represents a 29% increase in pessimism since January.
Organizations Still Believe in the Power of Events
Despite the many challenges planners are facing, they (and their organizations) still believe in the power of events to drive business outcomes. A staggering 79% of planners say in-person events are significantly or somewhat more valuable to their organizations than other sales and marketing initiatives, and 63% say they are more valuable than before the pandemic.
Organizations clearly understand the value of events, and while planners are balancing very real socioeconomic challenges, their event programs appear to be going strong. In fact, 68% of planners say they are actively booking or sourcing new in-person events, up 2% from last year. Meanwhile, only 4% say they are not sourcing new events, a 2% drop from the same time frame.
What’s more, while global politics might impact attendance from international contingencies, planners are doing what they can to stay true to their organizations’ goals and priorities, despite changes happening in government.
As many organizations are revisiting DEI policies, 44% of planners say they’re making no changes to their DEI policies. Moreover, 23% say they are more committed to DEI in their event planning than previously.
While the many challenges planners face are impacting their optimism this year, it’s not stopping them from pushing forward and making the most of their event programs where they can.
Planners Face Fewer Challenges with Venues and Suppliers
One of the most notable improvements in the industry is that planners are facing fewer challenges with hotels and venues, including:
- Supplier responsiveness to RFPs: Only 31% of planners now report that hotels and venues are slow to respond to RFPs, a significant drop from 47% last year. In fact, 52% of planners say hotels are responding to RFPs in 4 days or less.
- Staffing adequacy: Just 35% say staffing at hotels and venues is inadequate, down from a staggering 54% last year.
- Availability of space and dates: Venues are getting easier to find on the dates planners want, with only 34% expressing sourcing difficulties compared to 46% last year.
- Small improvements to cost: While 70% of planners said higher accommodation rates were a challenge this time last year, that number has declined to 63% as of March.
While difficulties remain, it’s heartening to see suppliers doing their best to improve partnerships and offer the level of service planners expect.
Adapting to Rising Costs: The Trend Toward Curated, Smaller Meetings
There’s no denying that the value of in-person events has increased, but so too have the associated costs. Higher costs are still planners’ number one concern, ranking this factor 4.3 out of 5 on a scale of 1 to 5. And worries over budget constraints follow closely behind, ranking 4.09 out of 5.
As of March, 56% of planners say their event programs have been impacted by funding cuts. It’s not surprising that the top three biggest headaches for planners working with hotels and venues are all related to the cost of services.
Planners said food and beverage costs are higher than expected (69%), in addition to higher accommodation rates (63%) and higher-than-expected A/V costs. To counteract these cost and budget challenges, there has been a consistent trend toward smaller, simple meetings.
In our December survey, 58% of planners reported organizing meetings with a maximum of 100 attendees, and 26% said they were shifting to more regional and local events to minimize travel expenses. Notably, the February 2025 report shows that 52% of planners expected to host more meetings in 2025 than in 2024.
Now, as planners grapple with an expected drop in attendance, coupled with cost and economic concerns, small, simple meetings are likely to remain a popular way to maximize event impact and savings.
This trend underscores the enduring significance of in-person gatherings, even on a smaller scale, as planners strive to balance meaningful connections with today's economic realities.
How Event Tech is Helping Planners Navigate Uncertainty
While today’s challenges might be unique, the need for an adaptable, risk-conscious events program is not. Our industry has weathered many storms of late, and the best way for planners to create more resilient and cost-effective events is by making the most of their event tech stack.
Planners can do so much with a single event management platform, from managing all their event management and marketing data in one place to tracking budgeting, contract negotiations, and supplier communications. This visibility across all meetings and events allows planners to make informed decisions about how they’re spending their time and money, identify potential risks and opportunities for cost savings, and pivot when necessary.
Here are just a few ways event tech can help planners maintain successful event programs during turbulent periods:
4 Tips to make events more flexible
If your events are struggling amidst cost constraints and shifting priorities, consider these strategies for achieving adaptability:
- Dig into past event reports to track ROI data and assess which meetings and events are most successful and where you might find opportunities to save.
- Manage all your events, no matter the size or format, in one platform. This makes it seamless to shift when necessary, including changing an in-person event to a virtual format without rebuilding the entire event or sourcing a separate virtual event platform. Need to postpone or cancel an event? Understand the financial implications of canceling, quickly close and refund registrations, and manage contract cancellations.
- If, like many planners, you’re anticipating a dip in attendance at your events, it’s imperative that you attract the right attendees who will bring the most value to your events. To do this, you’ll need event marketing tech that tracks event performance and allows attendee engagement and marketing data to flow seamlessly between your integrated event platform and marketing and sales software.
- Use an event app to manage attendee communications in case of last-minute changes. Send push notifications so your registrants and attendees never miss a thing.
4 Tips to improve event RFP response times
If you’re looking to improve RFP response times from suppliers and venues, consider these strategies:
- Use a centralized venue sourcing platform to connect with the right global hotels and venues that match your events' size, scope, and goals.
- When sending out your RFPs, consider reaching out to multiple venues at once to increase the chances of receiving a timely response (and so you can make a decision quickly once you have your RFP responses in hand). To simplify this, send all your RFPs from one platform so you can easily compare and choose the best option!
- Provide specific details about your event in each RFP, such as the date(s) and time(s), number of attendees, room types needed, and any special requirements or preferences. This helps venues understand your needs and respond quickly with options that meet your criteria. Including more details in your RFP from the start will also help you spend less time going back and forth to make sure you’ve addressed everything you need.
- Foster relationships with venue contacts to establish a rapport and streamline future communication.
5 Tips to help planners cut venue costs
While the event venue can eat up a large portion of a planner’s budget, and planners consistently rate cost as the most important factor in their site selection, there are ways to help cut venue costs.
If cost savings are high on your list of priorities, here are a few tips to help you cut costs on your venue:
- Begin your search with tools like free-to-use venue-sourcing software, which allows you to take full control of the sourcing process for events of any size and location.
- Pairing this with free-to-use diagramming software further enhances event design and attendee management, helping planners stay efficient and innovative while saving money on site visits. Collaborative tools like these streamline workflows by keeping critical event data accessible for stakeholders.
- Site visits can quickly eat up your venue budget. To help save time and money, consider taking a virtual tour of any venue in the world with the help of Photo-Realistic 3D Technology. Explore unique spaces from outdoor beaches to grand ballrooms, and easily check out a venue’s profile, view their 3D floorplans, and even send RFPs when you’ve found venues of interest.
- If your ideal destination is outside your budget, consider looking beyond popular locations and exploring emerging or up-and-coming locations to find less expensive (though still exciting) destinations. These destinations may offer lower prices for venues and accommodations while still providing a unique and attractive experience for attendees. When in doubt, a destination management company (DMC) or DMO can help you identify and manage attractions at a destination that’s new to you. You can find these valuable partners with the help of a dedicated vendor marketplace.
- To find lower-priced venues, think about non-traditional event spaces such as community centers, public parks, and cultural institutions. These spaces often have lower rental fees than hotels and convention centers and can provide a unique and memorable experience for attendees.
In today’s ever-evolving landscape, embracing technology and the right tools is essential. With the right solutions, planners can navigate the complexities of modern event management, overcome rising cost challenges, and deliver successful, memorable experiences.
The real impact of AI: still on the horizon
One of the most intriguing trends to watch in 2025 will be the evolving role of AI in the events industry. While the latest PULSE survey indicates that AI's impact on planning has been modest so far—only 37% of respondents said it has sped up certain processes—its broader influence remains limited.
Still, there’s a sense of optimism: 29% of respondents expressed excitement about AI's potential to improve event planning and execution. Could 2025 bring game-changing advancements?
Cvent’s tools are already harnessing AI to revolutionize event planning, offering features like the Cvent AI Writing Assistant, tailored vendor suggestions, efficient venue sourcing, and advanced event setup diagramming. The possibilities are endless, and 2025 could unveil even more ways AI will transform how we plan and execute events.
Meetings Industry Wrap-up
Despite continued cost concerns and increasing economic uncertainty, one thing is still true for planners everywhere: events are still worth the expense. Organizations understand the power of events as a marketing channel and a means of bringing people together to form important relationships.
Even if it means hosting fewer attendees and working with smaller budgets, planners are steadfast in their refusal to compromise their event programs and are finding creative ways to forge ahead. From investing in time- and cost-saving event tech to hosting smaller events at unique venues, planners’ dedication to in-person experiences underscores the industry’s unwavering focus on creating meaningful, impactful moments for attendees.
With a turbulent outlook forecasted for 2025, Cvent is here to help you navigate these challenges, refine your strategies, and build a stronger total event program. Together, we’ll work smarter—not harder—to save time and effort while ensuring your events continue to inspire and succeed.
Want a closer look at these trends? Check out the latest Northstar/Cvent Meetings Industry PULSE Survey, and stay tuned for our next PULSE Survey recap!
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