INDIA EDITION

2020
THE EVENT
INDUSTRY REPORT
Insights into the state of the
meetings and events industry
t

2 | The Event Industry Report 2020

W H AT ’S I N S I D E

The Speed Read 03 Event Technology Best Practices 20

The Event Landscape 04 Why we did this survey? 23

The Event Management Process 07 Survey Method 24

• Venue Sourcing and Event Marketing 09 About Cvent 25

• Registration and Check-In 10

• Onsite Engagement and Communication 12

• Tracking and Collecting Event Data 13

• Proving Return on Investment 16

The Rise and Rise of Event Tech 18

3 | The Event Industry Report 2020
THE SPEED READ
In our survey, we asked event professionals in India to share
details about the events they plan and execute, the key
challenges they face during event management, and the role
manual processes and event tech play in their day-to-day work.
What we found was that despite the evolution of technology
and shifting attendee expectations that continue to redefine
trends in the event industry, the problems faced by event
planners and marketers continue to remain the same – from
challenges in proving event ROI to dealing with inefficiencies in
manual processes.
Here are the key findings from our research
covering event budgeting, planning, marketing,
reporting/ROI, and event technology:
66% of respondents expect their event budget to
increase in 2020, while 29% said it would remain the
same. This is a positive sign for event professionals in
the region and shows how organisations recognise the
pivotal role events play in bringing in the business.
Unsurprisingly, 63% of respondents cited ROI to
be the most influential factor behind their event
decisions. However, 38% respondents also stated
that proving ROI to decision makers was a big
challenge.
78% of event and marketing professionals are still
handling most of their tasks using manual tools such as
Excel spreadsheets, emails etc. We expect this number
to go down as 67% of respondents say they are open to
adopting specialised technology for event management in
the future.
 4 | The Event Industry Report 2020

THE EVENT LANDSCAPE

With 94% respondents hosting more than 10 events in a year, live events continue to be an
important part of the marketing mix for a majority of organisations in India. Nearly half the
organisations host
It is impossible to deny the power of face-to-face interaction that occurs in these events.
Live events aid in creating a compelling brand narrative and adding a personal touch, which anywhere up to 500
helps effectively convey the value proposition and get more lead building opportunities. attendees every year.

Number of meetings and events hosted Number of attendees hosted in a year

annually by organisations in India

7.1% 7.1% 18.2% 10.7%

6.0%
1–10 (0%) 1–100
11–50 101–500
29.8% 51–100 501–1,000
21.5% 26.4%
101–500 1,001–5,000
500+ 5,001 - 10,000
I don't know
50.0%
23.1%
5 | The Event Industry Report 2020

Will organisations in India increase Which are the most popular

their meetings & events budget in 2020? events hosted by organisations?

Conferences and trade shows came out to be the most

popular meeting and event types hosted in India.
66% 5% 29%

Increase Decrease Same

Internal Meetings
21.2% Conference/Trade show 18.2%
& Events

29% of respondents said their event budget would stay the

same in 2020. With spending plans facing limited year-to-
year growth, event professionals must continually look for
new ways to innovate with the same budget to keep up with 17.7% Training/Workshop 16.8% Sales Events/Roadshows

changing attendee expectations.

15.8% Seminar/Webinar 6.6% Incentive/Retreat

2.8% Fundraiser/ Gala 0.9% Other

 6 | The Event Industry Report 2020

Top priorities for organisations

managing events in 2020
and beyond

1 Increase Attendence (Leads)

Getting more leads and
brand awareness are the
2 Brand Awareness
top priorities in 2020.
3 Increase Revenue

Increase in revenue also comes high

4 Reduce Cost
on the list. This shows that for most
organisations the primary focus
5 Improve Efficiency with respect to their events program
continues to be business growth,
closely followed by brand visibility.
6 Retain Customers & Upsell/Cross-Sell

7 Increase Attendee Satisfaction

7 | The Event Industry Report 2020

THE EVENT
MANAGEMENT PROCESS The most time-consuming tasks
in event planning

How are organisations handling event management processes? 1 Creating event content and agenda

2 Event Budgeting

16.2%
5.9%
3 Event Promotion
Manually (includes
spreadsheets, email etc.)
Using multiple software
solutions
Using an integrated platform
In terms of hours spent, planners in India find
creating event content and agenda to be the
task that takes up most of their time, followed
by planning their event budget and promoting
77.9%
their event.

This is an area where event professionals can

use technology to alleviate their event planning
pains by automating and streamlining their
While manual processes continue to be the mainstay in
tasks. A study by Frost & Sullivan* shows that
event planning, 22% of event professionals in India are
organisations are likely to see a 27% increase
using tech in some form.
in productivity once they deploy event tech to
carry out their event management tasks.
The continued dependence on manual tasks in event
management suggests plenty of opportunities to onboard
event technology in India.
* Frost & Sullivan, A Survey of Meeting and Event Planning
Professionals and Hotel Operators, 2013
 8 | The Event Industry Report 2020

TOP CHALLENGES FACED DURING PLANNING Most meeting and event professionals find
AND EXECUTION OF EVENTS proving return on investment (ROI) and event
budgeting to be the top challenges of the event
planning and execution process. Since these
are tasks that involve constant data collation
from various sources, working on multiple
spreadsheets, and generating different reports,
it is evident where the struggle lies. With over
3/4th of event professionals still being dependent
on manual tasks for event management, these
challenges are expected to remain for now.
However, this number is expected to gradually
decline in the coming years as more and more
event professionals become aware of the benefits
of event management software and how it can
Proving ROI 1 completely transform their event
planning process.
Event Budgeting 2

Attendee Engagement & Networking 3

Event Promotion 4

Reporting & Data Analysis 5

Full Event Program Visibility 6

Venue Selection 7
 9 | The Event Industry Report 2020
VENUE SOURCING AND
MARKETING CHANNELS
EMPLOYED BY
EVENT PROFESSIONALS
Most commonly used marketing channels
for promoting events
1 Email Marketing
2 Social Media Marketing
3 Digital Marketing
Email marketing remains a popular mode for
event promotion. However, event and marketing
professionals are also increasingly using their social
media channels and employing digital marketing
tactics to promote their events. This shows that
organisations are adapting themselves to the
changing behavioural pattern of attendees and how
they communicate with brands today.
How organisations select venues for their events
1.5%
16.9%
Existing relationships with venues
12.3%
Search engines (e.g. Google/Bing)
Hotel/venue webbsites
13.8%
Online venue directory (e.g. Cvent
Supplier Network 55.4%
Third party independent agencies
55% of the respondents mentioned their existing partnerships as a
key factor in finalising venues for their events and meetings. It shows
how event professionals in India continue to repose their faith in
tried and trusted relationships instead of exploring new
options online.
14% said they prefer to look for venues via Google or other search
engines like Bing, while only 1.5% preferred using an online venue
directory. This indicates a lack of awareness about the advantages
that professional venue sourcing platforms offer, such as ease of use,
cost and time savings, etc.
 10 | The Event Industry Report 2020

REGISTRATION AND CHECK-IN

The most popular tools for attendee registration

Email continues to be the most

Email
Walk-in registration
Simple online form
MS Excel/pdf 15.1%
Event registration software 12.2%
33.8%
favoured tool for registering
attendees, again underpinning the
19.4% dependence of event professionals
on manual processes, especially for
basic event tasks.
17.3%
However, 12% of respondents
stated they are using event
registration software to register
attendees, indicating some tech
adoption in this aspect of event
management.

Other 2.2%
 11 | The Event Industry Report 2020

How attendees are being checked in at events

Since most organisations are still largely dependent

on manual processes, it comes as no surprise that
1.5% 59% of event professionals check in attendees
15.2%
manually at their events. An encouraging fact is
that 39% of respondents have moved away from
24.2% manual methods and are instead opting to use
online event software and barcode scanners to
Manually on paper/Excel spreadsheet
check in attendees.
Barcoding scanning
Online event check-insSoftware
Other When it comes to registration and check-in, which
are the first event touch points for attendees,
things are still mostly manual. For event
59.1% professionals, this presents a potential opportunity
5% to explore onsite registration software and ensure
smooth check-ins, eliminate queues and provide
personalised, immersive experiences.

Manually on paper/Excel spreadsheet

Barcoding scanning
Online event check-insSoftware
Other
 12 | The Event Industry Report 2020

ONSITE ENGAGEMENT
AND COMMUNICATION

How organisations are communicating

Tools and tactics used for engaging with attendees onsite
information to attendees onsite

Printed
0.5% Materials
14.7% (such as agendas
14.7% Live Entertainment & brochures)
Email
Mobile Event App 1
Event website
Gamification 2
Announcements
14.7% 23.4%
Interactive Polls /Emcee 3

Attendee Messaging & Networking 4

Social Media Display

14.1% 6.5%
11.4% Second Screen Presentations

Other Another result from the survey is the dominant use

Live entertainment came out as the most preferred choice for
keeping attendees engaged onsite, followed by attendee messaging &
networking, social media displays and second screen presentations.
of printed materials and emails to communicate
with attendees onsite, with event website and
announcements coming third and fourth.

Seeing these results, it seems that the adoption of mobile event apps is in a fairly nascent stage in India.
Event apps nowadays come with specialised features that are designed to provide attendees with rich
engagement opportunities and key content before, during, and after the event, all with a push of a button.
All this makes mobile apps a far better alternative for engagement and onsite communication.
13 | The Event Industry Report 2020

TRACKING AND COLLECTING

EVENT DATA

Event planners and marketers in India realise the importance of event data and the role it plays in creating successful events.
This is underlined by the fact that 54% of the respondents stated they were using event technology such as badge scanners, self-
service kiosks, event apps, beacons and RFID to collect attendee data.

How are organisations tracking attendee behaviour data at events?

However, 9% respondents are still

not tracking session attendance.
This means they are missing out
on crucial data that could provide
them the insights to improve future
events and attendee engagement. A
major reason behind this behaviour
could be lack of awareness about 36.8%
event technology and possibly
the inability or unwillingness to
transition from manual processes. 20.8%
It also presents an opportunity for
event software providers to ramp up 13.2%
9.4% 9.4% 9.4%
their brand awareness activities in
0.9%
order to encourage more adoption
in the region. Manually Badge scanners Attendee self- Mobile app RFID Beacons I don't track
(such as paper (such as QR service kiosk check-in (Radio session
sign-in sheets, codes and Frequency attendence
event passport barcodes) Identification
booklet, MS Technology)
Excel etc.)
 14 | The Event Industry Report 2020

98% of respondents from

How are organisations collecting event feedback from attendees?
India are collecting feedback
from their attendees
using a mixture of digital
and manual tools. Given
that digital methods can
ensure more efficiency in
data collection over paper
surveys, the trend of using 31.0%

technology to collect 23.2%

16.2%
feedback at events will most
likely continue to rise. 9.2%
7.7% 7.7%
0.7%
2.1% 2.1%

Email Paper Online Social media Mobile app Polls Focus group I don't Other
surveys survey surveys collect
software attendee
feedback
15 | The Event Industry Report 2020

How data gathered from attendees is used?

To improve the onsite To improve the attendee

execution and attendee 15.8% 20.6% experience at future events
experience at current event

To improve the budgeting To improve the planning &

of future events 13% 16.2% execution of future events

To prove ROI 14.2% 11.7% To provide sales insights

To tailor post-event marketing

8.5% and communications

Nearly half the respondents

Only 16% use the data gathered at an event to improve the onsite execution
use the data they gather from
and attendee experience of that event itself. Very few event professionals
attendees to make their future
realise that with the right tech they can gather real-time insights about their
events better – be it for improving
event and take immediate actions to improve that event.
attendee experience, planning &
execution or budgeting.
 16 | The Event Industry Report 2020

PROVING RETURN
Factors influencing event decisions
ON INVESTMENT

10.5%
5.3%
5.3%

Despite ROI being the most important Brand development

15.8%
factor behind event decision making, Return on investment

Attendee experience
53% of total respondents are either
Customer retention
clueless about or have trouble proving Budget

their event ROI. 63.2%

Do event planners face issues while proving event ROI?

15.6%
I have trouble proving events
ROI

46.9% I do not have trouble proving

event ROI
37.5%

I don't know
17 | The Event Industry Report 2020

Which metrics are commonly

used to prove event ROI? Common challenges faced while proving event ROI

Attendance (leads generated) 18.1%

I'm unable to track metrics

Revenue generated 15.6% 16.7%
due to manual processes
4.2%
Attendee satisfaction 15.2%
It's time-consuming due to
using multiple systems
Sales acceleration 13.1%
29.2% Lack of resources
Brand awareness 12.2%

Other
Customer retention 11.4%

50.0%
Customer upsell/cross-sell 7.2%

Cost saving & cost avoidance 6.8%

Other 0.4%

The most commonly cited problem with proving ROI is

18% of organisations are measuring their event being unable to capture key performance metrics due
ROI based on the attendance captured (or leads to manual processes.
generated), followed by 16% depending on revenue
generation. Meanwhile, 15% of respondents view This challenge can be addressed with the
attendee satisfaction to be an important measure adoption of integrated event technology platform.
of event ROI. This indicates that while getting quality
leads and revenue are important factors in assessing
the success of an event, focusing on attendee
satisfaction also remains a priority. This hints at
potential opportunities to onboard event planning
software through which one can create and scale
rich, personalised attendee experiences.
 18 | The Event Industry Report 2020

THE RISE AND RISE

OF EVENT TECH

Are event planners open to adopting event tech to

As technology continues to evolve at a
manage their events?
dizzying pace, the potential for new tech
solutions to streamline and enhance the
event planning lifecycle is broadening.

Around 2/3rd respondents from India

are willing to adopt event management
67.2% Yes
tech solutions as they see the value
that technology can bring to their
event management processes. Event
professionals are also increasingly
26.6% No
becoming aware of the different event
technology available out there that are
designed to help improve the attendee
experience. I am already using
6.3% event technology
 19 | The Event Industry Report 2020

Are organisations open to using futuristic

technologies for their events?
A whopping 75% of event planners
and marketers in India seem open to
the possibility of bringing futuristic 14.5%
10.8%
technologies to the table to enhance
traditional event content.
Yes
No
23% respondents indicated they would Not sure

consider using artificial intelligence (AI)

at their events. 34% of respondents said 74.7%
they would use augmented and virtual
reality, and 15% indicated they would
potentially use gamification tools at their
future meetings and events.
What type of futuristic technologies are organisations
keen to explore for their events?

This is indicative of the positive mindset

Artificial intelligence 23.3%
held by event management professionals
when it comes to event technology. Augmented reality 18.0%

Organisations are constantly trying to

Virtual reality 15.9%
inject innovation into their events and are
more willing to invest in technology that Event gamification 14.8%

can help with that. Event diagramming 14.3%

Facial recognition 13.2%

Other 0.5%

EVENT TECHNOLOGY
BEST PRACTICES
The event industry landscape is changing at an
accelerated pace. We live in an increasingly mobile-
first, digitised society and attendee expectations have
also shifted accordingly. Today, there is a growing
need among event planners and marketers to use
event management software in live events like
conferences, trade shows, seminars and exhibitions to:
Create richer, personalised experiences
Boost brand presence and expand customer base
Capture actionable business insights
Improve efficiency, save costs, boost ROI
20 | The Event Industry Report 2020
According to market forecasts, the global event
management software market is expected
to witness rapid growth over the next five
years. Despite this surge in growth, many
event planners continue to depend on manual
processes and systems to manage and execute
their events. There are numerous reasons
for this:
• Misconceptions about event management
software being too complex to implement.
• Lack of awareness about the benefits offered
by event software such as ease of use,
personalised attendee experiences, better
lead generation, streamlined reporting and
feedback.
• Scepticism about the ROI from event
management software.
21 | The Event Industry Report 2020
To dispel any misconceptions and preconceived notions around event management software, here are Cvent’s recommended best
practices around event tech and how they can be used to level up every aspect of your event:
Selecting venues
The venue you select is critical to your
event’s overall success. Along with
the theme, ambience and space, you
also need to keep in mind the overall
costs while locking down on a venue.
Most event planners play it safe by
relying on existing relationships with
hotel chains, or by doing a perfunctory
search on the web. Very few utilise
online venue sourcing directories
that offer a plethora of beautiful and
cost-effective destinations suitable for
different kinds of events. Not only will
you get more options that align with the
theme and purpose of your event, the
entire process of shortlisting a venue
– managing bids, checking availability,
building eRFPs and tracking your
meeting spend – becomes much easier.
Event registration and marketing
Unless you have cracked the code to
successful registration and marketing,
all your efforts to create a great
event will go for a toss. For any event
to be amazing, you need to have a
high attendee rate. And not just any
attendee will do; you want the relevant,
qualified ones who will boost your
business. Scanning through endless
lists of prospects and shortlisting
which ones to invite can turn into
a perpetual nightmare if you don’t
have a comprehensive registration
solution in place. From helping you
build a branded website for your event
from scratch, managing registrations
with ease, and collating and tracking
registrant data, to providing smooth,
customised attendee paths, and
scaling successful events through
easy replication, there are numerous
benefits provided by event
registration software.
Onsite engagement
Attendees nowadays demand seamless
check-in experiences, customised
interactions at every touch point, and
experiential encounters that they can
share on their social channels. These
encounters and interactions are also a
gold mine for valuable attendee data,
which can be tracked and analysed to
create better events in the future. To
get your onsite engagement game on
point, it is highly recommended to adopt
a solution that maximises attendee
engagement from the get-go and
helps you:
• Create smooth check-in and badging
process at the venue.
• Develop more personalised and
engaging experiences through
mobile apps.
• Capture hot leads and ensure brand
outreach by generating enough social
media buzz.

Cross-platform integration
All your tools and processes should
be integrated with your marketing
automation or CRM systems. This
helps in the seamless flow of attendee
data — captured before, during and
after the event — among different
systems, which provides critical insights
to further improve the attendee
experience and drive ROI. If the data
remains in silos, it remains isolated,
cluttered and difficult to act upon. By
the time you collate, clean and process
these leads, it is too late to pass them
to sales. Hot leads turn cold. With an
integrated platform in place, you can
bring together the disparate data and
fragmented tech solutions to create a
unified platform with all applications
working in tandem.
Understand your event ROI
After all the hard work that you’ve put
in your events, it’s time to measure
and prove its real impact through
defined, quantifiable metrics. For event
professionals, this requires thinking
beyond their never-ending list of day-
to-day tasks to track the right data
that defines their ROI. To calculate
the ROI of your event, you need to
compare your targeted vs actual goals
by analysing different types of event
metrics. For instance:
• Targeted attendance increase vs.
average actual attendance increases
• How many new prospects were
added in the sales funnel
• Revenue generated – event
registration fee, sponsorship revenue
22 | The Event Industry Report 2020
• Average mobile app download rate
for conferences/trade shows, app
activity feed
• Social media reach, trending
hashtags, brand buzz
Digitising your event allows you to
measure and optimise your live events
by giving you access to such metrics.
Once you have the ability to visualise
that data, you can recognise patterns
and, consequently, make smarter
decisions. Having all this consolidated
data present in one place will also
allow you to prove the value of your
events and demonstrate your events’
contribution to your organisation’s
bottom line.
23 | The Event Industry Report 2020
WHY WE DID
THIS SURVEY?
Over the past decade, the meetings and
events industry has witnessed remarkable
growth, propelled by factors such as
rise of social media, demand for tailor-
made experiences, and increased use
of technology for large-scale events like
conferences, conventions and seminars.
As the industry continues to evolve,
there has been a growing effort to bring
advanced technologies such as virtual
and augmented reality, facial recognition,
multi-use apps, and geofencing to the
mainstream.
With these shifting trends, some pertinent
questions arise: Are event professionals
abreast with the new trends and
technologies that are shaping up modern
events today? How much do they have to
depend on manual processes? And what
event management practices are they
following to create successful events?
We attempted to answer these
questions by putting together a
report that gathers industry-wide
data to check the pulse of the
industry and catch a glimpse of
the shifting trends. With this study,
we take an initial look at the event
management practices employed by
event and marketing professionals
across India.
We sincerely thank all survey
participants who took the time
out to complete our in-depth
survey questionnaire.
We hope you found the report
insightful and actionable.
 24 | The Event Industry Report 2020

SURVEY METHOD
Respondent Profile By Org Type

The data from this study is part of a larger survey conducted

Association & NPO
across 31 countries from Asia Pacific and Africa.
We surveyed over 400 event and marketing professionals 11% 15%
(including executives). 12%
Corporation

The survey was conducted from 30 July 2019 to 23 September

2019.   6% Educational Institution &
Government
Of the total respondents, 136 are from India. For this report, we
have referred to the data obtained from Indian respondents. Third Party Planner/Event
56%
Agency/Professional
Conference Organiser
Note: For ease of readability, some figures in this report have been rounded
Other
up or down to the nearest whole number.

Respondent Profile By Region Respondent Profile By Role

Respondent Profile By Region

4%
18%
Asia*
27% 22% Marketers involved exclusively in
India event marketing

Au
ANZ Marketers involved in both planning
and marketing of events
MEA 21%
57% Planners
22% 29%

Executives (Such as VP, SVP, C-Suite)

*Asia excludes India & Middle-East

 25 | The Event Industry Report 2020

ABOUT CVENT

CVENT is a leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider with more than 4,300 employees, 27,000
customers, and 300,000 users worldwide. The Cvent Event Cloud offers software solutions to event planners and
marketers for online event registration, venue selection, event management and marketing, onsite solutions, and attendee
engagement. Cvent’s suite of products automate and simplify the planning process to maximise the impact of events.

The Cvent Hospitality Cloud partners with hotels and venues to help them drive MICE and corporate travel business. Hotels
use the Cvent Hospitality Cloud’s digital marketing tools and software solutions to win business through Cvent’s sourcing
platforms and to service their customers directly, efficiently and profitably – helping them grow and own their business.

Cvent solutions optimise the entire event management value chain and have enabled clients around the world to manage
millions of meetings and events.

For more information, please visit www.cvent.com/in

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