Event Professionals Expect Event Costs to Rise in 2027 While Budgets Barely Grow, InEvent Research Shows

ATLANTA, Georgia, October, 2026 – As enterprise organizations finalize 2027 budgets, event teams are being asked to protect their most valuable channel while costs outpace spending growth. That is the picture from the State of Enterprise Events 2026 report by InEvent, the enterprise event management platform for in-person, hybrid, and virtual events. The report draws on survey responses from more than 2,000 event professionals across six industries and platform data from more than 50,000 events.

Budgets Are Growing, but Only a Little

67% of event professionals expect their event budgets to increase, but only 6.5% expect a significant increase. Meanwhile, 71% expect event costs to keep rising, and cost per attendee has already risen by about 6% year over year.

The result is a squeeze. Most teams will have slightly more money in 2027 and still be able to do less with it unless they change how events are planned and run.

In-Person Events Are Still the Channel Leadership Relies On

The pressure is not a sign that events matter less. The report found that 90.4% of respondents rate in-person events as very important, 78% call them their most impactful channel, and 52% attribute at least half of their closed-won deals to in-person experiences.

"Leadership isn't questioning whether events work. They're asking teams to prove it while every line item gets more expensive," said Pedro Góes, CEO and Co-Founder of InEvent. "The teams that walk into 2027 budget meetings in the strongest position are the ones who can connect each event to the pipeline and show where they've removed cost, not just where they need more."

Proving ROI Is Getting Easier for Teams With Connected Data

The share of professionals who struggle to demonstrate event ROI fell from 70% to 40% in one year, a shift the report links to investment in centralized event data and CRM integration. Attendance alone is no longer treated as proof of success; qualitative insight now carries more weight in executive decisions.

Three Priorities for Tighter Budgets

1. Fewer, better-connected tools. 88% of teams plan to invest in event technology, and many are replacing disconnected point solutions with one platform for registration, engagement, analytics, and CRM integration.

2. AI for repeatable work. 72% see AI as valuable or essential, and half already use AI in event planning, most often in marketing and data analysis.

3. Engagement that earns its cost. 39% name engagement as their single biggest challenge; stronger performers are investing in curated networking and year-round community rather than passive formats.

The full State of Enterprise Events 2026 report concludes with a ten-point playbook to help event leaders build more resilient, measurable event programs for 2027.

About the Research

The State of Enterprise Events 2026 report combines survey responses from more than 2,000 event professionals across six industries with platform intelligence from more than 50,000 events managed on InEvent.

About InEvent

InEvent is an enterprise event management platform for in-person, hybrid, virtual, and webinar experiences. Organizations worldwide use InEvent to manage event registration, websites, attendee communications, on-site check-in and badge printing, mobile event apps, engagement, analytics, and AI-powered event workflows from one connected platform. Learn more at inevent.com.

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