As corporate events face tighter budgets, greater scrutiny, and rising expectations from senior stakeholders, return on investment (ROI) has become central to how event and marketing teams justify their role and impact.
In this article, Anita Howard, strategy director at ACE (Alliance of Corporate Events), explains why ROI remains one of the most important fundamentals of corporate event strategy, what has shifted over the past year, and how teams can move beyond surface-level metrics to demonstrate real business value.
Key takeaways
- Clear ROI is non-negotiable for event programs: With events sitting among the highest marketing line items, ROI has moved from a “nice to have” to a core requirement. Teams must justify not just how strong the experience was, but why the event exists and what business outcomes it drives.
- Outcomes matter more than attendance: ROI isn’t defined by registration or satisfaction scores alone. It’s about the change an event creates in behavior, understanding, decisions, or performance, and how it progresses audiences through the sales and marketing funnel.
- The biggest mistake is treating ROI as an afterthought: When ROI is left until post-event reporting, teams miss the chance to design with intent. Strong practice starts in planning — aligning with stakeholders on objectives, success measures and the data needed to prove them.
- Good ROI practice starts with business objectives: In 2026, leading teams begin with a clear brief, agreed KPIs and a measurement strategy that blends quantitative data with qualitative insight, especially from new or first-time attendees.
ROI is one of the core event fundamentals reflected in Cvent’s 2026 Trends Report. This expert interview series explores why these fundamentals still matter, how they’re showing up in 2026, and what successful teams are doing to apply them more intentionally.
Why does ROI remain fundamental to event marketing strategies in 2026?
“ROI is the language stakeholders understand, and events have to speak it.”
ROI has always mattered, but in 2026, it is no longer optional. Events are often among the highest line items in marketing and communications budgets, and as scrutiny increases, teams must be able to justify not just how good an event looks, but also why it exists at all.
Crucially, ROI is not about attendance numbers alone. It’s about outcomes. Before planning begins, event, marketing, and sales teams should define what change they want to create in behavior, understanding, decision-making, or performance, and how the event will move people through the sales or marketing funnel.
In this context, ROI becomes a strategic business tool rather than a post-event exercise. With the technology now available to support better measurement, 2026 is the year for professionals to clearly articulate the difference their events make to the business, not just the experience they deliver.
What has changed in the past year that makes ROI especially relevant?
“Events now have to justify their impact, not just their existence.”
Over the past year, budgets have tightened, and senior in-house event roles have increasingly come under pressure. At the same time, stakeholder expectations have risen. Boards, CMOs, finance teams, and procurement all want clearer evidence of value. ROI is the framework they understand.
Technology has also changed the equation. While tools and platforms now make it easier to capture data and insights across the event journey, this also raises expectations. Simply collecting data is no longer enough; teams are expected to interpret its meaning and explain how it supports business goals.
As a result, events must be positioned as drivers of measurable outcomes rather than as discretionary spend. In 2026, marketing and event teams that can clearly connect events to business impact will be far better placed to protect budgets, influence decision-making, and demonstrate strategic relevance.
Where do people most often misunderstand or overlook ROI?
“The biggest mistake is treating ROI as a report, not a planning discipline.”
One of the most common blind spots is leaving ROI until after the event. When measurement is treated as a reporting task rather than a planning framework, teams miss the opportunity to shape events around clear, agreed outcomes.
Another issue is failing to align with stakeholders early. Too often, success is assumed rather than defined. Without agreement on what success looks like and how it will be measured, marketing and event teams risk reporting metrics that don’t matter to the wider business.
There is also a tendency to focus on easily accessible quantitative data, such as attendance or engagement scores, without balancing this with qualitative insight. Without understanding what actually changed as a result of the event, teams struggle to demonstrate true value beyond surface-level metrics.
What does ‘good’ ROI practice look like for events in 2026?
“Good ROI starts with business objectives, not event metrics.”
Strong ROI practice begins long before an event goes live. It starts with a briefing: clearly defining objectives, identifying audiences, and agreeing on KPIs that directly support wider business goals.
In 2026, good practice also means benchmarking and using data intelligently. With better tools available, teams can compare performance across events, track progress over time, and identify what genuinely drives impact.
Importantly, this is not just about numbers. Combining quantitative data with qualitative insight, particularly from new or first-time attendees, helps teams explain not just what happened, but why it mattered.
When done well, ROI enables meaningful conversations with stakeholders about future investment. Instead of defending marketing and event spend after the fact, teams can confidently demonstrate how events drive business momentum, capability, and change.
What are the first steps to strengthening ROI in 2026 event programs?
“Define success before you define the format.”
The first step is to be disciplined about objectives. Every event should have a primary purpose, clearly agreed with stakeholders, even if that requires difficult conversations. Without this clarity, meaningful measurement is impossible.
Second, marketers and in-house planners should build measurement into the event journey from the outset. This means planning how insights will be captured before, during, and after the event rather than relying solely on post-event surveys.
Finally, teams should align stakeholders early and revisit success criteria regularly. By embedding ROI into decision-making from the start, events become tools for business progress rather than legacy activities driven by habit or tradition.
What should people start or stop doing to improve event ROI?
“Stop assuming a great experience automatically equals ROI.”
One of the biggest misconceptions is that delivering an excellent on-site experience is enough. While experience matters, ROI is determined by outcomes, not atmosphere.
Marketing and event teams should stop reporting success purely through attendance numbers or satisfaction scores. Instead, they should focus on what changed as a result of the event in behavior, alignment, confidence, or action.
The shift required is cultural as much as practical: designing events around intent and outcomes rather than tradition. In 2026, the events that deliver the strongest ROI will be those built with purpose, measured with discipline, and communicated in the language the business understands.
With a career spanning corporate events, strategy, and stakeholder engagement, Anita Howard helps organizations elevate events from tactical delivery to strategic business drivers. Through her work at ACE, she supports event leaders in proving value, influencing decision-makers, and shaping the future of corporate events.
Explore more insights on the biggest event trends in Cvent’s 2026 Event Trends Report.
