Building the case for convening when event budgets are contested
- Waridi Events
- Aug 27
- 2 min read
In May 2026, IAPCO (Institute of Accredited Congress Organisers) released a report on meeting sizes and reported more meetings among its members, professional congress organisers. Meetings rose by a recorded 20.77%, but attendee numbers fell from 408 to 328, suggesting a trend toward smaller meetings.
Most organisations are cutting budgets, and meetings are among the first to go.
Since 2020, online meetings have been a good alternative for companies with tight event budgets, so how do you, as the program lead/organizational meeting planner, make the case for why meeting budgets should be allocated?
How do you build a case for convening when event budgets are contested?
There is an opportunity cost in not meeting: The cost of not meeting is real but invisible. The main reason meetings exist is to give industry peers and counterparts a face-to-face opportunity to meet, discuss issues, create solutions, measure impact, and ultimately push industries forward. The cost of not meeting is deferred decision-making; it limits opportunities for partnerships to form and for collaboration among industry players.
Meetings themselves present an opportunity to unlock funds: industry convenings, Summits, and workshops are how budgets are unlocked, replenished, negotiated, and multi-year financing renewed.
They provide space to close deals and offer strong fundraising opportunities across sectors. A good case study is the Africa Investment Forum in Rabat, which hosted 2000 delegates over 3 days, and total investment interest across 39 bankable projects was US$15.3bn.
Convening facilitates collaboration and consolidation, especially amongst industry experts. Meetings provide opportunities to brainstorm and create think tanks around pressing industry issues; most summits, meetings, and conferences end with action plans that steer the industry forward.
The direction should not be to cancel meetings; instead, it should be to reimagine and redesign how meetings are done. If budget is a hindrance, consider smaller meeting sizes with simpler formats, e.g considering cheaper meeting spaces like convention centres instead of traditional 5-star hotels, getting local guests, having fewer attendees fly in, and giving up on high costs like having simpler meeting spaces.
So what is the key thing you need to track as a convenor or program director to justify hosting a meeting?
The key golden metric that you need to track is the cost of return per attendee and the cost per outcome. Create a measurable metric that helps you justify your meeting spend. Typical metrics event organisers use include engagement (for sponsors), deal sizes (from deal rooms), and attendee feedback on whether they would consider attending your event.
There are plenty of technological tools available to track engagement and ROI
Planning a smarter convening?
