Event Spend Intelligence Benchmark
How AI-Ready Is Your
Meeting & Event Program?
The ESI Benchmark measures your organization's financial intelligence and readiness for AI across meeting and event spend operations — and shows you how you compare to your peers.
The Reality We Keep Hearing
After years of helping companies improve their meeting and event financial processes, these are the challenges we hear — across every organization, regardless of size.
Duct-taped payment processes
Multiple systems, manual handoffs, no single source of truth.
Data scattered everywhere
Spread across card systems, emails, spreadsheets, and ERP systems — impossible to unify or analyze.
Minimal spend visibility
You still don't know what you're spending.
Slow approvals
Disconnected chains that delay everything downstream.
Excel budgets
Still the default tool for managing budget.
Painful audits
Requires significant resources and time.
What Participants Receive
Complimentary for all accepted participants.
Your ESI Score
A clear measure of where your M&E operations sit today and how ready you are for AI.
Peer Comparison
See how you benchmark against other companies managing meetings and events.
1:1 Readout Session
A session with our team comparing your score to peers, with specific recommendations.
Full Benchmark Report
The complete findings — trends, averages, and insights across all participating companies.
What the Benchmark Measures
The questionnaire asks about your financial processes across your meeting and event program — from how you manage payments and approvals to how you track budgets, report on spend, and leverage technology. Every question maps back to your AI readiness.
ESI Maturity Scale
Fragmented
0–25%
Centralized
25–50%
Systemized
50–75%
AI-Ready
75–100%
How It Works
September 1
Benchmark Opens
Complete the online questionnaire. About 30 questions, takes ~20 minutes.
October 30
Submissions Close
Last day to complete your assessment and be included in the benchmark.
November
Scoring, Report & Readouts
Receive your ESI Score, book your 1:1 readout, and get the full benchmark report.
Why We Do This
We've spent 16 years helping companies improve their meeting and event financial processes and data visibility.
Meetings and events are back in a big way, and companies are investing more than ever.
Our last benchmark brought together nearly 40 leading companies representing more than $3 billion in event spend.
Now, we’re bringing the industry together again to understand what’s changed, where organizations are investing, and how meetings and events are evolving.
Companies are asking about AI, automation, and how to scale without scaling the chaos.
We're passionate about helping the industry solve these challenges. That's why the benchmark, the readout, and the report are all included.
Apply to Participate
Spots are limited. Once you are confirmed, we will send you a link to complete the benchmark.
See what we found in our previous benchmarks — Fortune 500 companies, billions in managed spend.
Have questions?
Schedule 30 minutes with our team to learn more about the benchmark.