According to a recent study conducted by Planning Pod, 69% of the 218 independent event planners who responded said that their average event budget exceeded $20,000 (U.S.). The events they planned ranged from small parties and weddings to meetings and corporate events.

Among these respondents, 20% said that their average budget fell between $20K-$30K, 24% stated between $30K-$50K and 11% between $50K-$75K.

In addition, almost two-thirds of the professional event planners polled (62%) now require at least a $5,000 budget to take on the event, with 24% reporting that the minimum budget they would work with is between $10K-$20K and 11% stating the minimum budget falls somewhere between $20K-$30K.

“This is all very interesting news, mainly because we have seen the average event budget increase by several thousand dollars over the last 12 months,” said Jeff Kear, co-owner and founder of Planning Pod. “We have had thousands of events planned with our software over the last year, and the rising budgets we have seen are promising for both event planners and for the industry.”

What truly bodes well is that many event planners are now able to turn down smaller jobs with smaller margins and are picking up larger jobs and clients. “That minimum budget requirement is a very telling statistic because it gives you a good sense of how much more selective event planners are becoming, and you can only be selective when business and budgets are on the rise.”

And when it comes to large budgets? For 36% of planners, their largest event budget over the last 12 months was more than $100K, with 18% saying their largest budget fell between $100K-$199K, 16% between $75K-$100K and 14% between $50K-$75K.

“Yes, there are some event planners who manage multimillion dollar event budgets, but the wide majority of event professionals plan lots of smaller events,” said Kear. “In fact, 57% of the people we polled were planning at least 15 events at any given time over the last year, and average attendance at those events was between 100-300 guests.”

Over the last year or so, much has been written about the events industry trending towards smaller, local events. In addition, more than a few studies have shown how optimistic events professionals are about rising event budgets and revenues. This study reflects these trends but also offers a valuable perspective from the professionals who manage event budgets and are responsible for coordinating every type of event vendor and contractor.
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