A new study involving more than 400 senior corporate event leaders across three markets has found that the biggest barrier to proving event ROI isn’t budget. It’s the absence of an agreed definition of success before an event is even planned.
The Big Experiment: From Event Speak to Business Speak is a whitepaper published by the International Corporate Events Network (ICEN) and supported by creative communications agency DRPG. The research was carried out at ICEN’s flagship July 2026 events in the UK, Germany and the US, where teams of up to ten senior in-house event leaders debated the question: what stops you from proving ROI on your events, and what would have to change?
Budget topped every board in every market. But the whitepaper argues that budget is the symptom rather than the cause. Events are easy to cut when their value isn’t clearly demonstrated, and without a defined objective upfront, there’s nothing to measure against when it’s over.
The three markets revealed three distinct versions of the same challenge. US teams are battling noise around the work, from AI overload to the pace of change. UK teams feel underutilised and misunderstood by stakeholders, seen as operational rather than strategic. German teams pointed to the lack of clear definition before an event begins.
The whitepaper closes with five practical behaviours event teams can act on immediately, none of which requires budget or permission.
Dale Parmenter, group chief executive officer of DRPG, said: “We get obsessed with the inputs for an event, like venue, content and menus, however, we need to first be obsessed with the outcome and what we need the audience to do differently post event. If we don’t ask the WHY, and understand the return, how will we ever be able to prove our worth?”
Anita Howard, strategy director at ICEN, added: “What struck me most was that dozens of tables, in three countries, working completely independently, arrived at the same place. These are senior professionals who know their events deliver, and they told us exactly what’s holding them back.”
The Big Experiment returns at ICEN Germany on 1 July, ICEN UK on 8 July and ICEN US on 15 July 2027.