In the current economic environment, business event planners are facing significant cost pressures.
“A 38% cumulative increase across nearly every category of event execution, including F&B, AV, staffing, room blocks, and production from 2019 to today is a reality,” said Nicola Kastner, CEO of Event Leaders Exchange.
The Impact of Tariffs
Shawn Pierce, president of strategic events, meetings, and incentives at MCI USA, says tariffs and inflation have quietly driven up the cost of every event detail from lanyards to livestreams. This has put pressure on planners whose clients’ budgets haven’t kept pace.
To manage cost and delivery risks, Pierce emphasizes the importance of local sourcing. “The only way to ensure price and on-time delivery is finding a source that is relatively local to your event,” he said.
MCI USA is also using AI to monitor the impact of tariffs and supply chain disruptions on event components like decor materials, sponsorship items, and promotional products.
Managing Costs
At a recent Club Ichi virtual roundtable, planners shared strategies for managing in this new environment. One of the biggest shifts? Structuring pricing.
“Planners may have to start adding a dedicated tariff line item in pricing or shift to a cost-plus model for materials,” said Liz Lathan, a co-founder of Club Ichi. “In this model, the agency retainer covers services, but all physical goods are priced at cost plus an undefined margin, since the plus, the tariff, is out of everyone’s control.”
What can meeting professionals do? “Build in budget flexibility from the start so if costs swing, you can adjust on the fly without derailing the entire experience,” said Lathan.
AV Challenges
AV equipment, much of which is sourced from Asia, has been impacted. For some planners, this has sparked a shift in format and creativity.
For instance, instead of using high-tech AV in breakout rooms, some planners are considering replacing it with low-tech, high-impact formats like facilitated roundtables, said Lathan.
“The only thing I can say for certain at this point is that there is a lot of uncertainty. Admittedly, things are moving so fast with all of this that we do not know what the sustained impact will be. We know that as the economy, globally, contracts, decisions will be delayed, wages for trained staff will inflate, and customers will be more cautious on the risk of event spend. AV and production typically are the most visible and easily sacrificed, as we saw during the 2008 economic downturn,” said Matthew Byrne, founder and president of Byrne Production Services.
The Rise of Hyper-Local
Local sourcing has long been a best practice. It’s now becoming a necessity. But not without challenges.
“In theory, buying local helps reduce exposure to tariffs and international supply chain disruptions. But in practice, it’s not always feasible, especially at scale,” said Tracy Stuckrath, founder and CEO of thrive! meetings & events.
“The most important thing is to know your numbers,” she said. “If you know your room pickup rates, you know how many people will actually show up for each function, and you can avoid over-ordering.”
An event for a tech company, Stuckrath was helping with, initially expected 150 attendees, but the latest registration count sits at just 80. “Adjusting F&B counts accordingly can make a huge difference when it comes to cost,” she said.
“Stay in touch with your vendors, watch your numbers, and plan with flexibility,” Stuckrath said. “That’s how we will keep our events running smoothly, no matter what comes next.”
She also recommends working with the chefs and catering team to devise menus that are budget-conscious. “One chef I’m working with shaved $20 off my lunch buffets by removing a few items. The attendees did not notice there were things ‘missing,’ and the buffet was still very hearty,” said Stuckrath.
She also pointed out that large-scale venue caterers may be able to absorb some ingredient price hikes, at least temporarily, by purchasing in bulk.
Still, she said there’s a possibility some may use the tariffs as justification to raise prices.
A Budget Pitfall: Administrative Fees
Tariffs may be making headlines, but meeting planners say there’s another cost quietly eroding their budgets: administrative service fees. And unlike tariffs, these costs are showing up everywhere, from catering to meeting room rentals, with little transparency and plenty of frustration.
“Now we see administrative service fees on everything,” said Mike Ferraria, founder and CEO of Meetings Made Easy. “There used to be a 23% service fee just on catering minimums. Now it’s on meeting rooms, too, and it never used to be a thing.”
When planners ask what exactly these fees cover, the answers are vague at best, he said. “In my personal opinion, it’s just another avenue to make money.”
