Event Leaders Are Too Overwhelmed by Logistics to Innovate

Many event leaders and their teams are so busy making things happen that there’s little room for anything else, whether it’s upskilling, innovating, or even just creating KPIs for their events.

That’s the conclusion of “Future-Ready Leadership,” a new white paper by Event Leaders Exchange (ELX), which was based on a member survey followed by one-on-one interviews. The report found that teams are so overwhelmed with delivery that they lack the space, budget, permission, or support to experiment.  

ELX CEO Nicola Kastner says she was not surprised by many of the report’s results. “Many of them speak to the reality that I faced in my previous role at SAP. The desire to be more strategic is there. What is missing is the ability to scale new ideas and the protected time to think differently. Many teams are trapped in a cycle of delivery.”

Time and budget for training and development, including on important topics such as the strategic use of AI, have been negatively affected by this cycle. The report found that only 40% of respondents plan to increase their investment in training and development in the future, and that only 7 to 8% of their time is dedicated to learning.

As a result, individuals feel like they’re always ‘doing’ but never ‘developing,’ and teams lack space to collaborate, experiment, or build new skills.  

Innovation Suffers

The end result is a lack of innovation. While 56% of ELX respondents said they plan to increase their spend on innovation in the near future, the data tells a different story. Only 8% of their budgets and about 12% of leader time goes to innovation. This translates into less creativity at their meetings, such as trying new formats.  

 “When teams do make space to try to innovate or think differently, ideas often get shut down by internal stakeholders who are focused on delivery over progress or want things to remain status quo,” said Kastner.

In the end, it's the attendee experience that suffers. “Innovation has a positive correlation with attendee experience," said Kastner. "The intent is there. The capacity is not. This is risky when other industry data shows audiences are getting younger and choosing fewer events to attend.”

In addition, measurement is getting little attention by overtaxed event leaders. The report found  that only 6% of spend and 11 to 12% of respondents' time goes to measurement. Almost a third (28%) of these event leaders said they do not have KPIs, or do not know if they are met.

“How is this even possible?” said Kastner. “Measurement is the lever that justifies budget, secures stakeholder buy-in, defends decision making, and proves the event team’s impact.”