What 750 Event Pros Actually Want from Their Event Tech in 2026

What 750 Event Pros Actually Want from Their Event Tech in 2026

What 750 Event Pros Actually Want from Their Event Tech in 2026

A survey of 750 event professionals

A survey of 750 event professionals

The tech world is obsessed with AI. Event planners are obsessed with something else entirely: getting through the week without losing hours to copy-paste busywork. We surveyed event professionals across the US and internationally to find out what they actually need from their tools in 2026. The answer wasn't what we expected.

The tech world is obsessed with AI. Event planners are obsessed with something else entirely: getting through the week without losing hours to copy-paste busywork. We surveyed event professionals across the US and internationally to find out what they actually need from their tools in 2026. The answer wasn't what we expected.

Who we talked to

Who we talked to

Our respondents ranged from independent planners to corporate agency directors. Over half, 55%, have been in the industry for more than ten years. These are people who have planned events on paper, on Blackberries, and over Zoom. They've seen every wave of "revolutionary" technology come and go. They are not easily impressed.

What they told us

What they told us

The frustration wasn't with AI as a concept. It was with what AI has actually delivered so far: generic outputs that still require a human to clean, verify, and manually copy into every other tool in the stack.

Planners described it two ways.


The first is what we started calling the Cleaning Tax. AI generates something useful, but the output is rough enough that fixing it takes longer than starting from scratch would have. You save ten minutes on the idea and spend twenty making it usable.


The second is the Copy-Paste Loop. Even when AI gets it right, the result lives in isolation. The planner still has to move the idea into a budget, then into a checklist, then into a proposal. The AI did one step. The human still does the other nine.


The underlying complaint was consistent across experience levels, business sizes, and specialisms: planners are tired of being the manual middleware. They spend their days syncing data between tabs instead of doing the work that actually grows their business.

The frustration wasn't with AI as a concept. It was with what AI has actually delivered so far: generic outputs that still require a human to clean, verify, and manually copy into every other tool in the stack.

Planners described it two ways.


The first is what we started calling the Cleaning Tax. AI generates something useful, but the output is rough enough that fixing it takes longer than starting from scratch would have. You save ten minutes on the idea and spend twenty making it usable.


The second is the Copy-Paste Loop. Even when AI gets it right, the result lives in isolation. The planner still has to move the idea into a budget, then into a checklist, then into a proposal. The AI did one step. The human still does the other nine.


The underlying complaint was consistent across experience levels, business sizes, and specialisms: planners are tired of being the manual middleware. They spend their days syncing data between tabs instead of doing the work that actually grows their business.

What they actually want

What they
actually want

When we asked what was missing from their current toolkit, the answer wasn't "better AI." It was connection. Respondents want a system where changing one detail in a brief doesn't trigger an hour of spreadsheet updates. Where a creative concept flows directly into a budget. Where a proposal builds itself from project data instead of being assembled from scratch every time.


The veteran planners were especially clear on this. They don't want a magic button. They want a tool that respects what they already know and removes the grunt work that gets in the way of using it.

When we asked what was missing from their current toolkit, the answer wasn't "better AI." It was connection. Respondents want a system where changing one detail in a brief doesn't trigger an hour of spreadsheet updates. Where a creative concept flows directly into a budget. Where a proposal builds itself from project data instead of being assembled from scratch every time.


The veteran planners were especially clear on this. They don't want a magic button. They want a tool that respects what they already know and removes the grunt work that gets in the way of using it.

Survey of Event Professionals

What the industry actually told us

Key findings from our 2025 survey of event planners, agency directors, and in-house teams.

55%
Have 10+ years of experience
71%
Not paying for any planning software
43%
Plan 16+ events per year

Experience Level

A seasoned, senior audience.

10+ years55%
6–10 years20%
3–5 years15%
Under 2 years10%

Current Tool Spending

Most aren't paying — because nothing has been worth it.

71%unpaid
Free tools only41%
No tools at all29%
Paying for software29%

Typical Event Budgets

59% regularly manage budgets of $25K or more.

$5K – $25K220
$25K – $100K192
Under $5K144
$100K – $250K102
$250K – $500K55
$500K+52

Where They Need Help Most

Workflow ranking — higher score = higher priority.

Production efficiency91
Ideating concepts89
Project management88
Creating proposals88
Post-event ROI87
Budget management85

Feature Ratings

How useful respondents rated our three core features.

4.6/ 5Schedule
5
67%
4
26%
3
5%
2
1%
1
1%
4.5/ 5Budget
5
65%
4
24%
3
6%
2
3%
1
1%
4.3/ 5Event Plans
5
53%
4
29%
3
13%
2
4%
1
1%

Purchase Intent

Likelihood to buy an event planning tool in the next 6 months.

53
56
209
117
113
Not likelyNeutral42% likely to buy →

The real cost of the admin trap

The real cost of the admin trap

The numbers make the problem concrete. Nearly 71% of respondents are not currently paying for any event planning software, either relying on free tools or nothing at all. That's not because the tools don't exist. It's because the tools that do exist haven't earned their place in the workflow.


If you're spending 20 hours a week managing data between disconnected tools, those are 20 hours you're not spending on business development, client relationships, or the creative work that wins pitches. For many of the planners we spoke to, the admin load isn't just frustrating. It's a ceiling on how far their business can grow.


The technology promise that actually resonates isn't "AI will have ideas for you." It's "you'll spend less time on the work that doesn't require your expertise, and more time on the work that does."


And there's clear appetite for something better: 42% of respondents said they are likely or very likely to purchase an event planning tool in the next six months. The gap between that intention and the 29% who are currently paying tells you everything about where the market is right now.

What we did with this

What we did with this

We spent the last two months taking the raw feedback from these 750 responses and built the core of EventPlanner.ai around it. The goal was simple: your brief, your budget, and your proposal should speak the same language, automatically. 


No more copy-paste. No more manual syncing. No more being the middleware in your own workflow.


Register your account now or alternatively we´d happy to walk you through a demo:

We spent the last two months taking the raw feedback from these 750 responses and built the core of EventPlanner.ai around it. The goal was simple: your brief, your budget, and your proposal should speak the same language, automatically. 


No more copy-paste. No more manual syncing. No more being the middleware in your own workflow.


Register your account now or alternatively we´d happy to walk you through a demo: