The Four Findings
Budget share, tool sprawl, post-event leakage, and the number leadership keeps asking for, each with its cited benchmark.
Two layers, read together: the cited industry data on what teams spend, the tools they run, and the leads they lose, paired with nine in-depth conversations with the marketers who run events and defend the budget. Together they point to one root cause, and one move that matters most in 2026.
Every figure is sourced to a named benchmark; the nine conversations are reported as patterns and direct quotes, never as percentages.
Budget share, tool sprawl, post-event leakage, and the number leadership keeps asking for, each with its cited benchmark.
Anonymized quotes from B2B marketers, set against the data so the numbers feel the way they do from inside a team.
A clean visual for each finding, so the report reads at a glance.
One root cause behind all four findings, and the first move to make in 2026.
A print-ready scorecard to benchmark your own program against the data.
Every source listed and linked, so the report holds up to scrutiny.
B2B marketing leaders shaping their 2026 event strategy and the budget conversation that comes with it - who need a benchmark to place their own program against, and citable data to bring to the table.
Events are the biggest bet most B2B teams make all year, and the hardest one to prove.
This is the through-line the whole report follows. Every finding, chart, and scorecard builds on it. Download the full report to get the four findings, the verbatims, the implications chapter, and the scorecard to benchmark your own program.
The full thinking behind this report, expanded across the blog.