What is event supplier consolidation?
This is the single most important nuance on this page. A company might hold 50 events and legitimately use 40 different venues — and still run an excellent model, provided those requirements are sourced through one consistent process.
Consolidate the process, not necessarily the venue choice
It is tempting to treat 'lots of venues' as the problem. For events, it usually isn't. A board meeting, a conference, a Christmas party and a gala dinner should use different venues. The real friction is that each is sourced separately, from scratch, with no shared process or visibility. Consolidating the route fixes that while leaving access to the wider venue market wide open.
| What to consolidate | What NOT to force |
|---|---|
| The sourcing route (one way in) | The venue choice (keep it broad) |
| Repeat suppliers — AV, production, transport | Unique venues for one-off events |
| Frequently-used hotels & meeting spaces | A restrictive five-venue shortlist |
| Process, benchmarking and reporting | Creativity and stakeholder control |
How we consolidate event suppliers
- 1Map the current baseUsing spend analysis, we identify every event supplier, what they cost and how often they are used.
- 2Identify overlapWe highlight duplicated categories and suppliers delivering similar services at different prices.
- 3RationaliseWe design the right network size — enough choice for teams, few enough to command strong terms.
- 4Negotiate & formaliseWe renegotiate on the back of consolidated volume and build a preferred supplier programme.
- 5ReportWe track supplier concentration and spend in ongoing reporting.
Where consolidation delivers most
Consolidation compounds. Fewer suppliers make contract negotiation simpler, benchmarking more meaningful, and reporting cleaner. It is often the single most persuasive line in a business case for event procurement, because the savings and efficiency gains are concrete and repeatable.