What is event sourcing?
Sourcing is where events are actually bought. Whether it is done reactively or strategically determines how much value the organisation captures — and how much employee time it consumes. Sending one brief to a central route, instead of every team researching and chasing venues, saves significant internal effort as well as improving procurement visibility.
Tactical vs. strategic sourcing
At one end, event sourcing is simply finding a venue that works — the essence of venue finding. At the other, it is a structured, competitive process backed by benchmarking and negotiation — the domain of strategic event sourcing. Both have their place; the skill is matching the approach to the spend.
The components of event sourcing
- Venue procurement and corporate venue sourcing.
- Supplier sourcing for caterers, AV, production and agencies.
- RFP management for competitive comparison.
- Benchmarking and negotiation to secure value.
Sourcing within a bigger picture
Sourcing delivers most when it is not an isolated act. Fed by spend analysis and captured in reporting, every sourcing decision builds the organisation's knowledge and leverage over time — the difference between buying events and managing them as a category.