Every mature procurement function has a category strategy — for almost everything except events. That omission is worth examining, because the spend is rarely small.
The paradox of event spend
Events are simultaneously high-profile and low-scrutiny. A flagship conference or client programme gets enormous internal attention as an event — and almost none as a purchase. The creative brief is agonised over; the commercial terms are barely examined.
Why events get overlooked
- They are seen as creative, not commercial — so procurement is not invited in.
- They are fragmented, so no single number ever lands on a procurement leader's desk.
- They are episodic, so they never feel like an ongoing category.
- They are relationship-driven, so incumbents go unchallenged.
What treating events as a category changes
The moment events become a defined category, the familiar procurement toolkit applies: spend analysis, benchmarking, consolidation and negotiation. This is the essence of event category management — nothing exotic, simply applied where it rarely has been.
The insight most procurement leaders reach is uncomfortable but useful: 'We spend a lot on events, but we've never treated events as a procurement category.'
The size of the prize
Because events have escaped scrutiny for so long, the initial opportunity is often larger than in well-managed categories where the easy savings are long gone. That makes events one of the more attractive places for procurement to turn its attention next — and a strong candidate for a business case.
The first step is simply to look. A procurement review turns 'the forgotten category' into a sized, prioritised opportunity.