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Corporate Event Cost Calculator

Budget a B2B event: production, venue, catering, AV, travel and staff. Get the cost per attendee and compare it with the revenue you expect.

The event

Why events always go over budget

The most common surprise isn’t the venue or the catering: it’s the invisible costs, like AV (often 60-100% of the venue cost), event branding, agency management, transfers, signage, guest gifts and contingency for last-minute changes. If you only budget “hotel + food + travel”, you’ll be 30-50% under the real cost.

This calculator breaks out each block so you can see exactly where the money goes. A 10-15% contingency isn’t optional: events almost never run clean, and without it the difference comes out of your margin.

Cost per attendee by event type

  • • Internal sales kickoff (1-2 days): €800-2,500/person. Higher if a hotel is needed.
  • • Premium customer summit (2-3 days): €1,500-4,500/person. Polished production, speakers, networking.
  • • Customer engagement event (1 day): €300-800/person. Cocktail + session + branding.
  • • Trade show exhibitor: €200-1,500 per potential lead captured.
  • • Webinar / virtual event: €50-500 per registered attendee.

How to measure event ROI

  1. Attributable pipeline: new opportunities generated at the event (with a CRM tag).
  2. Acceleration of existing accounts: deals that closed after a conversation at the event.
  3. Post-event NPS: if quality tracking goes up after the event, it was worth it.
  4. Cost per qualified lead (CPL): total / leads = comparable with other channels.
  5. For internal events: engagement scores 3 months later, internal eNPS.

How to cut costs without killing quality

  • • Venue: a conference center instead of a premium hotel (-30-50%).
  • • Length: 1 intense day vs 2 light days (-30-40%).
  • • Catering: buffet vs seated (-20-30%), or a local caterer vs the hotel (-15-25%).
  • • Speakers: 1 star external speaker + internal speakers vs 5 external ones.
  • • Branding: digital signage + only the printing you need (-40-60% vs full print).
  • • Travel: a central city + an off-peak hotel vs a remote resort.

Common mistakes

  • • Not counting AV, branding or management: the initial budget comes in 30-50% low.
  • • No contingency: any change eats into your margin.
  • • Measuring attendance, not impact. 200 people isn’t a success if they don’t convert.
  • • No clear commercial agenda for B2B summits: it ends up as an expensive party.
  • • Expensive speakers with little fit. Better your own expertise + 1 external name.

Typical examples

  • • B2B sales kickoff, 60 people, 2 days, city center: €80-150k.
  • • Premium customer summit, 150 people, 2 days + dinner: €250-500k.
  • • Industry trade show, mid-size 30m² booth: €35-90k (registration + booth + staff + travel).
  • • Annual gala, 500 people: €400k-1.5M depending on production.

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