Event planning jobs are changing mostly in what employers expect the role to cover, not in its core work. The 2024 industry surveys point to four pressures: choosing and running event technology, delivering a measurable attendee experience, handling inclusion, well-being and sustainability commitments, and offering the pay and flexibility that keep people in the field. Those surveys record what planners prioritized or struggled with in 2024. They do not show that every employer acted on those priorities. For the current U.S. job count, pay and outlook, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures based on 2025 data are the better baseline, covered in their own section below.
What the 2024 evidence measured
The trend claims in this article come from five industry sources, each with a different population and method. Treat each set of percentages as a finding from its own sample, not as an all-industry estimate.
| Source | Date | Population | What it reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Brands, 2024 Event Planners Study (publisher summary; full report gated) | 2024 | Event planners | 57% prioritize a memorable attendee experience in the coming 12 months; almost half prioritize incorporating new or better technology; 30% are fully confident in their organization’s holistic attendee-experience strategy |
| Knowland and ConferenceDirect study, as reported by PCMA/Convene (March 22, 2024) | 2024 | Meeting planners | Top trends: DEI 60%, attendee well-being 57%, sustainability 45%; only 3% said they had sustainability goals and were running carbon-neutral events |
| UK Events Report 2024 summary | 2024 | UK events sector | Skills for hybrid and virtual events, data analysis and commercial strategy; an unclear career path reported as a challenge |
| PLASA entertainment and event technology survey | 2024 | 198 respondents: 87% UK, 7% EU, 6% elsewhere; 32% freelancers or independent professionals | Specialized technology-sector sample; not representative of all event planners |
| You Search & Select Annual Events Industry Salary Survey, summarized by Cvent | January 2024 summary | More than 1,300 respondents; population description not stated in the summary | Salary satisfaction, a four-day week, benefits, remote and hybrid work, gender pay differences, and talent attraction and retention |
Six trends in the 2024 evidence
Technology is a priority, and choosing it is the hard part
In the Community Brands study, almost half of planners said incorporating new or better technology was a top priority for the coming year. The same body of evidence shows that the difficulty is selection and integration. Planners who want a single attendee platform often end up with several tools that do not share data, which is why the job increasingly includes vendor evaluation, contract review and data-handling questions alongside the traditional work of venues and catering. For a planner, the practical skill is deciding which problem a tool solves before buying it.
The attendee experience is the measure of success
The most-cited priority in the same study was a memorable attendee experience, selected by 57% of planners. Yet only 30% said they were fully confident in their organization’s holistic attendee-experience strategy. That gap matters for job design: planners are expected to own the experience from registration to post-event follow-up, and many organizations have not yet written down what that experience should be. A planner who can define target outcomes, measure them and explain trade-offs to a budget holder is more useful in this environment than one who only executes a run-of-show.
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AI is valued for attendee support more than for operations
The Knowland and ConferenceDirect study, as summarized by PCMA/Convene, found that four out of five planners agreed AI could add value to personalized mobile apps and attendee assistants. Planners were noticeably less inclined to apply it to daily operations or to finding new registrants. The evidence therefore supports a narrow reading: planners expected AI to help attendees find sessions and get answers, not to take over the planning work itself. It does not show widespread adoption, and it does not show that AI is replacing planners.
Inclusion, well-being and sustainability were on the agenda, with uneven follow-through
In the same meeting-planner study, 60% of respondents selected DEI and 57% selected attendee well-being as top trends. Sustainability was selected by 45%, but nearly half of respondents said their meetings had no sustainability requirements, and only 3% said they had sustainability goals and were running carbon-neutral events. Talking about these priorities is clearly more common than enforcing them. For career purposes, a role that includes sustainability reporting, accessibility planning or inclusive vendor selection is a different job from one where those topics are only aspirations.
Hybrid and virtual delivery, data and commercial skills
The UK Events Report 2024 summary highlighted skills for hybrid and virtual events, data analysis and commercial strategy as areas of need. The same summary described an unclear career path as a challenge for people entering or moving within the sector. A planner who can run a hybrid session, read attendance and engagement data, and tie event spending to commercial outcomes is positioned for the broader remit the surveys describe. Whether a specific employer wants these skills should be checked in the job description rather than assumed.
Pay, flexibility and retention
The Cvent summary of the You Search & Select salary survey covered salary satisfaction, a four-day week, benefits, remote and hybrid work, gender pay differences, and talent attraction and retention. The UK Events Report summary relays one figure from the same salary survey: 85% of respondents reportedly would not consider employers that do not offer hybrid or remote options. That figure reflects one survey’s respondents, not a universal preference, but it signals that flexibility is a live factor in recruiting. The Knowland and ConferenceDirect report also framed the budget context, stating that “Rising prices put pressure on delivering high-quality events within budget,” which means planners are often asked to deliver more with tighter cost controls.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The current U.S. labor baseline (BLS, 2025 data)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational profile, which uses 2025 employment data, is the authoritative source for the U.S. occupation. It describes meeting, convention and event planners as a national occupation and should be read on those terms.
- Employment: 172,100 meeting, convention and event planner jobs in 2025.
- Projected employment: 182,100 jobs in 2035, a 6% increase from 2025 to 2035.
- Annual openings: about 16,800 a year on average over the decade, many from workers leaving the occupation or changing occupations, not only from new positions.
- Median annual pay: $61,160 in May 2025. Local pay varies, so this is a national baseline only.
The projection is positive but modest. It is a 2025-to-2035 outlook, not a forecast made in 2024, and it should not be read as evidence for the specific trends above.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Skills and workload the role still requires
BLS lists core duties that have not changed with technology: defining event scope, negotiating bids, coordinating venues and services, managing budgets, and monitoring attendee satisfaction. The skills it lists as important are communication, interpersonal, negotiation, organization and problem-solving. Technology and data work sit on top of these duties, not in place of them.
Workload is uneven. BLS notes that many planners work more than 40 hours a week during busy periods and may work weekends. Anyone comparing roles should weigh that peak-season load alongside pay.
Best Value
For those building skills, BLS notes that some colleges offer event-management programs and continuing-education courses. Event planning books for beginners are an optional way to start, but no single text is required for the field.
How to judge a role against these trends
Employers differ widely in what they mean by “event planner.” Use the trends above as questions to put to a prospective employer or client:
| Role type | Questions to ask before accepting |
|---|---|
| Corporate events team | Who selects event technology and who owns its data? Is the attendee experience measured against stated goals? Is hybrid delivery part of the job? |
| Association or nonprofit | Does the budget cover accessibility and inclusion commitments? Are sustainability requirements written into contracts or only discussed? |
| Venue or hospitality | Which vendor and service coordination duties fall to the planner, and how much of the schedule is tied to peak-season events? |
| Entertainment or event technology | How much of the work is product, support or sales rather than planning? What share of staff are freelancers, and what are the terms? |
| Independent or freelance | How are income and benefits handled between engagements? Which clients are retained for repeat work? |
Across all role types, compare pay against the national baseline above, check whether flexibility and benefits are stated in writing, and ask what professional development the employer funds.
Limits of the evidence
- The surveys differ in geography, respondent profile and method. The PLASA sample is specialized and mostly UK-based, so its findings should not be applied to all planners.
- Community Brands’ full report is gated; the figures here come from its publisher-reported summary.
- The salary-survey figure on hybrid and remote work is one survey’s reported result, as relayed in the UK Events Report summary, and is not a universal preference.
- The BLS figures describe the U.S. occupation. They do not describe the UK or other markets.
Read together, these sources describe where the job’s demands are heading. They do not measure how many employers have already reorganized roles around them.
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