By: Whova Team | Last Updated: Feb 17, 2026
Event ROI (return on investment) tells you if an event was worth the investment. The basic question is whether you got more value out of the event than you put into it.
For a trade show or conference, the returns might be new clients, qualified leads, stronger brand recognition, or business partnerships. You stack those gains against your costs: venue, catering, marketing, staff hours, everything that went into pulling it off.
The complicated part is measuring non-financial returns. Relationships, industry credibility, or knowledge sharing don’t show up on a spreadsheet easily. Still, the underlying question is: did running this event make sense for your business?
Why Event ROI Is Important?
Event ROI matters because it tells you whether your events are actually working or just burning budget.
- You need to justify spending. If you can show an event brought in clients or revenue, getting budget approval for the next one is straightforward. Without that proof, you’re asking for money based on gut feeling.
- It shows what’s worth repeating. ROI data tells you which event formats or audiences deliver results for your business. You stop guessing and start focusing on what performs.
- Stakeholders want numbers. Executives and sponsors need evidence their investment was worth it. Telling them “people loved it” doesn’t cut it. ROI gives them concrete proof.
- You allocate resources better. Once you know what works, you can put more effort into successful events and drop the ones that waste time and money.
For more guidance on planning events that deliver, check out these event planning tips.
What Are the Main Components of Event ROI?
Event ROI has a few parts you need to track to figure out if an event worked.
- Direct revenue is the money that came in. Ticket sales, sponsorships, exhibitor fees. Straightforward.
- Lead generation counts the contacts you collected. Your sales team will follow up with those people.
- Costs include everything you spent to run the event. Venue, food, marketing, staff hours, tech setup. Add it all up.
- Intangible benefits are trickier to measure but still matter. Did you get media coverage? Build brand credibility? Strengthen relationships with existing customers?
You compare what you got out of the event against what you put in. That tells you if it was worth doing.
How to Calculate Event ROI?
To calculate event ROI, you need total returns and total costs:
- Formula: ((Returns – Costs) / Costs) x 100 = ROI%
If you spent $50,000 on an event and brought in $75,000 in revenue, your ROI is 50%.
The hard part is defining “returns.” Ticket sales and sponsorships are easy to count. Leads are trickier. Some companies assign a dollar value to each qualified contact based on conversion rates. Others track pipeline growth or customer retention in the months after the event to capture longer-term impact.
For help planning budgets that make tracking ROI simpler, check out this guide on creating an event budget template.