As marketers, we don’t need convincing that events work. We see the results every time we host one—strong engagement, quality conversations, real pipeline. It’s no wonder that 72% of marketers say events are their top-performing channel.
But as events continue to prove their value, the demand to do more of them keeps growing. Another executive dinner. A last-minute roundtable. A regional lunch-and-learn. The requests keep coming, and the numbers back it up:
- In 2023, the average marketing team hosted 14 events. In 2024, that number more than doubled to 29.
- Almost a quarter of marketers say a single event takes 60+ hours to execute. That’s 900 hours of additional work, or the equivalent of a full-time employee working solely on events for half a year.
That’s a huge lift for already-stretched teams.
We built Cvent Essentials to change that—to help marketing teams meet growing event demand without burning out.
Why small events are on the rise
So where’s all this extra event volume coming from? Spoiler: it’s not big conferences—it’s the rise of small, repeatable events.
Make no mistake: large, flagship events—think Dreamforce, INBOUND, or Cvent CONNECT—still have their place. They attract large audiences, generate buzz, and build brand awareness.
But those flagship events are just one piece of the puzzle. The reality is that they make up only a fraction of most companies’ total event programs.
In recent years, there’s been a shift toward small, high-volume events, like VIP events, community and networking events, pop-up events, and sales-led, local field events. In fact, one survey by Forrester found that 58% of respondents said their organization planned to host more small in-person events.
And it’s easy to see why.
These smaller, high-frequency events are more repeatable, flexible, and offer greater opportunities to personalize the experience.
Whether it’s a VIP dinner for high-value prospects or an executive roundtable with your best customers, these events allow you to tailor the experience to where your audience is in their buyer’s journey.
This means you can form deeper connections, resulting in stronger engagement and, ultimately, more pipeline and revenue.
The hidden cost of scaling small events
But while small events are shaping modern event marketing strategies, there’s one uncomfortable truth: scaling them isn’t easy.
Some of the most common challenges include:
- Manual, inefficient processes: Whether it’s building a landing page or trying to report on your event, a lot of tasks still require manual effort. That’s time-consuming and leaves little room for creative, strategic thinking.
- Inconsistent branding: Running multiple events in parallel makes it tough to maintain brand consistency across every touchpoint.
- Lack of visibility: Without the right tools, measuring the success of each event is challenging. Lack of visibility into real-time performance means missed opportunities to adjust and optimize in the moment.
- Bottlenecks: Depending on other teams, like Ops, Design, and Legal, can slow down the event execution process. You’re always waiting on approvals, designs, or logistics, which can delay the whole program.
- Limited scalability: As you scale your event program, the pressure on resources increases, and you’re likely to risk burnout. Marketing teams often find themselves stretched thin, leading to inefficiency and frustration.
And if you're on the team responsible for the extra 15 events a year, well, your workload has more than doubled. This leads to the ultimate catch-22:
- Option 1: Say “no” to doing more events, AKA your organization’s highest performing channel.
- Option 2: Keep saying “yes” and risk burnout, employee attrition, or cutting corners to get the job done.
But it doesn’t have to be this hard. And that’s where Cvent Essentials comes in.
What is Cvent Essentials?
Cvent Essentials is a simplified event management solution for smaller, high-volume in-person events.
It’s designed specifically to help marketing and field teams run small, repeatable events at scale without the usual operational headaches. It’s built to empower you to self-serve and self-execute, so you’re free from the bottlenecks and manual processes that often slow you down.
In terms of use cases, think:
- Education or training events
- Sales-led events
- Internal events
- Any small events you want to get off your plate (i.e., delegate)
Cvent Essentials makes small events simpler by removing the friction that often holds teams back. Let’s take a closer look at what you can actually do with it.
What can I do with Cvent Essentials?
With Cvent Essentials, you can:
- Launch your event faster: You can use pre-approved, branded templates for event pages, registration forms, and surveys, without having to rely on teammates for design or technical support.
- Ensure consistent branding and compliance: Those pre-approved templates? They make sure every touchpoint meets your brand guidelines, while data privacy templates help you stay compliant with regulations like GDPR or CCPA, preventing errors and risky practices.
- Manage the on-site experience: On-site check-in is often the first impression your attendees will have of your brand. And yet, many teams still rely on clipboards, spreadsheets, or even the notes app on someone’s phone to capture those leads. Not only is this not the best look, it’s error-prone, inconsistent, and slow.
With Cvent Essentials, you can check in attendees with a mobile app that syncs in real time with your CRM and marketing systems. So, no more waiting days to get lead data into Sales’ hands and no more manual uploads. And attendees will have a smooth check-in experience that sets the right tone from the start.
- Engage your audience: From live polls and Q&A to post-event surveys, Cvent Essentials includes tools that help you keep your audience engaged and gather valuable insights throughout the event experience.
- Track performance: Easy-to-use dashboards allow you to measure the success of each event and optimize as you go. Plus, integrations with your CRM, MAP, and other MarTech platforms give you a full view of your event data and its impact.
Example: Let’s say you’re planning a networking event. With Cvent Essentials, you don’t have to wait for design and web teams to create your event page or spend hours building one manually. Instead, you can select a pre-approved template, input a few event details, and launch your page in minutes.
What are people saying about Cvent Essentials?
We think Cvent Essentials is a game-changer—but don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what teams across different organizations are saying:
On saving time and moving fast:
“We had a last-minute event that came up, and we needed to get something out really fast…With Cvent Essentials, I was able to copy over a template that we had pre-made and get the event spun up in ten minutes. It was amazing because before that, it would have taken way longer.”
Nicole Vitera, Brand Engagement Manager, Buildertrend
On brand control and ease of use
“The registration and branding templates make it almost impossible for someone to mess something up, and super easy for everything to still work perfectly with our system. It’s expressly simple but infinitely customizable—and that’s exactly what we need.”
Chandler Crump, Events Technology Manager, Leadership Institute
On brand consistency across events
“If we didn’t have Cvent Essentials, many of our events wouldn’t be as organized or as branded, and a lot of our events would be coming through email or our larger event platform. It’s made our brand more cohesive and easier for us to manage them as a whole, so we’re able to take on more.
Katie Ryan, Brand Engagement Manager, Buildertrend
On freeing up central teams
“If we were able to empower other business units to build these sites themselves and build the invites and send them out themselves, it would free up a lot of time for our team.”
Chelsea Guerra, Associate, Events Management, Blackstone
See Cvent Essentials in action
Curious about how Cvent Essentials works? Check out this quick video to see how you can create your event page in minutes:
Make small events your strategic advantage
Small events aren’t just a trend—they’re the future of event marketing. And with Cvent Essentials, you can turn them into a powerful growth engine.
Instead of being a burden, imagine small events becoming your strategic advantage. With the right tech, you can say “yes” to event requests, continue to scale your events program, and drive greater impact.
Want to see how Cvent Essentials can help you scale your event program? Tour our interactive demo or schedule a personalized one.
