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How many events are planned in the United States and how many vendors do they average per event?
Hello and thank you for asking Wonder! I understand that you are looking for the number of events planned in the United States and the average number of vendors per event. The short answer to your question is that 1.8 million meetings and events occur in the United States per year. The average number of vendors per event varies considerably depending on the type of event, the size of the venue, and attendance. For one of the more popular events, I was able to estimate that there were 30 vendors per 9,000 attendees. I was unable to find the unique number of vendors throughout the US that could be included in an event. I was, however, able to estimate more than 30 different categories of vendor types that could be included in an event in the US. Below we will go in-depth into my findings.
methodology
I began this research by looking for a definition of events in the United States. After that, I found that there was an event and meeting industry that plays a prominent role in the US economy. After gaining a definition of what I was looking for I began to research various industry reports and outlooks. I located a direct answer to the number of events held per year in the US along with financial information for the industry and the segments of the market. My next step was to discover the average number of vendors per event in the US, I was unable to come up with a direct number after extensively searching through corporate reports, vendor industry sites, bureau of labor statistics, event planning network memberships, and trusted media sites. Eventually, I discovered that the number of vendors per event varies considerably on the type of event, the size of the venue, and the number of attendees. So, I attempted to triangulate an estimate based on an example from one of the more popular events in the US, Wanderlust. I determined the average number of attendees of their event was 9,170 of their 5 events in 2016. So, I made the determination of 30 vendors per 9,170 attendees or 1 vendor per 305 attendees(9,170/30). The final step in the research was to locate the unique number of vendors throughout the US that could be included in an event. After searching through the same avenues as the previous question I was unable to come up with a direct answer. However, after signaling out some event examples, I was able to determine that there were over 30 categories of vendors that could be included in an event in the United States.
event industry outlook
The meeting and event industry includes an extensive list of business sectors such as travel and hospitality, convention and visitors bureaus, corporate meeting planning, equipment providers, content providers and speakers, and event venues.
The total number of meetings and events that occur in the US each year is 1.8 million. This helps contribute a total of $280 billion in U.S. spending, $115 billion to the sale of gross domestic product, $14.8 billion in revenue is contributed to the U.S. federal tax, local and state agencies receive $13.2 billion in generated taxes, and $66.8 billion is paid to workers for their labor in this industry in the U.S. each year.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics 1.8 million people are currently employed in the industry and that number is expected to grow 33% from 2012-2022. To put this into prospective, there are only 2.4 million employed in legal services and the truck transportation industry combined. This demonstrates the magnitude of this industry. Event and meeting planner professions ranked #57 in the 2015 ranking of best Jobs in the US.
types of events and meetings
As I mentioned earlier, 1.8 million meetings and events occur every year in the US. The breakdown of that 1.8 million group are as follows: 270,000 are conventions, conferences, or congresses; 66,000 are incentive meetings; 11,000 are a variety of trade shows; 1.3 million are corporate or business related meetings; while another 178,000 fall into a multitude of other categories including festivals. These events attract around 205 million participants per year.
vendors
When it comes to festivals, the number of vendors varies. A typical small festival has on average between 20-30 vendors and the larger festivals can have 50 or more.
Typical types of vendors needed for an event such as parties, weddings, conferences include transportation and parking personnel, caterers and bartenders, performers calligrapher, florist, an art director, graphic artist, photographers and /or videographers, and other types of vendors that are not just limited to the above categories.
Many other types of vendors exist to serve your event needs. An example of vendor categories for the Cape Fear Mix and Mingle event which was offering over 50 vendors spaces in the following categories: agriculture containing vendors from farming and garden centers, cleaning companies and cleaning product sales, crafts, coaching in financial or life coaching, essential oils, fashion & accessories, fitness such as yoga, trainers and gyms, home decor & accessories, such as Tupperware and candles, jewelry, kids activities, makeup & beauty, massage and wellness, nutrition and health made of different types of doctors and health related products.
The number of vendors per event fluctuates depending on the type of event, size, length, etc. Using the specific events as an example we can estimate how many vendors are typically needed per event.
According to Wanderlust, one of their festivals usually ranges from 20-30 vendors. The average attendance for a Wanderlust even in 2016 was 9,170. So, you can approximate that 30 vendors were needed per 9,000 attendees. Events held by Forum Events typically limit the number of vendors to 2 or 3 vendors per category.
Another resources to find information on events, Festivalsnet provides listings of a variety of different trade show and festival related events including vendor information in Canada and the U.S. Also provided is a link to an article listing the top 50 events in the U.S.
conclusion
To wrap things up, there are approximately 1.8 million events and meetings held per year in the United States. The number of vendors per event considerably varies based on the type of event, the size of the venue, and the attendance. Thank you for asking wonder and please let us know if we can help with anything else.