We analyzed 1,781 requirements and questions from the RFPs of 25 associations and trade show organizers. The findings were consistent, and the most expensive gaps were not in what buyers asked, but in what they left out.
Most advice on writing an event technology RFP is from people who have never had to respond to one.
We have. Our solution design team responds to these documents constantly, and over the past two years, we have built a structured record of what arrives: The requirement lists, the scoring grids, the questions asked, and the answers we gave. When we sat down to analyze it properly, we expected to find variation. Different association, different sector, different event = different priorities.
That is not what the data shows. Association and trade show organization RFPs are remarkably consistent, and they are consistent in a specific and somewhat surprising way. They are thorough about the things vendors find easy to answer, and close to silent about the things that become expensive eighteen months into a contract.
This article is what we found, and what we would change.
