Conference Organizing Business

2 Conference Organizing Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 7th, 2024

Imagine shaping the professional landscape by organizing impactful conferences. A conference organizing business involves planning, managing, and executing events where industry professionals gather to exchange knowledge and network.

You'll be responsible for everything from securing venues and coordinating speakers to handling logistics and marketing the event. This is a hands-on venture that requires excellent organizational skills and a keen eye for detail.

For those who thrive on meticulous planning and have a knack for problem-solving, this business presents a particularly rewarding challenge. It offers the chance to influence industries, foster professional connections, and create memorable experiences for attendees.

If you’re driven to bring people together and facilitate important dialogues, a career in conference organizing could be both fulfilling and lucrative. The real work includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and ensuring that every element—from catering to AV equipment—runs smoothly.

In this list, you'll find real-world conference organizing business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a conference organizing business that makes money.

1. Digital Procurement World (DPW) ($1.95M/year)

Matthias Gutzmann, the CEO and Founder of DPW, came up with the idea for his business when he realized that existing procurement conferences were expensive, lacked diversity, and failed to attract startups and investors. He left his job in New York, moved back to Germany, and invested his personal savings to launch DPW. Leveraging his extensive network and applying social selling techniques, Matthias successfully created a buzz and attracted sponsors, delegates, and startups to his conference, leading to exponential growth and €1.8M in revenue in 2022.

How much money it makes: $1.95M/year
How much did it cost to start: $10.8K
How many people on the team: 6

How I Leveraged My LinkedIn Network To Create A $1.8M/Year Procurement Conference

DPW (Digital Procurement World) is a fast-growing conference and community in procurement that has more than tripled in revenue since launching in 2019, capping out the year at €1.8 million, with 95% of their growth coming from inbound traffic leveraging LinkedIn and applying social selling techniques.

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2. FinCon ($1M/year)

Philip Taylor, a CPA and personal finance blogger, came up with the idea for FinCon after being inspired by personal finance bloggers who had achieved financial freedom. He saw a need for a conference tailored specifically for personal finance content creators and brands, and after receiving overwhelming interest from the community, he launched the first Financial Blogger Conference in Chicago in 2011.

How much money it makes: $1M/year
How much did it cost to start: $25
How many people on the team: 4

How I Created An Annual Conference That Generates $1.6M/Year

Discover how Philip Taylor built FinCon from scratch to a 3,000 attendee annual conference and achieved $1.6M in revenue in less than 10 years, by allowing customers to help build the event, fostering a sense of community, expanding offerings, pricing strategically, and surrounding himself with talented people.

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