How to check an events industry statistic with Athena

You’re finishing a proposal for a client. On LinkedIn you read: “90% of organisers already use AI every day”. It would be perfect for making the case for an assistant at the event. But if your client asks “where does this come from?”, you don’t know what to say.

Athena clears up the doubt. It’s free and signing up is optional. You paste in the figure and within a minute you know whether you can use it. If you can’t, it gives you the one that holds up, with its study and its page.

What happens if I paste the figure I’ve seen into Athena?

First it tells you whether the figure holds up. With the 90% sentence, Athena’s real answer is clear: that figure exists, but it measures something else. There are several “90%” figures in industry studies and none of them is about daily use.

Then it gives you the closest data point. According to Global DMC Partners, 30% of planners said they used AI daily, in a survey from late 2023 and early 2024 (page 3) ^[1]. There is another study with 91%, from PCMA and Gevme (December 2024), which measures whether AI has been used in any way ^[2]. Using it at some point and using it every day are very different things.

And at the end, a sentence you can copy as it is, with its citations underneath:

“There is no support in this data for claiming that 90% of organisers use AI daily. The closest measurement indicates that 30% of planners said they used it daily in a survey from late 2023 and early 2024; other surveys measure general use or specific tasks, not daily use.”

You don’t lose the slide. You swap a 90% that falls at the first question for a 30% with study, date and page. And if your client wants to check it, they open the document at that page.

What if what I have is a question?

Write the question the way you would ask a colleague, in English or in Spanish. For example: “What percentage of event organisers use artificial intelligence?”.

Athena tells you something almost nobody mentions: there is no single figure. It shows you each measurement separately, with its year and how many people were asked:

• PCMA (the Professional Convention Management Association) and Gevme: 91% had used AI in some way. December 2024, 92 professionals ^[2].
• Encore: half used it for planning. March 2025, 132 organisers ^[3].
• Global DMC Partners: almost 48% used it frequently in 2024 (page 18) ^[1].

Look at the size. PCMA and Gevme asked 92 people. Cvent asked more than 1,650 planners in July 2025 ^[6]. A small survey is a clue, not a rule. If you use it, say who was asked.

That way you choose the one that fits what you want to say. And when no study measures what you ask, Athena tells you: “no data”. Better to know now than in the meeting.

Can I put two figures together?

Yes, and it saves you an awkward moment. Imagine you have two data points on 2026 budgets:

• Bizzabo: 40% of organisers expect their budget to grow (page 4) ^[4].
• EITW (a German institute for the meetings industry): organisers’ budgets change by an average of +6.5% compared with 2025, with 628 responses from the German market (page 40) ^[5].

They seem to be about the same thing. Athena warns you that you can put them on the same slide, but not subtract them. One counts how many organisers expect to raise their budget. The other measures how much it rises on average, asking different people.

What if two studies say the opposite?

It really does happen: one says something is going up and another says it is going down. Don’t take the average. Show both, each with its date and who was asked. And tell your client the figure varies depending on the study. It is the honest answer, and also the one that holds up if someone checks.

How do I take it into my proposal?

Copy Athena’s sentence with its citations. If you write it in your own words, keep four things: the study, the year, who was asked and the page. In small print it would look like this: “Global DMC Partners, survey of planners from late 2023 and early 2024, page 3”.

That line answers “where does this come from?” before anyone asks.

If you already work with ChatGPT or Claude, you can connect Athena to them and ask from there. For that you do need an account.

Want to see it with a real case? Open Athena’s answer to “How do organisers expect their event budgets to change in 2026?”. Then paste the last figure someone sent you into Athena.

Sources

Real Athena answers from September 2026. In Athena every data point carries its page and the link to the document.

1. Global DMC Partners, Q3 2024 survey report: daily use in late 2023 and early 2024 (page 3) and frequent use in 2024 (page 18).
2. PCMA (the Professional Convention Management Association) and Gevme, December 2024 survey published by PCMA (92 business events professionals): use of AI in some way.
3. Encore, spring 2025 “Planner Pulse”, March 2025 survey (132 planners): use of AI for planning.
4. Bizzabo, “State of Events 2026”, page 4 (doesn’t publish the sample size): expected budget growth.
5. EITW (Europäisches Institut für TagungsWirtschaft, a German institute for the meetings industry), “Meeting- & EventBarometer Deutschland 2025/2026”, an online survey run from January to March 2026 among organisers in Germany and other countries (628 responses), page 40: average budget change.
6. Cvent, “2026 Global Planner Sourcing Report”, July 2025 survey of more than 1,650 planners worldwide: sample size.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to sign up to use Athena?

No. The website works without signing up and it’s free. You only need to sign up if you want to connect it to ChatGPT or Claude.

Can I copy Athena’s sentence into a proposal?

Yes. Copy it with its citations, so anyone can open the study and check it.

What do I do if Athena says “no data”?

Tell your client exactly that. If it helps, use the closest data point, explaining what it measures. It is always better than a figure you can’t defend later.

Can anyone else see my questions?

No. Your questions are not published.