Resources

On 2^nd December 2024, representatives of IAEH member organisations and selected guests attending the Host City conference, held a Destination Workshop focusing on economic, social and environmental impacts from major events. The following topics were covered:

Common Indicators for Measuring the Impact of Events
– Relevance of cultural and business events
– Soft power and influence
– Gathering and reporting robust data

Economic Indicators
– Urban regeneration
– Brand association
– Employability

Social and Environmental Indicators
– Programmes of community engagement
– Dedicated individuals holding responsibility within the organising team
– Commitment to an ongoing relationship for legacy

Iain Edmondson, IAEH Honorary Member and Founder and Manager of Legacy Delivery, continues his insightful series on the Common Indicators for Measuring the Impact of Events, this time by considering their practical application:

– The importance of relativity and comparison in impact assessment guidance
– Using KPIs to plan and deliver, with before and after examples
– Choosing relevant common indicators for events
– Super League Triathlon exemplified- use of previous cases for future preparation
– Use of KPIs to consider who and how an event should impact
– Use of self-assessment scales
– Different frameworks for different purposes
– National wellbeing indicators framework case example

As part of the 2022 IAEH AGM’s programme, Sustainability Consultant Benjamin Barrett was invited to present on the relevance of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Benjamin’s presentation included:

– Policy driven events
– Contributing to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
– Key steps for UN SDG mapping
– Case study on ensuring healthy lives and well-being
– Monitoring SDG contributions
– Building an evaluation framework
– Sustainable procurement code

The slide deck is available to members here.

As part of the 2021 IAEH AGM’s programme, New Zealand Major Events Manager Susan Sawbridge was invited to present on the experience of successfully hosting the 2021 America’s Cup amidst the pandemic. The slide deck is available to members only here.

Susan’s presentation included:
– New Zealand’s Covid-19 strategy
– America’s Cup event concept and challenges
– Event Covid-19 Management Plan
– Key takeaways for success

As part of the 2021 IAEH AGM’s programme, ASOIF Executive Director Andrew Ryan was invited to share insights on the landscape of IF events in the coming years. The slide deck is available to members only here.

The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) is the umbrella organisation for the 33 sports on the summer Olympic Games programme for Tokyo 2020.

Andrew’s presentation included the following content:
– Global Trends Impacting Sports
– Future of Global Sport
– Impacts of Covid-19
– Event Impact Studies

The ability to better understand the ever-growing role os sport tourism within local communities is of utmost importance.

During July 2020, a self-completion survey was completed by 4,000 adults across the four regions (Midwest, Northeast, South, and West) of the United States (1,000 respondents from each region). Survey respondents were asked to identify their level of support when it came to hosting and/or attending, participating in, or watching various types of sporting events (outdoor, youth, amateur, collegiate, and professional). The study also sought to assess respondents’ perceptions of event safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This white paper is based on a 2020 study conducted by Longwoods Internatoional and was shared by IAEH member Sports ETA.

Presentation delivered by Peter Decuypere (VisitFlanders / EventFlanders) at the IAEH Webinar “CERM – COVID Event Risk Model” on 16th September 2020.

As multiple countries are reopening their borders, VisitFlanders Convention Bureau worked hard on a framework to safely restart its congress, meetings and events industry. In collaboration with the Alliance of Belgian Event Federations, the Expertise Centre for Public Impact KdG and the Belgian Government, VisitFlanders and EventFlanders provide three practical tools that are available free of charge and in different languages to any organiser. CERM is one of the free tools available – Click here to access CERM.

To quantify the economic significance of the sports tourism sector in the U.S., Tourism Economics prepared a comprehensive model using multiple primary and secondary data sources to quantify the economic impacts arising from sports-related travel spending. 

Impact modeling is based on an IMPLAN Input-Output (I-O) model for the U.S. The results of this study show the scope of the sports tourism sector in terms of direct sports-related travel spending, as well as total economic impacts, including employment, household income, and tax impacts in the broader economy. 

This report was prepared by Tourism Economics for IAEH member Sports Events and Tourism Association (Sports ETA – USA).

Restarting tourism: the post pandemic future of tourism and major events.

Presentation delivered by Mr. Michel Julian – Senior Officer, Tourism Market Intelligence and Competitiveness, UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), exclusive for IAEH members at the 2020 IAEH Annual General Meeting.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 IAEH AGM was held online through Zoom on 8th July 2020.

Summary of the World Tourism Organisation’s assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on international tourism for the period between January and March 2020.

The UNWTO is a United Nations specialised agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

Source: www.unwto.org

The IAEH consults its members every year to understand their experiences and expectations, key areas of interest and to make sure the activities proposed remain relevant. Thisyear, with the uncertainty of COVID-19 and its impact on events globally, the need to ensure the IAEH provides the right content, in the right format, is more important than ever.

This year, 24 out of 41 members, participated and shared their thoughts on the IAEH resources, activities and administration. The survey also included a section with questions related to the COVID-19 crisis.

This document lists the full results of the 2020 Members’ Survey.

This report summarises the IAEH activities between April 2019 and April 2020 and includes information on current membership, current administration, and plans for 2020-2021. It also informs members on IAEH’s finance as well as budget for the year ahead.

Sustainability within athletics is defined as driving the practices and behaviours of individuals and organisations developing the sport in such a way that it:
– accounts for the needs of future generations,
– provides a fair and level sporting platform based on sound ethical principles,
– actively involves interested parties and is open about decisions and activities, and
– ensures actions take a balanced approach to their social, economic and environmental impact.

Putting in place a robust sustainability strategy ensures World Athletics and its partner organisations have a framework for delivering tangible benefits across the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, social and economic.

https://www.worldathletics.org/news/press-releases/sustainability-strategy-2020

Presentation was used by Iain Edmondson (IAEH Director) and IAEH members Guillaume Dupuy (VisitOSLO), Kirsty Garrett and David Bickley (Glasgow Life), Patrik Tengwall and Karin Mäntymäki (Visit Stockholm) in the IAEH workshop part of the programme of the 2019 Host City Conference.

The European Championships is a new multi-sport event that was co-hosted by Glasgow and Berlin in 2018. The inaugural event incorporated the existing European Championships for athletics and combined with aquatics, cycling, gymnastics, rowing, triathlon and golf.

This study, commissioned by Glasgow City Council, is a Post event evaluation report including sporting and cultural legacy, economic impacts, social and community benefits and more.

Slides used at the 2019 IAEH Annual Forum in the Gold Coast, Australia, on 6th May, including the following sections:

– Annual Report 2018-2019
– Kerry Petersen’s (Deputy Director-General, Office of the Commonwealth Games) presentation: Maximising GC2018 Legacy Outcomes
– Iain Edmondson’s (IAEH Director) presentation on the Event Impact Standards project
– Work Plan 2019-2020
– Financial Report

The post games report of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games compiled by the office of the Commonwealth Games, Department of Innovation, Tourism Industry Development and the Commonwealth Games and published by the State of Queensland.

This report includes sections on legacy, governance and finance.

Presentation on the experiences of hosting the 2018 European Championships delivered by Billy Garrett, Director of Sport and Events, Glasgow Life, at the IAEH meeting in London in December 2018.

This presentation includes audience evaluation, broadcast, marketing & communications summary and key outputs and results.

Evaluation report prepared by Culture Counts on behalf of the Queensland’s government’s office of the Commonwealth Games.

Presentation delivered by Peter Tudor, Director of Visitor Services, Park Operations & Venues, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, at the IAEH meeting and Knowledge Sharing session in December 2018 in London.

The slides show the continued transformation of a 200 hectares area in east London triggered by the building of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The park is part of the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games and is the “new heart of east London”.

This report contains detailed statistical analysis on key drivers of sport participation and physical activity and presents an understanding of the relative importance of different factors determining a given individual’s propensity to be active. It provides a full picture of the value generated by physical activity in terms of health, the economy, and social value.

This report was developed by Portas Consulting Ltd.

This article by the Johan Cruyff Institute analyses the keys that have made the US Tennis Open the event with the biggest audience attendance in the world and how is the organisation of a first-class sporting event. Fundamental aspects such as brand image, sponsorship, volunteers and merchandising are covered.

Presentation delivered by Dr Munehiko Harada of the Waseda University and Chairman of Japan Sport Tourism Alliance at the 2018 Annual Forum of the International Association of Event Hosts, in Bangkok, on April 19th.

The eventIMPACTS Toolkit is intended to provide organisers and supporters of public events with some key guidance and good practice principles for evaluating impacts associated with their event. The project is backed by the UK government. Click here to access the eventIMPACTS website.

This report was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and published in 2008.

The OECD Programme on Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED), concerned with the issue of how major international events can help promote local development, approved key principles which were published in this report and have been used by cities and national governments as guidance for bidding, hosting and leveraging local benefits. The author proposes a framework for the local benefits of global events and presents several case studies on trade fairs and exhibition events, cultural events, sports events, and political summits and conference events.

The Eurovision Song Contest is hosted annually by the previous year’s winning country. Hosts have one year to prepare and deliver a large scale event that attracts media attention from several hundred million of people.

Stockholm, Sweden, hosted the event in 2016 and this report summarises the city’s experience. The report was commissioned by the City of Stockholm and produced by Sweco who carried out the surveys of the visitors, the accredited press, and accredited fans and bloggers. Sweco looked at how locals perceived the event both before and after the contest. Meltwater analysed media mentions.

The city of Auckland in New Zealand hosted the 9^th edition of the World Masters Games between 21st and 30th of April 2017. This comprehensive report shows the results of the event through 8 different areas: governance, finance and corporate services, commercial, marketing and communications, sports and venues, games operations, volunteers, and ceremonies and events. It also includes a section on the research methodologies applied to assess different aspects of the event.

The Auckland WMG operated under key performance indicators (KPI) and three underlying contracts encompassing the achievement of specific goals. The report shows the specific KPI targets that guided all WMG2017 activity comprising athlete targets, economic benefit targets, revenue targets/break-even budget, and satisfaction targets (customers, partners and public).

Challenges related to the delivery of the event such as coordinating multiple partners and realising consistency of service from providers and the experience of participants were also presented in this report.

A collection of case studies covering cultural and sporting events across the UK produced by eventIMPACTS.

These summary case studies provide headline information on the economic impact of each event and a breakdown of the statistics that contributed to the impact including attendance figures, local visitors, day visitors, commercial/non-commercial stayers, number of days attended, average bed nights, average daily spend and average accommodation spend.

Nine events were analysed:

– Lumiere London 2016
– Ridelondon 2015
– Glasgow Gymnastics World Cup 2012
– Canoe Slalom World Champs 2015
– Taekwondo World Grand Prix 2014
– UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2016
– Edinburgh’s Festivals 2015
– Cardiff Half Marathon 2015
– Hay Festival 2016

The eventIMPACTS Toolkit is intended to provide organisers and supporters of public events with some key guidance and good practice principles for evaluating impacts associated with their event. The project is backed by the UK government. Click here to access the eventIMPACTS website.

This toolkit is provided as a menu from which to choose the media impact measurement approach best suited to the aims and objectives of an event organiser and their stakeholders. It explains some of the standard measures of media impact relative to how true a reflection of media impact they deliver.

There are several ways of measuring media impact, this toolkit shows examples of three methods:

– Volume of coverage: provides a measure of an event’s popularity

– Engagement and tone: indicators that measure the extent to which followers interact with the event and analysis of the tone of the social media messages.

– Media value: can come from print, television, electronic and new-media coverage of an event generated via live and delayed coverage, news coverage, press releases, interviews, video and photographs.

The eventIMPACTS Toolkit is intended to provide organisers and supporters of public events with some key guidance and good practice principles for evaluating impacts associated with their event. The project is backed by the UK government. Click here to access the eventIMPACTS website.

The Social Impact Toolkit available here seeks to provide the starting point for a more structured approach to the measurement of the social impacts of events. The reason for measuring social impacts can often be linked directly to the aims and objectives of the event funders. Any event organiser should wish to understand how their event impacts on the perceptions and behaviour of people (whether directly or indirectly).

eventIMPACTS has identified four areas of social impacts:

– Participation

– Volunteering & Skills

– Identity and Image

– Satisfaction

The toolkit proposes a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the social impacts of hosting major events and provides evidence and indicators for each of the identified areas.

This report is a compilation of the findings from an Eventbrite survey completed by more than 1500 attendees of live eSports tournaments and competitions from 2013-2014. There are interesting observations on trends and commercial opportunities and also insights into the profile of eSport event gamers. The results reveal that the eSports industry is growing fast and that fans are more and more interested in attending eSports events.

The demand for these events is greater than ever. Just as fans of traditional sports would not miss the big game, and music fans anticipate their favourite artist’s next tour, eSports fans go to live events to take part in a singular experience where they can see the best of the best in action. This passion and sense of exclusivity can translate into real revenue for developers, sponsors, convention directors and host cities.

The report suggests that gamers want more events, more often and in more places. It also concludes that live eSports event participants love to attend as many gaming events as possible and are willing to travel far and wide to attend those events. Cities can benefit from hosting eSports events in many ways, including attracting visiting tourists and engaging with young people.

Edinburgh is internationally renowned for the annual Festival programme which it hosts. Starting with the Edinburgh International Festival in 1947, it has developed a year-round programme of Festivals which is crucial to the cultural, economic and social life of the city and its region, and of Scotland itself.

This study published in July 2016 was developed by BOP Consulting commissioned by Festivals Edinburgh and assessed the impact of the 12 Festivals. It takes a holistic approach that considers social, cultural and economic effects. The research results showed that the Festivals do not just provide great cultural experiences, but also help to increase access to culture and build wider participation and discovery among audiences.

The core festival outcomes presented and detailed in the study are:

– Cultural Impact

– Social Impact and Wellbeing

– Place-making and Identity

The sections about Wellbeing and Place-making are especially interesting as they show a not so obvious perspective of the impacts of hosting this kind of major event.

The economic impact is considered a wider festival outcome and presented in a separated report section from the core outcomes.

This report published in 2014 is an evaluation of the Winter Games Bids 2010 – 2018 and offers recommendations for the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020. It was jointly produced by the Austrian Olympic Committee, the German Olympic Sports Confederation, the Swedish Olympic Committee and the Swiss Olympic Association.

The striking element welding all four committees together is the fact that all had Olympic bids lost due to a lack in national or at least regional public or political support. The affected committees therefore initiated a comprehensive review of past bid processes to identify the challenges of the current bidding procedure as well as to propose possible solutions.

Eight high priority challenges were identified and subsumed under three major topics: the process of bidding, the costs of the games, the scale of the games. The solution proposed is to rethink the bidding procedure in order to reduce complexity and increase transparency and flexibility for potential bid cities.

From winning the bid to the official results, this report shows a holistic view of Glasgow’s experience as the XX Commonwealth Games host city.

IAEH highlights differential points that made of the 2014 Commonwealth Games an outstanding event.

• Sport Programme: Incorporated more Women’s and Para-sport events than ever before.
• Ticketing: First Commonwealth Games to offer half-price children’s concessions. 5,000 tickets were set aside for disadvantaged children from across Scotland.
• Human rights: Glasgow 2014 published its own approach to human rights – the first sporting mega-event organisation to do so anywhere in the world.
• Sustainability: The first Commonwealth Games to achieve ISO 20121 status.
• Planning: The Games was delivered on time and within its £575.6 million budget.

The full report comprising details of the Games delivery and including marketing strategy, operational planning, commercial partnerships and more is available to download here.

In June 2016 Paris and nine other cities in France successfully hosted the UEFA EURO Football Tournament and in November, the Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Tourism & Sports, Jean-François Martins, spoke at the Host City Conference in Glasgow about the plan developed to host the major event and the lessons learned in the process.

The Local Organising Committee had the vision of making the EURO 2016 more than just another event and to make it serve as a boost to the city’s public policies. It developed a plan which considered the needs of the city and how the event could be used to accelerate and facilitate the fulfillment of those needs. As a result, actions were taken to engage all districts of the city, not only central Paris, and all Parisians, not only football fans. The mindset was of permanent attention to all stakeholders, aiming to deliver the best experience to all of them.

Paris also overcame terrorist threats and delivered a safe and secure event without undermining people’s enthusiasm. Finding the balance between excitement and security was the biggest challenge faced in hosting the EURO 2016, according to Jean-François who stated: “There was no magic, it was necessary to invest a lot of money and to have great collaboration between the national government, local public authorities, intelligence agencies, and the private sector”.

The tournament was a success and its impacts very positive; three million people visited Paris during the event; the Fan Zone by the Eiffel Tower welcomed 1.2 million visitors; a 92% satisfaction rate amongst tournament attendees was achieved and there was an increase of 6% in the number of search requests for VisitParis on Google.

The full presentation was kindly shared by Deputy Mayor Jean-François Martins and is available to download here.

This guide was developed by the Ministry for the Environment from New Zealand.

“Designed to help owners and organisers of major events ensure their event is both successful and more environmentally responsible. It outlines ways to develop and implement an environmental strategy and action plan, and offers practical tips, resources and checklists. Event owners and organisers will find it a valuable source of ideas for reducing their event’s environmental impacts in many key areas – from choosing supplies and contractors, to managing waste and resource use, transport, energy, water and greenhouse gas emissions.”

The guide comprises three sections. The first shows how to develop and implement an environmental strategy and action plan, the second shows the greening focus areas and the last brings tools, checklists and templates. It also shows how to overcome challenges in the planning process, such as proving cost effectiveness of proposed actions, generating full commitment of the event owner, event organisers and decision makers and avoiding greenwashing (misleading consumers about a company’s environmental practices or about the environmental benefits of a product or service).

Environmental strategy may be a minimum requirement to enter the bid process to host a major event or can be a point of difference between competing bids. Planning and delivering an environmentally responsible event can save money by reducing the cost of waste disposal, energy and water, meet international expectations and create legacies by raising attendees’ awareness and inspiring behaviour change.

This report shows the economic impacts and benefits analysis of hosting the 2015 Cricket World Cup. It was prepared by PwC Australia at the request of Cricket World Cup 2015 Ltd, Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket. The event was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand during February and March 2015. It served as a major catalyst for collaboration between the neighbours and is considered a successfully delivered major event.

From the report, IAEH highlights two points of difference:

• Hosting the ICC CWC 2015 in partnership required considerable communication and cooperation between the Australian Federal Government and the New Zealand Government. Each country established a centralised agency to help coordinate their support and services. The Major Sporting Events Taskforce in Australia and the World Cup’s Office in New Zealand brought together the key government departments and agencies including Immigration, Customs and Border Control, Security, Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Tourism.
• Focus on engagement with multicultural communities. The ICC CWC 2015 successfully attracted the interest and participation of multicultural communities, celebrating diversity in harmony. There was also a large participation of overseas communities, as 145,000 international tourists attended the tournament out of 595,000.

The UK Government and Mayor of London’s official report on the impacts of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, published on the 4th anniversary of the Games.

Lumiere London was a free outdoor light festival hosted across central London to transform the capital’s iconic buildings and public spaces with 30 installations from the world-class British and international artists.

An example of a strategy and vision for major events from EventScotland’s role in developing Scotland’s Events Industry from 2015 to 2025.

Presentation of Scotland’s objectives and outcomes of hosting the 2015 FIG World Gymnastics Championships at the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow.

Presentation of Canada’s objectives and outcomes of hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015.

An economic impact assessment and media exposure evaluation using a quantitative method to estimate the economic benefits and media exposure that the 2014 Prudential RideLondon festival of cycling brought to London and the surrounding areas.