Beyond Tourism Benefits + Ohio School Boards Association
has just been published, and it’s packed with interesting findings. "It has long been known anecdotally
that the benefactors of business-event legacies are not only attending del- egates. Sponsors, local industry profes- sionals, post-graduate students, and the general public are all touched by the outcomes of business events,” said Lyn Lewis-Smith, BESydney’s CEO. “The research provided solid quantitative evidence that these benefits extend far beyond the conference doors.”
FIVE CASE STUDIES Conducted by the School of Leisure, Sport, and Tourism at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), the report took a case-study approach, focusing on five meetings held in Sydney from 2007 to 2010: the 4th Inter- national AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treat- ment, and Prevention (IAS 2007); the 3rd Asia Pacific Regional International Solar Energy Society Conference (ISES 2008); the 19th World Congress of the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law (ISLSSL 2009); the 7th International Orthodontics Congress (IOC 2010); and the 5th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport (IWG 2010). UTS researchers inter- viewed organizers, attendees, and other stakeholders from each conference, and also analyzed data from a variety of secondary sources. They found that all of the confer-
ences produced a ripple effect of sorts, with shock waves of influence beginning in a particular industry’s local community of professionals and radiating outward. The benefits were felt most strongly in the areas of “knowledge expansion; networking, relationships, and collaboration; educa- tional outcomes; fundraising and future research capacity; raising awareness
16 PCMA CONVENE JULY 2012
‘Sponsors, local professionals, students, and the general public are all touched by the outcomes of business events.’
and profiling; and showcasing and des- tination reputation.” For example: › “IAS 2007 was considered important in raising awareness of the research and scientific excellence of those working in the Australian HIV sector to interna- tional delegates.” › “During [ISES 2008] delegates were taken on tours of solar energy labs, facilities, and sites in Sydney and Newcastle. … [A]s a consequence of the site visits and delegates’ experiences of Sydney some people have subsequently sought to undertake higher-degree research in the renewable-energy sec- tor in Australia.” › “Attendance at ISLSSL 2009 resulted in an invitation for one individual to participate as a guest speaker in an upcoming Inter- national Congress in Washington.” › “A financial outcome of IOC 2010 was a significant increase in funds for the [Australian Society of Orthodontists’
Foundation for Research and Educa- tion]. This funding boost will support more and larger projects to be under- taken by Australian researchers.” › “It was decided that the legacy of IWG 2010 will focus on increasing the number of women on boards and management committees of all sport- ing organisations at an international, national, and local level. … Research collaborations around this topic have already begun among conference delegates from Australia, Tunisia, Botswana, United States, New Zealand, and Canada.”
OPENING A PANDORA’S BOX
“The most impressive finding from the study would have to be the power of business events to build a destina- tion’s professional knowledge and innovation capacities,” Lewis-Smith said. “Yes, business events do drive the visitor economy, but they also drive our
knowledge economy and have valuable and powerful flow-on effects for our local industries and businesses.” Locally, BESydney is using the
research to reinforce the benefits of the meetings industry to “the wider government, business, and academic communities,” Lewis-Smith said, and also to adjust its bidding strategy, “as event organizers can also benefit from understanding the far-reaching ben- efits of business events and the ways to maximize these legacies.” BESydney is also working with its
fellow members of the Future Conven- tion Cities Initiative — the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, the Durban Kwa- Zulu-Natal Convention Bureau, Lon- don and Partners, the San Francisco Travel Association, the Seoul Tourism Organization, and Tourism Toronto — to implement the research project on an international scale. “There is the potential that the legacies of business events may differ and be influenced by culture and customs,” Lewis-Smith said. “The global results will help us explore how the benefits of business events vary between different interna- tional destinations.” In other words, this is just the
beginning. “Looking beyond the tour- ism benefits of business events is like opening a Pandora’s box in many ways,” Lewis-Smith said, “but as with any large-scale research it is about defining parameters and objectives. You need to know what you’re looking for. We had a wealth of anecdotal evidence from the industry that these benefits did exist, but we needed to target our approach to pinpoint the most valuable and shared legacies as a starting point.”