Blog: Social impact the new metric business events must embrace in a post-Covid world

While SARS-CoV-2 continues to affect millions of people globally through the outbreak of Covid-19, questions are being asked of our business events(conference) sector. What will international business travel look like beyond 2020? What is the future of the international business events sector? 

New Zealand’s lock-down in March & April allowed for some much-needed reflection time, and it led to some uncomfortable conversations. At a time when those most vulnerable in our communities needed help, had we done enough to support them? How had we engaged with our local communities and ecosystems and really understood them? How had we shown social ROI?  

In mid-2018, I attended a conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Held over three days and attended by international associations, destinations, and conference planners. While relatively unassuming, a session called Beyond Meeting Related Objectives - Impact & Legacy with Geneviève Leclerc (Meet4Impact) was my game-changing moment. 

It led me to question how we measure the business events sector in New Zealand. Was measuring economic value enough? No. Were we a misunderstood sector for those outside of the world of business events? Yes.

Our traditional metric for measuring business events is economic impact. Its relatively easy to understand, helps those financial KPIs, and gives context to the scope of our sector to business and to Government.

However, economic impact measurement is Government and destination-centric. It doesn’t measure a new knowledge, a new behaviour, or a new technology. It doesn’t disclose how the outcome of a conference can align with industry sector outcomes or a destination’s strategic plans. It doesn’t consider innovation, and it doesn’t indicate positive social improvement or well-being of our communities.

How do we do this in New Zealand? Let’s widen the scope. Let’s implement a broad range of social impact metrics. Identify areas of need in our communities. Consider how conferences could address these needs. Align conference outcomes and community outcomes. Identify steps to achieving these outcomes. Plan. Measure. Report. Repeat.

While many of us work in a range of roles in the business events sector, collectively we can find solutions to assist and engage our local communities. This doesn’t just mean we’re going to solve everything but we must show greater value to help those in need.