The Global Impact Measurement Tool for Association Conferences will be developed by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) in collaboration with Business Events Sydney, Barcelona Convention Bureau, Copenhagen Convention Bureau, Flanders Convention Bureau and Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The tool is intended to quantify scientific, social and economic impacts of association meetings beyond the tourism metrics that are most frequently discussed in relation to conferences.
In its announcement of the project, ICCA said the tool would be created via a “comprehensive, academically grounded, industry-informed methodology”.
The research for the tool will be led by Professor Carmel Foley, Adjunct Professor Deborah Edwards and Dr. Anja Hergesell from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and by Professor Nina Iversen of BI Norwegian Business School and Professor Leif Hem from Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).
The three researchers from UTS have already been involved in this sort of research for both Business Events Sydney and New Zealand, where a current legacy project is underway, helmed by ChristchurchNZ.
The tool is expected to be able to be used around the world to measure conference impact, providing critical metrics for the industry as a whole, event organisers, event owners and destinations to demonstrate what has been, up to now, difficult to measure and communicate to key stakeholders who help facilitate business events and who invest in the infrastructure which enables the industry.
The tool has a targeted completion date in mid-2028.
