BE Canada
Beyond the event: What Canada’ s legacy study is revealing about real impact
DESTINATION CANADA OFFERS US A CLOSER LOOK AT THE COUNTRY’ S NEW BUSINESS EVENTS LEGACY AND IMPACT STUDY
F or decades, the success of
conferences and events have been measured in familiar ways. Delegate numbers, hotel nights, economic impact models that capture spend during a single week in a single place. These metrics still matter, but they don’ t reflect the full story.
Across the global meetings and incentive industry, expectations are shifting. Governments want to see longterm value and investment. Communities want to feel included and also receive benefits. Associations are increasingly asking how their events can contribute to real progress in the sectors they serve, locally and internationally – while attendees want their participation to have a meaningful impact, too. In this context, the idea of‘ legacy’ has moved from a nice ambition to a strategic requirement.
Canada’ s Business Events Legacy and Impact Study was created to answer a simple but challenging question: what is the actual impact after a major business event leaves town?
Measuring what lasts Led by Destination Canada and delivered in collaboration with research partners # MEET4IMPACT and GainingEdge, the multi-year study tracks the longterm impacts of international business events hosted in Canada between 2018
and 2025. It examines conferences across six priority economic sectors where Canada has global strengths, including life sciences, natural resources, agribusiness, advanced manufacturing, finance and digital industries.
What sets the study apart is not just its scope, but its approach. Rather than focusing solely on immediate economic return, it evaluates outcomes that emerge months and years after an event concludes. These include social, intellectual, policy, human, cultural and financial outcomes, measured using a standardised Impact Measurement Framework developed by # MEET4IMPACT, that allows findings to be compared across events, sectors and destinations.
The goal is not to replace traditional metrics, but to broaden the definition of success. As the study makes clear,
Left: Bilston Creek Farm
Below: Ottawa Convention Centre business events can be catalysts for change, when they are designed with purpose and impact from the outset.
“ What makes this study stand out is its scale and its focus on evidence over time,” said Virginie De Visscher, executive director, Business Events, Destination Canada.“ It lets us move beyond anecdotes and demonstrate how international business events can support innovation, influence policy development and strengthen community wellbeing.”
What the data is already showing With Year One and Year Two findings now published, clear patterns are emerging.
Across the 12 international conferences held in Canada from 2018 to 2025 that have been studied, connection and collaboration outcomes appear most frequently, followed closely by intellectual and policy outcomes. Taken together, the findings point to conferences as more than timebound gatherings. They create the conditions for relationship-building that strengthens professional networks, accelerates knowledge transfer, and can influence public policy and build capacity within host communities.
The financial impact is also significant. More than CAD $ 2bn in public funding commitments and investments have been directly attributed to the events analysed to date. These investments support initiatives ranging from biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation, to public health, sector innovation and Indigenous-led stewardship programmes.
The UN Biodiversity Conference COP15, hosted in Montréal in 2022, offers a powerful example. Beyond the immediate scale of the event, COP15 played a central role in the adoption of the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, which commits countries to protecting 30 % of land and water by 2030. The conference also catalysed major funding announcements, including hundreds of millions of dollars
18 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 141