Insight
destinations can be compared. Then we add the destination’ s own data to build its profile.
The report sets each cluster’ s policy targets against its event impact score, shows target, score and gap on every dimension, and ranks the gaps with recommendations. That puts a number where most destinations have only anecdotes.
Community legacy, for example, depends on whether the expertise an event brings to a city stays there, absorbed into permanent local structures, once the event ends. An event’ s format, programme and audience shape how likely that is. A congress designed to leave expertise behind scores higher than one whose expertise leaves with the delegates.
us an evidence-based framework to demonstrate that.”
The DDM is built for that argument. It works with the impact figures every funding case needs( Britain and Tasmania show they are not enough alone) and adds the outcomes a government is trying to achieve. STB was our phase one pilot partner, chosen because its policy ambition is explicit and its data can stress-test the model.
How the DDM scores an event portfolio Every DDM analysis starts at the same place as a government: with the destination’ s own policy priorities. A guided self-assessment maps existing policy targets onto the model’ s 15 dimensions, grouped into four clusters: People & Community, Skills & Knowledge, Economic Impact, and Reputation & Legacy.
We then assess events in two layers. A Universal Event Impact Score, built from industry data, case studies, jwc’ s proprietary database and qualitative research, rates how strongly each type of event affects each dimension. It is the same for every destination, so
What the scorecard changes A bureau deciding which events to bid for can then make its case with scores, and a city weighing new infrastructure can see what its existing events contribute.
The scorecard also shows where business events are the wrong lever for a particular goal. A finance ministry is more inclined to trust a case that admits this.
Smaller destinations can start, too. Where data is thin, the model works at a higher level, and the first step needs only policy priorities and existing event data. jwc is working with a founding group of destinations on the next phase, and I would like to hear from bureaux that want to join it.
Britain and Tasmania had return figures most destinations would envy, and lost funding anyway. Every bureau will face the same question in its next budget round. Destinations are not funded on activity. They are funded on outcomes. EW
n Kai Hattendorf is Partner at jwc. To discuss the DDM or the founding group of destinations, contact info @ jwc. eu. com or visit www. jwc. eu. com. www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 5 2026 47