By Betina Kimergård, Municipality of Gladsaxe / Photo: Emil B. Spangenberg, VIBE

Those of us who are working with developing and attracting events to cities and municipalities have our hands full when it comes to convincing decision makers about a given event’s potential. We must ensure that the event seems promising and therefore incessantly present positive effects and returns. But – in reality we are only able to show an expected outcome. Typically decision makers particularly concern about the economic potential, the social outcomes or how many workplaces an event might create. Those of us who must sketch out the potential of the event are all working with many unknown factors. None of us are able to say for certain what a new event may yield to the local community in a socio economic context – not until the event has actually been executed.

International events as a leverage mechanism

With a refreshing presentation Lars Haue-Pedersen enters the debate. He proposes to not necessarily measure the effect of the event based on its economic return. In his presentation he questions traditional claims including that a larger international event attracts more tourists. Lars’ claim is that events do in deed attract tourists, but at the same time also keep them away. Football attracts football fans but tourists with other interests might choose another destination to avoid the football fever. Now, let us take a look at Lars’ statement and see what he proposes instead.

Lars Haue-Pedersen stresses that events can act as a leverage mechanism for the municipalities’ existing policy programs. For instance the UCI Road Racing Championship helps boosting the city of Copenhagen’s strategy of becoming the world’s greatest bike city. But wait a second! – is it a new idea to link the city or municipality’s strategic efforts to larger regional, national or maybe even international events? Not really. It is a well-known strategy and something I believe, we in the municipalities are already doing – at least in a smaller scale. We already know that this leads to greater attention through increased marketing efforts.

When we talk about international events the concept is however new. Then it is an invariable success criterion that an event generates economic returns. For most municipalities, hosting an international event is a huge investment. And it is good business sense to ensure a minimum return on investment. At the same time this is however a very traditional way of regarding event yields. It has become the rationale. Therefore it is relieving and gratifying with new winds blowing and that experienced people from the strategic event industry challenges traditions and ask the decision makers to discharge habitual thinking. And asking them to see events’ return on investment through new glasses.

Pre-events vs. post-events

And that is exactly what Lars Haue-Pedersen asks for when he presents his last point: We must cultivate the joy of expectations and dismiss the myth that the main event automatically produce legacy after its execution. Lars claims that people think forward – on the next great event. Therefore: cultivate pre-events and dumb post-events! Consequently we must realize our strategies in smaller side-events relating to the main event.

No more buzz

When listening to Lars Haue-Pedersen’s starting point we focus on what we know – our own efforts and contributions. We are able to work strategically and target oriented within our own area of expertise. And include our efforts in the discourse of the main event. We thereby avoid expressing ourselves through various economic phrases and buzz words.

Don’t ask what the main event can do for you, but what you can do for the event

As event managers, what is our gain if we succeed in changing the focus of the decision makers? We obtain a promised opportunity to give a qualified, measurable and professional estimate on the legacy created by the main event when circus has left town. Because the event leaves our own well-planned effort and by attaching this to the global event it ensures much higher impact than if no connection were established. And, equally important – that we thread new roads and break down mental barriers on our way.