The catalytic effects of business events

Last year, the Events Industry Council, in partnership with Oxford Economics, evaluated the scope and significance of the US$1.6 trillion global business events industry. The extensive study across 50 countries sought to better understand pre-pandemic benchmarks and 2020 losses but also included the vital ‘catalytic’ effects or wide-reaching benefits of business events. 

Short for time? Scroll to the bottom to discover the key takeaways.

The study found that the sector generates more output (US$2.8 trillion in annual business sales) than many larger global sectors, including air transport and telecommunication equipment. Moreover, the US$1.6 trillion of total GDP supported by international business events would rank the sector as the 13th largest economy globally.

According to Sherrif Karamat, CAE, President and CEO of PCMA, however, it’s not these big numbers that define the industry’s position and purpose.

“That’s our spend but has very little to do with the actual impact of business events,” he says. “Most other sectors don’t talk about themselves in terms of how much GDP they generate; they use more impactful language and have a more singular focus on what they want to achieve when speaking with governments and policymakers.”

Sherrif believes the global sector should speak louder, with a unified voice about the broader impacts that occur as a result of business events. These ‘catalytic’ effects include social change, new business opportunities, knowledge transfers, and progress on innovation or research. They are difficult to measure and quantify but represent the true significance of why people convene. 

He continues: “Whether it’s ending AIDS by 2030 or reversing the rate of climate change, we can only solve the major issues of the day if people convene face-to-face. It’s those moments of serendipity, different interpretations shared over a beer, and prolonged discussions which lead to innovation and change. You can’t replicate that over a 60-minute Zoom call.”

The 2023 Events Industry Council report found that, since the pandemic, significant progress has been made in understanding the range of catalytic effects that occur at business events. The accelerated evolution of event technology, due in part to the COVID-19 crisis, further means that better data on outcomes and behaviours are also now being collected and measured to paint a clearer picture of the sector’s true worth and impact.

“Artificial Intelligence will help, and the measurement of impact and outcomes will become more sophisticated, but it has to be benchmarked year on year and may require some standardisation across countries and regions,” Sherrif concludes. “We need to become more articulate and data-driven so that we understand the innovation, jobs, social change and the global issues being solved through staging business events.”

Sherrif Karamat, CAE, President and CEO of PCMA, will speak on the industry’s role, position and purpose at IBTM World’s Forum for Advocacy, in partnership with The Business of Events on Monday 18 November at the Torre Melina Gran Melia Hotel. He will then explore the outcomes of the forum on IBTM’s Impact Stage at 15:00 the following day (19 November). 

Key takeaways

• The global business events industry, valued at $1.6 trillion, ranks as the 13th largest economy, surpassing sectors like air transport in output generation.
• Beyond economic metrics, business events drive significant social change, foster innovation, and create new business opportunities, underscoring their transformative power.
• Unified, data-driven advocacy is crucial for highlighting the sector's full impact, with advancements in event technology and AI enhancing the measurement of these catalytic effects.
   

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