Conference & Meetings World Issue 101 — July / August | Page 8
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and expectations in advance.
“This report has formally
documented a concept we have
been promoting for some time,
namely that these events are all
about economic, academic,
professional and community
enhancement outcomes and that a
strategic approach to hosting such
events can pay a broad and
important role in advancing the
development prospects of
destinations around the world,”
said JMIC President Kai
Hattendorf (pictured below). “As a
result, these destinations and the
governments that represent them
need to re-think their engagement
with the industry and how they
can best use and invest in it to the
overall benefit of their respective
communities.”
Drawing on nine case studies
from four continents, study authors
and UTS Associate Professors
Carmel Foley and Deborah
Edwards concluded: “Business
events have long been judged
under the narrow assumption that
their legacies are best measured in
terms of hotel rooms and cups of
coffee. Governments, in particular, have largely focused on what is
commonly known as the tourism
contribution, which ignores the
significant scientific and research
value on offer – value that directly
drives economic development,
creativity and innovation. Our
research also shows that these
benefits have a multiplying
effect.”
The report continued: “But until
now there hasn’t been a
coordinated, global effort to
measure and document these
benefits in ways that could be used
to advocate to governments and
communities about the important
role played by business events.
Ultimately, these findings confirm
that the governments need to
rethink the way they measure and
value the business events
sector”.
The report also identified
barriers to achieving lasting
legacies, such as organisers
neglecting to set
long-term
objectives or look
beyond internal
organisational
goals.
www.c-mw.net
Caesars
Forum tops
out in Vegas
‘Significant
mismatch’ in how
governments
measure business
events’ true value
Caesars Entertainment
Corporation has topped out its
new 51,000sqm conference
facility, Caesars Forum.
450 construction workers,
meetings customers and
Caesars Entertainment
executives came together for
the placing of the final steel
beam atop the structure. The
US$375m conference centre
will carry a LEED silver-rating
and features the world’s two
largest pillarless ballrooms.
The official opening date is end
of March 2020.
Caesars Forum will be the
first facility of this size built on
one level and the new facility is
within walking distance of
20,000 hotel rooms citywide.
At the end of June Caesars
Entertainment was acquired by
Eldorado in a cash-and-stock
transaction valued at $8.58 bn,
creating a mega-casino
company in the US.
There is a “significant mismatch”
in how governments measure the
true value of business events,
according to a new report from the
Joint Meetings Industry Council
(JMIC).
The organisation’s multi-year
study of the legacy benefits of
business events in a number of
parts of the world concluded with
a series of recommendations for
how events can better document
their resulting benefits.
The report, commissioned by
JMIC and carried out by
University of Technology Sydney
(UTS) researchers and entitled
Business Events Legacies: JMIC Case
Study Project Report, recommends
‘Six Golden Rules for a Highly
Successful Business Event’ and
offers guidance for event
organisers to optimise and
document their legacy objectives
GL events gains
€70m worth of
contracts in
Europe, South
America and Asia
GL events has raised its target
for annual growth following the
announcement of five new
contracts in Europe, South
America and Asia, representing
€70m in sales.
Following its support of
COP22 2016, Marrakech, GL
events clinched the contract to
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ISSUE 101
provide a complete temporary
infrastructure solution for the
25th Conference of the Parties
(COP25) United Nations
Framework Convention on
Climate Change in Santiago,
Chile.
GL events will support the
Pan-American Games, taking
place in Lima, 6 July – 11 August
2019, providing power equipment
and electricity distribution across
venues for the event, while in
France, it will provide a
17,350sqm temporary exhibition
centre for the Strasburg
Métropole.
[email protected]
Two further contract wins will
see the group provide large-scale
audience seating grandstands.
Seating for 1,780 spectators
will be installed at Japan’s
Kumagaya Stadium in
preparation for the World Rugby
Cup, taking place in September
and October 2019; while a
9,000-capacity grandstand will
be installed, along with VIP
facilities, at Belgium’s Spa
Francorchamps circuit.
The GL events Group has
raised its growth target for 2019,
forecasting growth in annual
sales of 9% in relation to 2018.