The eventIMPACTS Toolkit has been developed by UK Sport, Visit Britain, EventScotland, the London Development Agency, the North West Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward and Glasgow City Marketing Bureau. It comprises some key guidance and good practice principles for evaluating the social, economic, environmental and media-related impacts associated with staging major sporting and cultural events.
Hosting major events is widely believed to be inherently good because of the enjoyment and excitement they bring to those who attend them and those who follow them in the media. There is a well-developed body of evidence which shows that events have the potential to generate positive economic impacts. There is also a variety of established approaches to quantifying the media impact of events, including the benefits of place marketing. However, because methods of measuring and reporting on impacts in these areas can be inconsistent, event organisers have sometimes struggled to understand which methods will best suit their needs.
In these respects, therefore, the purpose of eventIMPACTS is to provide organisers with templates for carrying out, or commissioning, such studies which are based on some central principles and which will facilitate comparison across events.
A relatively new agenda, for which there is little supporting evidence, is that major events can deliver directly, or act as catalysts for, wider social impacts such as the development of community and the advancement of skills. Furthermore, as environmental issues become increasingly important, event organisers should be mindful of the potentially adverse environmental impacts of events.
In these respects, eventIMPACTS is designed to help event organisers move towards more developed approaches to measuring, monitoring and managing the social and environmental impacts of their events.
eventIMPACTS will not automatically provide funders with an answer to the question of whether they should invest in events or, if so, then to what extent. However, if, using the eventIMPACTS framework, event organisers become more practised, and more skilled, at testing the claims that are often made about the impact of events, then the growing evidence base should at least provide greater clarity about the contribution that events can make to economic objectives - and in furthering social and environmental agendas.
Social Impacts: Identity Image & Place
Social Impacts: Volunteering & Skills
Social Impacts: Children & Young People
For more information on all of this and to visit the eventIMPACTS website click here
