Much has been written about the value of our industry and the positive impact of face-to-face meetings on areas like workforce engagement, client relationships, sharing of ideas and topline sales and profitability. By Joe Nishi, Mar 12, 2010

Joe Nishi.

There’s no doubt that the perception of meetings and business events has taken a serious hit. Much has been written about the value of our industry and the positive impact of face-to-face meetings on areas like workforce engagement, client relationships, sharing of ideas and topline sales and profitability. There’s no doubt that the ROI of events is on the front burner and being debated and discussed at all levels of our industry. In order to consider the bigger picture, one must ask:

What is the economic impact of holding a meeting?

How do I use this information?

The problem was, no one had the same answer to these questions. Those of us in the industry certainly know how critical business events are and that meetings mean business! However, we are the converted and while we have some tools, like per-delegate spending and anecdotal evidence to go on, the truth of the matter is, that until 2008, we really had no idea as to what the entire business-events industry meant to the overall economy.

To be relevant as an industry, you need hard data to back up your message, and thus the challenge: do what had never been done before and come up with a methodology that was universally recognized that measured the economic impact of business events in Canada.

Released in August, 2008, the Canadian Economic Impact Study was the first research study ever to measure the contribution of meetings activity to the Canadian Economy and measure 2006 data. Thanks to the financial support of industry partners, the MPI Foundation Canada enlisted the help of Maritz Research and the Conference Board of Canada to develop the methodology and conduct both the original study in 2008, as well as the update released in late 2009.

One of the first tasks was to understand and define a meeting or business event, and it was defined as follows: “A gathering that brings together at least 10 people for at least four hours in a contracted venue with or without payment, to confer or carry out a particular activity, not including entertainment or sporting events.”

The study revealed that the overall effects (direct, indirect and induced impact) of Canadian meetings activity to the Canadian economy:

• Generated more than $71-billion/year in industry output

• Produced more than 673,000 meetings/year with an average of 70-million annual participants

• Generated more than $14-billion in annual tax revenues for all levels of government

• Created the equivalent of more than 550,000 full-time jobs/year

These are surprisingly large numbers and are comparable to other major industries in Canada, and between 2006, 2007 and 2008 figures, there was relatively little difference. This proves that over the last three years, the business-events industry has remained relatively stable and is a critical component of the Canadian economy.

Other countries, including the U.S., are following in our footsteps with their own economic-impact studies. In late 2009, MPI Canada Foundation won the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC) 2009 Profile and Power Award. The award was given in recognition of MPI Foundation’s work in developing and promoting the 2006 Canadian Economic Impact Study and its subsequent update.

By measuring the economic impact of the business-events industry, we validate the importance of business events to those outside our industry – that is, government, consumers and the media. It also gives industry professionals the tools to make sound business decisions, with the ability to reference a credible resource. Canadian business events professionals need no longer struggle to demonstrate the value of their work, as this validates the stability of our industry’s economic contribution.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to past MPI Foundation Canada chairs, Council Members, MPI Staff, Maritz Research and Conference Board of Canada for their hard work and support in making the Canadian Economic Impact Study a reality. It is now the responsibility of all of us in this incredible industry to share this valuable data with business, media and government leaders in an effort to underscore the importance of business events to our economy.

The Meeting Professionals International Foundation (MPIF) was founded 25 years ago with a focused goal – to fund the vision of MPI. The MPI Foundation is committed to our mission: to fund research, thought-leadership and education in support of the strategic plan of MPI, advance the global meetings and events industry and enhance the effectiveness of meeting professionals.

You can access both studies by visiting this site

Joe Nishi is chair, MPI Foundation Canada and regional director of meetings, Encore Group.

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