The power of event legacy: how to implement CSR strategies that leave a destination better than you found it

Events have a long-term impact on the communities, industries and environments they touch. Whether it’s driving economic growth, fostering social cohesion or promoting sustainability, a well-crafted legacy plan can transform an event from a one-time occurrence into something that creates lasting positive change.General understanding of event legacy planningEvent legacy planning is about making sure your event has a positive ongoing impact, which can be on the industry, the attendees and/or the location of the event. Quite simply, it’s the ongoing ripple effect it leaves behind it, said Louise Tratt, Head of Meetings and Events at the British Neuroscience Association (BNA). Legacy should be built into an event right at the beginning of the planning process, and this is when you need to decide on your end goal.Jac Callan, Sustainability and Impact Manager at Visit Belfast, has seen a growing number of event organisers poll their members on what their education outreach legacy should be six months prior to the event and then continue to drip feed that information before, during and after.The next step is to consider your resources and how you are going to make this legacy reality. Perhaps you could recruit extra people, empower a local organising committee to run some of your legacy initiatives, or use funds from sponsors. For example, in 2023 the BNA introduced a legacy-focused sponsorship package, which funded a beach clean at the event’s location, Brighton.Lyndsey Rafferty, Senior Association Manager at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), emphasised that even small events can create meaningful legacies. “The Royal Institute of Navigation held a public lecture all about the different ways you can navigate around the world, which was really well attended and drew in a wide variety of attendees. One person was on holiday, saw the event listed on What’s on in Edinburgh and thought it sounded interesting. “Every event can spark something in someone – perhaps they might volunteer at a charity linked to the event, or simply take their new knowledge and share it with their grandchildren, which inspires them to find out more. You don’t have to be a bigvassociation or host a big event; you never know what you might spark and it’s the little ideas that can really change the world.”Environmental sustainabilityThere are many opportunities to integrate environmental sustainability into your legacy plan, including looking at ways to leave the event’s setting in a better condition than beforehand, which was the aim of the BNA’s beach clean-up sponsorship package.Environmental sustainability is more important than ever and you can look to measure the impact of your events against relevant UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). Taking Goal 3: Good health and wellbeing as an example; you could look at the sustainability of the food on offer at the event (is it healthy, locally sourced and in season?).And if the organisation itself is health related, then it could also measure how far the event goes to share knowledge on health issues. A great example comes from the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing & Allied Professions (ACNAP) below.ImpactThe impact of events can be far reaching and long- term. For example, Visit Belfast launched a Changing the menu for good initiative to not only reduce food waste at events, but also raise funds for local food banks and homeless charities.Another example is an ambassador reception evening at the EICC in 2015 which had a huge impact on the local community and the engineering and technology industry. At the event a newly appointed ambassador mentioned she was thinking of bidding for Edinburgh to host the European Robotics Forum. Encouraged by her peers, she went on to do so, and the conference later took place in the city. At this event contracts were signed to build a National Robotarium in Edinburgh. “That’s a real tangible result of what an impact can do. A spark of an idea at the first event, fuelled by public engagement and interest, is now a project run by the University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University, where the public can go and see different examples of robots and learn how they work. That’s a real benefit to our local society,” said Rafferty.RisksEvent legacy planning can seem overwhelming, especially for smaller organisers who may feel they lack the time or resources. However, you don’t need to host a massive event like Eurovision or the Olympics to leave a meaningful legacy. Even something as simple as working with local businesses leaves a legacy by empowering the community.Tratt suggests holding a legacy planning workshop early in the process to address concerns. “We had a workshop at the start that showed us we could create a legacy with proper planning and resources. It eased our fears and proved that no event is too small to make a lasting impact.”Top tips“Lean on your partners – speak to other people in the destination, other associations. Pick everyone’s brains –the more we can share these examples, the better.” - Rafferty“Think about what you want to measure. Recently I’ve had several conversations with people saying they wish they’d surveyed people’s understanding of ‘X’ beforehand, because then they could’ve measured how much education attendees got from the event.” - Jac“Imperfect progress is still progress. It’s better than not doing anything at all” - Callan “Consider all your stakeholders: the sponsors, members, attendees and local community because ultimately, if everyone’s having a good time then they’re going to come back.” - Tratt“Define legacies early. You have to have something in the early planning stages rather than thinking about it a month out, because that’s when your biggest challenges are going to be in terms of time and resources.” - Rafferty

The power of event legacy: how to implement CSR strategies that leave a destination better than you found it

General understanding of event legacy planning

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The power of event legacy: how to implement CSR strategies that leave a destination better than you found it

General understanding of event legacy planning

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