Denmark Shares Insights from Six Years of Legacy Development

In a new report, MeetDenmark, the Danish Business Events Association, publishes learnings and insights after researching and testing legacy in Denmark for six years. MeetDenmark believe that the insights can help legacy efforts gain traction and that they are transferable to associations and destinations across the world.

For the past six years, MeetDenmark has been researching, testing, and developing legacy in Denmark. And now, the Danish Business Events Association, presents a report that gathers a significant amount of knowledge in one overall report, which hopefully can inspire and assist both associations, destinations, and event planners.

The research started as a survey of international best practices, and in that process MeetDenmark made an analysis of four case studies in Denmark. This led to the development of concrete models, processes, and tools that MeetDenmark had the opportunity to test on nine additional international congresses. Now, the findings have just been released in a report titled: Powering Meeting Legacies - New Insights for Associations & Host Communities.

“The knowledge that our report captures can be a help for both associations and destinations looking to work with legacy. In a world with a rising focus on sustainability, the value of a congress for both the association, the delegates and the destination should be bigger than the costs. That is why Legacy is becoming an ever more important part of planning an event. We hope that this report can help those who want to take the next step. And we are happy to help and share, so please reach out to MeetDenmark or our member-destinations”, says chairman of MeetDenmark, Pia Lange Christensen.

Legacy can be win-win

The report describes a wide range of learnings from the six years of research and testing. One of the learnings is that a legacy programme can be a natural extension of the associations overall vision and mission and create value for the members and at the same time address needs at the host destination. In large part, it is about creating a dynamic engagement and collaboration between associations and local companies, universities, and public organizations in the destination, that have common purposes.

Another insight is that there is a significant connection between successful legacy and systematic, intentional, and robust collaboration. To facilitate this nexus of intersecting advantages associations can benefit from choosing a destination that have models, processes, and tools for their work with legacy.

For MeetDenmark, legacy is about creating larger, broader, and lasting positive impact from the many international congresses that visits Denmark - both for the international scientific associations, the delegates, and the Danish congress destinations.

"Our work to attract congresses to Denmark is important for companies within Danish business tourism. But it is just as important to create lasting value for society and for the visiting associations and delegates that choose Denmark,” says Pia Lange Christensen.

The legacy work in Denmark is supported by The Danish Board of Business Development and the Danish Ministry of Business, Industry and Financial Affairs.

To create systematic and solid collaborations between local stakeholders and congresses for greater impact, you can find inspiration in this new MeetDenmark report