12 Assessing and Monitoring the
Performances of a Sustainable Event
L. Lamberti, I. Fava and G. Noci
Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
This chapter evaluates the principles and tools event whose operation incorporates and is
which event managers can use to monitor and consistent with the principles of a sustain-
estimate the sustainability performances of an able development. Environmental sustainability-
event. The aim of the chapter is to show inte- driven management of an event or destination
grated event performance assessment with may be implemented in different forms (Mihalic,
sustainability assessment in order to suggest a 2000): (i) the adoption of environmental codes
framework and a dashboard (named SED) for of conduct (e.g. the ISO 14000 certification tes-
assessing the performances and managerial tifies the attention paid to environmental safe-
implications of sustainable events. guards); (ii) uncertified environmental practice
and self-declared labels or brands; (iii) green
branding on the basis of a competition prize for
Chapter outline excellent practice or certified environmental
good practice (e.g. the Italian Environmental-
friendly Innovation award, annually assigned to
● Introduction
the most relevant sustainable innovations in
● What Does It Mean to Assess Event
the country, attributes to the product/project
Sustainability Performances?
awarded a brand that the winner can use as
● Sustainability Assessment
leverage to promote their offer); and (iv) green
● The Characteristics of a Sustainable Event
branding on the basis of accreditation schemes.
Performance Measurement System
It therefore becomes crucial to measure the
● A Managerial Tool for Event Managers for
sustainability of the event considering its social,
Assessing Sustainable Event Performances:
economic and environmental aspects before,
the Sustainable Event Dashboard (SED)
during and after the event (life cycle analysis), as
● Adopting and Using the SED
sustainability refers to a lasting condition. The
● Summary
possibility to properly assess sustainability has
● Key Questions
important effects not only on event organizers
but also on the host area and the event stake-
holders, since the organization of an event
Introduction boosts negotiation processes that involve differ-
ent stakeholders with different goals that impact
The definition of a ‘sustainable event’, as detailed on the performance of the event itself.
in Chapter 1 of this book, refers to a general
©CAB International 2009. Event Management and Sustainability
(eds Razaq Raj and James Musgrave) 119
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120 L. Lamberti
What Does It Mean to Assess Event When an organization organizes an event
Sustainability Performances? it sets the objectives to achieve, i.e. the
expected values of the outputs to obtain after
An event may be seen as a process in which a the event, so it is fundamental to be able to
series of inputs is processed to produce an assess the event performances, i.e. the actual
immediate representation (the event itself), but level of output accomplished. This is the way to
also a varied set of impacts for the event stake- understand if the event has been successful,
holders. The inputs are represented by the thus to understand and prove the ability of the
resources (e.g. financial, human, infrastruc- organizer. Assessing the performances, more-
ture) and the plans and policies for ensuring over, enhances the know-how on the event,
the carrying out and completion of the event. supporting the planning of future editions
The outputs are conceptually all of the conse- under different viewpoints; and, if the perform-
quences of the event, both direct and indirect ance measurement system is properly designed,
in nature. Direct outputs derive immediately makes it possible to understand the contribu-
(in terms of either time or space) from the tion of the actors involved in the project to the
event and they may differ in nature: financial general performance. This is also useful from a
outputs (e.g. tickets, sponsorships, media motivational perspective, since properly assign-
rights), infrastructural outputs (building and ing performance objectives is a good way to
structures expressly developed for the event), pursue global alignment of the resources to the
intellectual outputs (know-how on the event, macro-objectives of the organizer. To do that,
the visitors and the stakeholders useful for pur- organizers should clearly define:
suing continuous improvement in following ● the relevant performances to assess;
editions of the event) and other intangibles ● the target level of the performances;
(e.g. visitor satisfaction, territorial marketing, ● a set of (objectively measurable) indicators
return on location and organizer image, envi- to assess the accomplishment of the
ronmental impact of the event). Indirect out- objectives;
puts still derive from the event, but their level ● the areas of responsibility for the resources
depends on other actors playing a role in the involved (i.e. who is responsible for the
event; a classic example is represented by the accomplishment of a performance);
indirect turnover generated for industries ● the policies for calculating the indicators
linked to the event (e.g. hotels/restaurants/ in terms of the way to calculate them and
cafés, transport, cultural heritage sites in the the frequency of measurement; and
host area). These impacts are often even more ● the incentives and the penalties according
significant than the direct incomes of the event to the level of accomplishment of the tar-
(Lamberti and Noci, 2007). For instance, get performances by the resources.
recent studies on trade shows and exhibitions
show that each Euro in direct revenues drives Finally, an important role of the performance
from 5 to 15 Euros to linked industries accord- measurement system is to communicate to the
ing to the ability to attract international exhi- stakeholders the results of the event and their
bitors and visitors (who spend more time in compliance to the objectives set during the
the host area than local visitors and can planning of the event. This has deep implica-
afford larger expenses in tourism structures). tions also for fundraising activities: an event
Macroeconomists and tourism economists are able to demonstrate its sustainability has more
still debating about the definition of proper likelihood of being attractive to sponsors, pub-
multipliers for estimating the indirect eco- lic administration and also visitors and exhibi-
nomic impact of events, and the topic has tors particularly aware about sustainable
immediate managerial and policy-making development (Straughan and Roberts, 1999;
implications. Nevertheless, since the objective Ginsberg and Bloom, 2004).
of this chapter is to understand how to sup- Sustainable event managers thus should
port event management decisions through be able to plan the event by setting triple bot-
sustainability assessment, we focus mainly on tom line (TBL) objectives, assessing TBL per-
the direct outputs of sustainable events. formances, and fairly and clearly communicating
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Assessing and Monitoring Performances 121
their results to the stakeholders. Moreover, performance measurement (Azzone, 2000),
they can also leverage on the performance making them poorly effective in strategic plan-
measurement system in order to boost their ning and management, especially as far as
efficiency and effectiveness. In the following major projects and events are concerned.
we discuss this point in detail, starting from the As a result, more structured and long-term
basic question: how is it possible to assess sus- approaches to environmental planning were
tainability performances? introduced. To this extent, since the 1970s,
public bodies and NGOs have endorsed frame-
works to support decision makers in identify-
ing, between a set of solutions, the ones
Sustainability Assessment avoiding or reducing environmental damages.
The most diffused approach is the so-called
The debate on sustainability assessment is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), devel-
very vivid. Authors agree that one of the main oped in 1970 in the USA as a part of the
criticalities of the concept of ‘sustainability’ National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
stands in its low measurability (Korhonen, The EIA proposes a set of methods for the
2003), due to: quantitative impact prediction of a project on
water, air, soil, noise and landscape; moreo-
● the multidimensionality of the concept (it
ver, it urges decision makers to assess the
involves environmental, social, financial
impact of current projects and to prevent envi-
and communication issues, and often the
ronmental damage by implementing alterna-
domain of impact of the action is hybrid);
tives or mitigation measures, and it also
● the low analysability of the concept (it is
introduces an enhancement in the planning
very difficult to forecast the impacts of the
process of the projects (Bass et al., 1996).
actions in time); and
Over time, impact assessment has evolved to
● the time duration of the impacts of sus-
introduce also elements of corporate social
tainable management.
responsibility (CSR), as in the case of the Child
The most conspicuous body of literature on sus- Impact Assessment (Muylaert, 1999), the
tainability assessment concerns the monitoring Gender Impact Assessment and the Mobility
of environmental performances. Different the- Impact Assessment which have adopted in
ories about environmental accounting have several countries (e.g. Canada, Belgium, The
been developed for the for-profit organizations, Netherlands and New Zealand) (Meier, 1997).
especially companies (e.g. Azzone and Noci, The request for integration of CSR into impact
1996; Barkin, 2006; Gray, 2006), as well as assessment and the desire by the public sector
for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to support not only the planning but also the
and public bodies (e.g. Kobus, 2005). These ongoing management of projects, led to the
theories aim mainly at adapting performance definition of the Sustainability Assessment
measurement systems to the emerging atten- Framework (Devuyst, 1999) that has been
tion to environmental issues by introducing deployed in a checklist of principles, named
punctual key performance indicators (KPIs) the Bellagio Principles for Assessment (Hardi
able to monitor operations and organizational and Zdan, 1997) developed by the International
environmental performances. For example, the Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
environmental costing framework (Bayou and This checklist provides guidelines for planning
Nachtman, 1992; Morhardt et al., 2002) sug- and managing a sustainable project at a very
gests integrating financial indicators (costs, rev- strategic level, and it has been the founding
enues, etc.) with some financial and non-financial stone of several applicative frameworks at
indicators of environmental outputs such as the national and local level. For instance, the
waste generated, the costs and the savings ASSIPAC (Assessing the Sustainability of
related to recycling, etc. (Azzone and Noci, Societal Initiatives and Proposing Agendas for
1998). These approaches have been adopted Change) framework, developed by the EIA
quite widely by organizations, but are affected Center of the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, pre-
by the short-termism typical of the operational sented in Table 12.1, is a good example of the
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Table 12.1. The ASSIPAC Sustainability Assessment Checklist.
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122
Letter code Name Content Dimensions of analysis
A. Description of the event General description of the main characteristics of A.1. Name of the event
the event in terms of concept, goals, A.2. Type of the event
shareholders and investors, and governance A.3. General goals
A.4. Specific goals
A.5. Long-term goals
A.6. Phases in the event
A.7. Initiator definition and reputational analysis;
fundraising policies and sponsor reputational
analysis
A.8. Host area description
A.9. Decision-making policies
A.10. Identification of sources of information
B. Description of alternatives for Overview of the possible sustainable alternatives
the event for the event in order both to highlight possible
strategic options in case of failure and to testify
a sustainability ‘superiority’ of the concept
undertaken
L. Lamberti
C. Description of sustainable development Overview of the sustainable development strategy
policies, visions or strategies in the host area and identification of existing
sustainability standards
D. Best available practice in an international Benchmarking of the international best-in-class
context for the initiative and its practices in organizing and carrying out an
alternatives initiative with a similar concept
E. Discussion of the reactions to the Analysis and discussion of the reactions of the
initiative and its alternatives stakeholders during the public consultation
about the project
F. Forces which obstruct a more Analysis of the elements constraining an even
advanced sustainable development more effective contribution to sustainable
of the initiative development by the event
G. General characteristics of the initiative Analysis of the characteristics of the event and G.1. Integration of the event with sustainable
and its alternatives which could be of the organizational policies development strategies of the area
favourable to sustainable development G.2. Integration and coordination with related
initiatives
G.3. Multidimensionality of the sustainability
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G.4. Partnerships with the host society
G.5. Empowerment of and cooperation with
the local community
G.6. Impacts on future generations
G.7. Budgetary and financial policies
G.8. Other policies
H. Environmental characteristics of the Analysis of the environmental impact of the event H.1. Impact on mobility
initiative and its alternatives which H.2. Environmental care system
could be favourable to sustainable H.3. Natural resources use reduction
development H.4. Use of materials and waste reduction
H.5. Protection of biodiversity
H.6. Reduction of pollution
H.7. Restoration and maintenance of
ecological cycles
H.8. Influence on climate change
H.9. Influence on population growth
H.10. Others
I. Social and cultural characteristics of the Analysis of the social impact of the event I.1. Contribution to empowerment and
initiative and its alternatives which emancipation of groups within the community
could be favourable to sustainable I.2. Contribution to equity in resource distribution
development I.3. Contribution to the reinforcement of local
cultural identity and diversity
I.4. Contribution to the protection and
improvement of the health of the population
I.5. Contribution to education and training
Assessing and Monitoring Performances
of the local population
I.6. Contribution to local employment
I.7. Contribution to social, cultural and
recreational exchanges between members
of the host area
I.8. Contribution to the affirmation of a
sustainable lifestyle
I.9. Contribution to the affirmation of
strengthened democratic values
I.10. Contribution to the independence of the
local community
I.11. Others
123
Continued
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124
Table 12.1. Continued.
Letter code Name Content Dimensions of analysis
J. Economic characteristics of the initiative Analysis of the economical impact of the event J.1. Reinforcement of the local economy
and its alternatives which could be J.2. Support to private entrepreneurship
favourable to sustainable development J.3. Support to sustainable trade
J.4. Others
K. Planning and design characteristics of Analysis of the patterns in the event project K.1. Development frameworks for transport
the initiative and its alternatives which suitable to sustainable development reduction
could be favourable to sustainable K.2. Development frameworks for the
development maintenance of the natural ecosystem
K.3. Others
L. Assessment of the sustainable character Comparative assessment of the event performances,
of the initiative and its alternatives with an in-depth discussion of the pros and cons
L. Lamberti
of the alternatives. Comparative analysis of the
event with the international best practices
M. Proposal of an agenda for change Description of the plans for struggling
unsustainable behaviour in the event and
in the host area
N. Conclusion
O. References
Annexes Description of the scientific methodology used
in the different phases of the sustainability
assessment
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Assessing and Monitoring Performances 125
kind of decision-making support provided by for periodic events hosted in the same loca-
such frameworks. Aimed at bringing to bear tion, since these events give the manager the
an effective and responsible communication of opportunity to exploit past experience to
the sustainability performances of the project, improve the governance of the event, also
ASSIPAC is to be used as an indexed agenda from a TBL perspective.
for producing a sustainability report to com- Typically, during event project deployment,
municate the essential characteristics of the the control tool most commonly adopted by
project to investors, policy and decision mak- event managers is represented by the set of tech-
ers and other stakeholders. niques related to project management, such as
As such, the ASSIPAC or similar frame- Gantt diagrams (graphical representation of the
works could represent a useful tool for drawing project activities – duration and priority – and
out a business plan for a generic sustainable ini- their interdependence), PERT-CPM methods
tiative and, in particular, for a sustainable event. (programme evaluation and review technique–
The most important part is represented by critical path method; aimed at highlighting criti-
checklist point L (‘Assessment of the sustaina- cal activities, bottlenecks, etc.) and similar (for
ble character of the initiative and its alterna- further details, see also Allen et al., 2005). These
tives’). The framework suggests a comparative techniques, together with the project leader’s
approach to sustainability performance meas- commitment and proper project planning, define
urement, supporting business planning with a precise targets, in terms of expected time, costs
systematic comparison of the expected per- and quality, in the implementation of the event.
formances of the project with either its alterna- A generally recognized limit of project manage-
tives or past experiences similar in nature. ment techniques is their lack of contribution to
ASSIPAC introduces two main levels of actions long-term strategic thinking, since their role is
(or tiers): (i) the Sustainability Assessment Check purely to assess and control, while their decision-
(SAC); and (ii) the Sustainability Assessment making support to other projects is far more
Study (SAS). The SAC is an opening study limited. This last point is the greater difference
aimed at exploring the possible conflict of the between project management and common
event with sustainable development policies. accountability, which is based on the assumption
The SAS is a deeper evaluation of the sustain- of perpetual control of iterative activities aimed
ability consequences of the event. According to at assessing the performances to support organ-
the nature and degree of development of the izational learning (Azzone, 2000).
event, and the time and resources allocable to Thus, it is very important to couple project
the assessment (in fact, SAS is far more time- management with some accountability princi-
consuming and expensive than SAC), the ples to sustainable event management: genera-
assessment team may decide to adopt either of tive learning derived from accountability can
the tiers. Hereby, the main steps of the assess- support continuous improvement, with benefi-
ment are briefly detailed. cial effects on the TBL. A clear understatement
Nevertheless, this kind of framework, of the positive effects of continuous improve-
although extremely useful in the planning and ment from a TBL perspective may be accom-
fundraising phases of event organization, is plished by observing the effect of a gradual
less likely to properly support ongoing event shift to sustainability in the business models of
project management and ex-post evaluation many organizations.
because its application is requested in parallel
with event planning, while poor indications are
given about the following steps. As a result,
sustainable event managers cannot yet lever on The Characteristics of a
punctual tools to evaluate the sustainability Sustainable Event Performance
performances in itinere, nor do they have at Measurement System
their disposal structured tools to comparatively
evaluate the actual performances of different A performance measurement system is a
events, a key issue for pursuing continuous very complex object. In fact, as its role is to
improvement. This issue is particularly relevant control the behaviour of an organization and
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126 L. Lamberti
to support management decision making and environmental impact of the project, or its
learning, it must satisfy a wide set of requi- financial return, are in general less relevant for
sites (Watts and Zimmerman, 1986; Azzone, project management, since they have generally
2000): been considered in the planning phase. As a
result, completeness and long-term orientation
● completeness;
are less relevant and may be partially disre-
● precision;
garded. Similarly, strategic managers or decid-
● long-term orientation;
ers are more interested in complete measures
● measurability;
(such as the impacts, the expected and actual
● accountability; and
return on the investment, the global overview
● timeliness.
of the advances in the project), even if this
Since the nature of the performances (e.g. implies a diminished precision.
operational performances versus strategic per-
formances, financial performances versus non-
financial performances) and their time effect
(long-term effect versus short-term effect) are
A Managerial Tool for Event Managers
varied and concurrent in every economic activ- for Assessing Sustainable Event
ity, it is almost impossible that a single approach Performances: the Sustainable
to performance assessment can satisfy all of Event Dashboard (SED)
the requisites mentioned above (Kaplan, 1988).
For instance, completeness and precision are In glancing back on what we have learned so
often in trade-off, since the adoption of a very far, we see it is extremely important for event
complete performance measurement system managers to design a performance measure-
makes it very difficult to reach the details with ment system consistently to the organizational
enough precision. Moreover, when complete- structure, i.e. the different roles and respon-
ness, precision and long-term orientation sibilities in the project team. It is interesting
increase, it becomes very difficult to be timely in to notice that a TBL perspective induces an
the assessment: the above-mentioned ASSIPAC enhanced focus on a wide set of (at least par-
framework is a good example of a complete tially) non-financial performances (environ-
and long-term oriented performance planning mental and social impact, waste reduction,
(that is conceptually not so different from etc.), making the amount of potentially relevant
assessment), but it is clear that if the manager performances extremely conspicuous. Never-
wants to be particularly precise in its evalua- theless, a proliferation of the indicators adopted
tion, the time for the elaboration becomes may lead to an excessive fragmentation of the
extremely long. as-is analysis, with a loss of effectiveness due to
In order to overtake the trade-offs, organi- the difficulties in getting a global perspective
zations adopt different and complementary on the event performances, especially as far as
performance measurement systems (Kaplan, strategic decision making and continuous
1988; Simons, 1994) according to the needs improvement are concerned.
of the managers who are going to use it. For Since the early 1990s authors and organ-
instance, a project manager in an event is izations have detected the need for synthetic
interested in the typical set of performances tools able to support strategic decision making
assessed by project management techniques, starting from the information gathered by the
such as quality, cost absorption and compli- performance measurement system. Starting
ance to the scheduling. In order to get proper from a concept developed in France during
control on the project, performance indicators the 1960s, the so-called ‘tableau de bord’
must be punctual, assessable in real time and (Bourguignon et al., 2004), i.e. a synthetic
objectively measurable; so project managers table for strategic reporting in which the most
need precision, timeliness and measurability in relevant performances were summarized,
their performance measurement system. The Kaplan and Norton (1992, 1996) developed
long-term effects of the project and the social/ the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach. The
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Assessing and Monitoring Performances 127
BSC suggests that managers group the most The SED differs from a standard BSC in two key
relevant KPIs of a unit into four main perspec- aspects: (i) the output dimension (cf. BSC’s
tives: (i) financial performances; (ii) customer financial performances) have been enriched with
performances; (iii) internal performances; and a clear focus on environmental and social per-
(iv) innovation performances. formances, compliant to the TBL perspective of
When the unit of analysis is a sustainable sustainable events; and (ii) internal and innova-
event, the set of variables to assess and strategi- tion performances have been merged in order
cally monitor increases noticeably. So, it is nec- to outline how sustainable internal performance
essary to enlarge the set of perspectives to be management can highlight areas of improve-
considered in order to deliberately encompass ment, and thus innovation opportunities.
the TBL perspective into event management. The financial performances look at the
As a result, a more complex dashboard can be behaviour of the event in terms of profit gen-
useful, namely a Sustainable Event Dashboard eration, return on investment (i.e. the profit-to-
(SED). In general terms, five main performance expenses ratio) of fundraising, etc. So, it is a
dimensions may be detected (Fig. 12.1): synthetic way to summarize the economic
results of the event. When the organizer is a
● financial performances; no-profit organization (e.g. the public govern-
● environmental performances; ment), the concept of ‘profit’ may be substi-
● social performances; tuted by more complex metrics such as the
● visitors’ and exhibitors’ performances; and sum of direct and indirect turnover generated
● internal and innovation performances. or the increases in tax gathered.
Financial
performances
• Profit generation
• Profit-to-expense ratio
• Fund raising performances
Social Environmental
performances performances
• Social performances of the project and • Waste generation
of the suppliers/exhibitors • Environmental performances of
• Incidence of fair trade in sourcing the suppliers/exhibitors
• Fair communication and treatment • Recyclability/biodegradability
• Impact on the host community • Environmental impacts
Visitors’ and Innovation and
exhibitors’ internal
performances performances
• Participation analysis • Project cost absorption
• Satisfaction analysis • Project schedule compliance
• Reputational analysis • Responsiveness to external
changes
Fig. 12.1. The structure of the Sustainable Event Dashboard (SED) and possible dimensions of analysis.
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128 L. Lamberti
The environmental performances look at own stands or pavilions (events like general or
the long-term impact on the environment of country fairs, exhibitions, etc.). Exhibitors are
the event, as well as its current behaviour in very relevant stakeholders since they too are
terms of natural resource consumption and customers (they generally pay a fee to the
pollution. Two main categories of environmen- organizers to participate), and moreover their
tal performances may be detected: fairness and the attractiveness of their attend-
ance is a critical factor for event success (in
● Environmental performances of the
fact, it has been suggested to monitor their
event inputs and process, such as the per-
environmental and social performances in
centage of biodegradable or recyclable
order to avoid dissonances in the event image).
materials used for venue set-up, the waste
Thus, it is fundamental for the organizer to
generated during the project, the percent-
monitor the attractiveness for visitors and
age of ISO 14000 (or similar environmen-
exhibitors by assessing the event’s ability to
tal certification) certified suppliers/sponsors/
meet their expectations. So, important KPI
exhibitors.
may cope with visitors’ satisfaction (assessed
● Environmental performances of the
through surveys during and after the event),
event outputs, such as the amount of
the progresses in the number and quality of
waste generated, its biodegradability/recy-
exhibitors, event awareness (i.e. estimate of
clability rate, the energy consumption.
the percentage of the target market aware
The social performances look at the long-term about the event’s existence event) and image,
impact on the social stakeholders of the event and the exhibitors’ churn rate (i.e. percentage
and its current behaviour in terms of event eth- of exhibitors leaving the event after their first
ics, politeness in operations and other charac- participation, a typical proxy of exhibitors’ loy-
teristics related to so-called ‘event citizenship’, alty), among others.
i.e. the ability of the event to encompass the These performances are extremely useful
social expectations of the host area. Similarly to understand whether the event concept is
to environmental performances, social per- clear, attractive and univocally interpreted by
formances may also be divided into two main the target audience; moreover, they give
categories: information about the effectiveness and the
efficiency of the event’s marketing and com-
● Social performances of the event inputs
munication; and finally, a retrospective analy-
and process, such as the percentage of
sis could highlight the attendance response to
fair trade consumption material, the per-
the activities performed, with a beneficial
centage of women employed, the percent-
effect on the planning of future editions.
age of SA 8000 (or similar) certified
Internal performances look at the effi-
suppliers/sponsors/exhibitors.
ciency accomplished in carrying out the
● Social performances of the event out-
project and the event itself; as a result, the
puts, such as the amount of donations
classical project management KPIs (e.g. per-
gathered running the event, the reconver-
centage of activities completed, percentage of
sion rate of the structures after the event,
delayed activities, percentage of the resources
the attitude towards the event by the host
absorbed) are the most likely to be used.
community.
Moreover, internal performances may be used
Among all of the stakeholders interested in to understand the internal climate of the event
events, visitors and exhibitors have a more team, such as the number of volunteers
immediate pay-off by participation. In fact, visi- attracted and their rate of turnover, and the
tors may pay for admission to the event, or at results of periodic internal satisfaction surveys
least they may have to move to reach the may be beneficial for event managers to catch
venue; they have direct and immediate expec- elements of dissatisfaction detrimental to the
tations and enjoy the activities performed dur- output of the event. Furthermore, internal
ing the event. Sometimes events also host satisfaction is one of the key performances
external exhibitors or performers with their under a sustainability perspective. In parallel,
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Assessing and Monitoring Performances 129
innovation performances in sustainable events formances and then detailed into punctual per-
deal with the ability of the event to efficiently formances and associated to correct KPIs in
(i.e. rapidly and cheaply) and effectively adapt order to keep the project and the event under
and fine-tune its characteristics to changes in control.
stakeholders’ expectations, and to generate
innovative ideas after the event (e.g. spin-offs,
concept refinements in the next editions)
(Ottman, 1998). These performances are of Summary
course generally more important when
assessed with reference to a periodic event. In conclusion, some managerial issues in the
Typical examples of KPIs for this category are adoption of the SED should be addressed.
represented by average time and costs for First of all, the SED must be considered just a
implementing major changes in the project, ‘glimpse’ of the global event performance
or the innovation rate of success (the number measurement system: it is a summarized
of successful innovations in the event concept extraction of the whole set of KPIs adopted at
divided by the total amount of innovations all the levels of the organization organizing the
introduced). event. This means that the common project
management tools, the operational control
systems and the frameworks supporting sus-
tainable event planning cannot be substituted
Adopting and Using the SED by the SED, just accompanied and reinforced.
The SED should be used and periodically
This model of dashboard is structurally very assessed by event managers and planners,
contingent in nature, so its main contribution is marketing and communication managers and
represented by the detection and the definition project leaders to get a complete perspective
of the performance dimensions to assess in on the key performances of the event during
sustainable event management. The punctual its implementation, its execution and in the
choice of the relevant KPIs depends on several after-event. Owing to its completeness and
variables, such as: conciseness, the SED should be used to detect
the potentially critical issues or the areas of
● the event concept (e.g. the dashboard for
improvement, but the exact determination of
a sustainable country fair will have a
the causes of the problems and the levers to
stronger focus on exhibitors than that for
improve the performances can only be prop-
a film festival);
erly highlighted after a detailed analysis at a
● its infrastructural characteristics (e.g. mega-
more operational level. So, the main function
events induce a more significant change in
of the SED stands in being an alert control sys-
the host area than small events based on
tem about strengths and weaknesses, opportu-
the host area’s cultural heritage); and
nities and threats, more than a tool for carrying
● the organizations involved (e.g. an event
on problem solving. Nevertheless, the per-
organized by a for-profit company will
formance measurement approaches presented
probably have a greater focus on the
so far in the literature either do not accom-
immediate financial profitability than an
plish the same completeness (e.g. the project
event organized by the public sector).
control tools) or have the problem of measur-
Thus, it would be misleading and poorly rigor- ability and/or timeliness (e.g. the EIA frame-
ous to suggest a good-for-all list of KPIs for works), making them poorly effective as alert
sustainable event management. Therefore the systems (Simons, 1991).
role of the event manager is very important in Finally, the main limitation of the SED can
the choice of the KPIs: he/she should first of also represent a good lever for project leaders:
all clearly define the vision of the event, high- by virtue of its simplicity and global overview
lighting the most important objectives; these on the event performances, the SED can com-
objectives should be translated into macro per- municate the global performances of the event
Raj_Ch12.indd 129 5/6/2009 8:23:49 PM

130 L. Lamberti
very effectively. So it can be used also to pro- Key Questions
mote the event, and in particular its sustainabil-
ity, to potential sponsors, visitors or exhibitors 1. What are the relevant performances of a
and, more generally, the event stakeholders. sustainable event?
As such, it can also be seen as a good basis for 2. How does sustainability impact on event
integrating the Environmental and Social performance assessment?
Impact Assessment in the TBL accountability 3. How is it possible to assess the perform-
of the event. ances of a sustainable event?
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