Montréal - driving measurable change for good

Want to truly understand the impact of your event? Business Events Montréal has co-created a smart solution that could revolutionise how you measure and identify the legacy of your event

Expectations in the world of events are changing. Organisers and their clients want to understand the lasting impact each event creates: the collaborations it sparks, the innovations it accelerates, the policies it influences and the solutions it helps bring forward.

Palais des congrès de Montréal

Most players in the events world today understand that conventions can accelerate change. Bringing people together can achieve in just a few days what might otherwise take years. This exceptional concentration of expertise speeds up ideas, partnerships and solutions.

Destinations and their association partners are increasingly aware of the significant social impact generated by professional events. Many are taking proactive steps to adopt impact management and measurement strategies to better understand and demonstrate their contributions. Yet, many event owners and destinations still find it difficult to design, implement and assess these strategies. Impact measurement is often seen as the ‘holy grail’ of our industry, and the demand for reliable solutions continues to grow.

How Montréal can help

Montréal-based #MEET4IMPACT supports destinations and associations with tailored consulting and practical tools. Working with Business Events Montréal, it is possible for event planners to measure the impact of a convention once it’s over. 

Thanks to the methodology developed, it is now possible to measure impacts such as:  

• Collaborations created
• Projects launched
• Knowledge transfer
• Investments generated
• Changes in practices
• Social and environmental benefits
• Influence on public policy

Now the team has gone one step further. ImpactAIQ is an AI-powered platform co-led by #MEET4IMPACT and Gevme. An innovative online solution, it would not have been possible without their co-creation partner Business Events Montréal. Designed to measure and deepen understanding of event impacts, the ambition is to inspire global transformation across the events industry with a new generation of tools. It’s also a reminder of this progressive city’s role as a catalyst for innovation, insight and lasting change.

With ImpactAIQ, Business Events Montréal now has a structured way to understand, measure and manage how business events contribute to Montréal’s economic, social and sectoral development. After each event, results are shared with clients so they can showcase the impact of their event and their organisation.

“The platform allows us to create a customised impact framework from scratch,” explains Charlotte Laurin, Manager, Strategic Alliances and CSR, Business Events Montréal (Tourisme Montréal). “Or we can integrate it with something like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

“The ImpactAIQ platform brings to light what isn't seen by satisfaction surveys and it offers recommendations around that unseen impact.”

Canadian Circular Economy Summit 2025

The Canadian Circular Economy Summit brought together 970 participants, 589 organisations and representatives from around 20 sectors. 

As host city, Montréal played a vital role. Home to a strong network of SMEs, policy innovators and research institutions, the city offered a robust local foundation from which to spotlight scalable solutions, host site visits and connect global and national actors. The Summit’s resounding success came from a powerful synergy between an ambitious event and Montréal’s well-connected, collaboration-ready innovation ecosystem.

Observed impacts included 638 confirmed business meetings, including B2B and B2G meetings; companies from other provinces considering establishing a presence in Montréal; the launch of the City of Montréal’s three-year circular economy action plan; partnerships between researchers and businesses and concrete initiatives to reduce food waste through surplus food redistribution.

Visits to Montréal sites achieved a 90 per cent satisfaction rate and highlighted the importance of hands-on experiences in accelerating the adoption of new practices.

Speaking about the impact study of this event, Kiana Klassen, Communications Lead Consultant, Circular Construction Canada, who played a key role in organising the 2025 summit, said: “I think the greatest value we received was the anecdotal experiences and personal stories the interviews were able to capture.

“The report did a lot to synthesise not only the content included in the summit sessions, but also the impact of the event, which gave us an holistic perspective that we didn't previously have.

“Business Events Montréal was very good at piggybacking on our event objectives and plans we already had in place. It was a guided experience and was really smooth in the sense of not adding a lot to our own workload.”

National Conference on Ending Homelessness (CAEH) 2025

This conference brought together public decision-makers, community organisations, researchers and people with lived experience of homelessness. It was designed to connect stakeholders to speed up the sharing of solutions, advance discussions on public policy and strengthen collaboration across sectors.

Photo Credit: © Impact Production

Among the outcomes reported were:

• $7 million in federal funding
• 85 per cent of participants plan to change their professional practices
• The federal minister’s speech has since been used by public servants as an internal lever to push for more ambitious policies
• Concrete legislative recommendations developed, forming the basis of the provincial advocacy strategy for 2026

The impact study documented both the economic and social-professional outcomes of the CAEH Conference and clearly shows that business events can be powerful levers for social change.

“We had to put on paper our strategic pillars, our expected outcomes and more. As the local host, our key goals included the participation of Indigenous people and ensuring the voices of people with lived experience were heard,” says local host Movement to End Homelessness in Montréal  (MMFIM) executive director Michèle Chappaz. 

Additional surveys and interviews analysed through ImpactAIQ revealed outcomes that attendance figures and satisfaction scores alone would not show, including stronger engagement with MMFIM’s mission, business support and potential influence on public policy. “The project pulled out outcomes that were totally unexpected based on some of the attendee interviews,” Chappaz says. The findings are also helping identify where more work is needed.

Amplify your mission in Montréal

Business Events Montréal is looking to support meetings and conventions that create lasting value, whether that is economic, scientific, social, environmental, cultural or innovation-related. The team can demonstrate how hosting your event in the city is a powerful way to amplify your mission, strengthen engagement across your network and connect meaningfully with the local community.

Not only does it have the tools to help boost your impact, it also has the expertise to measure concrete results for your community and sector, and turn those outcomes into a compelling case to deepen participant and partner engagement.

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