CONVENTION industry consultants GainingEdge is expanding the research available to destinations and event organisers with an upcoming report promising to have a “big impact”.
In announcing an official launch of GainingEdge Analysis and Research (GEAR), CEO Jon Siverston said the new unit would fill a research gap for the conference and association organisers.
GEAR would focus on issues of destination competitiveness, new forms of market intelligence and fresh insights into the dynamics of the global meetings industry.
Milos Milovanovic, who heads the research unit, said: “I think our next report will have a big impact on destinations and how they go about pursuing international conventions.
“We’ve done a deep dive on the leadership of 3,500 international associations and developed a database of association board members and the cities where they live.
“From this research, we will be helping cities to understand how well they are doing in terms of the number of their local leaders who are active members in governing bodies of international associations.”
Milovanovic said the report would help cities understand how well they leveraged their influencers to secure conventions.
Siverston added: “Our industry has never really had a dedicated research unit. We were struck by the lack of real quantitative analysis available to support quality decision-making processes.
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“We want GEAR to make a real difference for both the meetings industry and associations. We want GEAR to be the go-to when people are focused on facts-based decision making.”
The new report will follow the annual International Convention Destination Competitive Index, the 3rd edition of which was released in December 2020.
Milovanovic added that GEAR’s next contribution would be “cutting edge” research into the “intellectual capital” of convention destinations around the world.
“Intellectual capital is a main driver of how conventions decide where to meet,” he said. “We want to help destinations to understand how well they are harnessing that intellectual capital and to find quick pathways to the people they need to engage in the process of securing conventions.”
