Business Events Toolkit

Introduction

Welcome to the VisitEngland Business Events Guidance & Toolkit for LVEPs. This comprehensive resource serves as a foundational guide for Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) exploring opportunities to develop and attract business events within their destination.

Covering a wide range of topics, it equips you with the essential knowledge and tools needed to establish a successful business events operation tailored to your destination’s unique potential.

VisitEngland’s business events brand is MeetEngland — please visit the VisitBritain Business Events and MeetEngland websites for more information.

Each section of this guide focuses on a specific aspect of business events, offering targeted guidance based on your destination’s current infrastructure, resources, or funding.

Whether you’re just starting or looking to enhance existing efforts, this toolkit provides actionable steps to elevate your destination to the next level.

Photo by: VisitBritain/Getty Images

Location: England

Woman working on laptop at a hotel check-in desk

Purpose of the toolkit

What it is: This is a detailed guide designed to help you understand business events, identify opportunities, and implement strategies to attract and manage these events within your destination. It empowers you to focus on what is most relevant to your goals, enabling informed decisions to further your aspirations in the business events sector.

What it is not: This is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Strategies for business events will differ from destination to destination, and this guide should be tailored to fit your destination’s unique context and resources. Not every recommendation will apply universally — it’s up to you to determine what best suits the needs and priorities for your destination.

How to use this toolkit: The toolkit allows you to focus on what is most relevant to your needs. Whether you’re just beginning to explore your destination’s potential for business events or are already well-established and seeking ways to expand and refine your offering. You may be interested in specific themes like ambassador programs, building a legacy strategy, or enhancing sustainability. Wherever you are on your journey, you’ll find valuable, practical, and inspiring content tailored to your goals.

Navigate the guide at your own pace, make use of the checklists, explore the case studies, and adapt the insights to suit your destination’s unique circumstances.

Photo by: Telford International Centre

Location: Telford, England

Rows of empty red chairs in a large, dark auditorium with spotlights beaming down from above.

What's included

A self-assessment tool to help you evaluate your destination's current position and identify key considerations related to infrastructure, resources, and funding required to build a successful business events offering.

Comprehensive guidance on a wide range of topics, from managing sales pipelines and selecting software to developing ambassador programs and leveraging AI, covering everything you need to succeed.

Real-world case studies and best practices woven throughout to inspire and inform your strategy.

Glossary

Many acronyms and specific terminology are used when referring to Business Events. This glossary provides you with explanations of acronyms and terms used throughout this guide.

ABPCO	Association of British Professional Conference Organisers
Ambassador Programme	A strategic programme aimed at leveraging local experts to attract and host international and national events. Ambassador programmes will vary in scope and size depending on your destination. Often the local experts will be academics from local research institutes and universities or clinicians from local hospitals. Sometimes they could be professionals from corporate organisations locally. (More detailed information on Ambassador Programmes can be found in Section 5).
Association	An organisation consisting of members in a specific industry that may host or participate in conferences or conventions, for example, The Association of British Heart Surgeons.
CITY DNA	Also known as the City Destination Alliance, this is a membership-based organisation in Europe for the tourism boards of cities, previously known as European Cities Marketing. Their focus is on leisure and business tourism and there is a dedicated group within the association for business events.
CVB (Convention Bureau)	A dedicated team or organisation responsible for attracting business events to a destination. The CVB may sit within the local tourism board or Destination Management / Marketing Organisation (DMO) or Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) and is often partly public and partly privately funded. There may be multiple smaller CVBs which sit within the same LVEP and who work with the primary lead of the LVEP to secure business. Each destination’s CVB function and responsibilities may vary depending on the overall set-up at a local level.
Convention Centre	A venue whose primary purpose is to host business meetings, congresses, and other events. Usually attracts large conferences 500+ delegates. Often a convention centre will also have exhibition space which can be used for trade or consumer exhibitions. They may also host cultural / sports events as well as business events.
Corporate	In this context, it refers to companies or businesses that organise conferences for their employees and are not associations. For example: Samsung is a corporate organisation who would organise conferences for their staff and pay all costs associated with the venue and attendance.
D.I. (Destinations International)	A global association for Destinations (tourism and business events).
DMC (Destination Management Company)	A company specialising in local destination services for event planning.
DMO (Destination Marketing or Management Organisation)	An organisation (can be public/private sector funded — varies from place to place) that promotes a location as an attractive business or leisure destination. The organisation may also be involved with other destination aspects such as inward investment, research and development and placemaking. In England, Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPS) have replaced some DMOs.
ICCA (International Congress and Conventions Association)	A global community for the meetings industry for associations, providing data, benchmark and networking for event destinations.
LVEPs (Local Visitor Economy Partnerships)	VisitEngland has created portfolio of nationally supported, strategic and high-performing LVEPs. These LVEPs will provide strong local leadership and governance in tourism destinations all over the country.
MIA (Meetings Industry Association)	An association that represents and supports professionals in the UK meetings and events sector.
PCMA	Professional Convention Management Association — the largest association for the sector globally.
PCO (Professional Conference Organiser)	A company or individual specialising in managing and organising conferences. Occasionally a PCO may also manage membership for an association as well as organise their conferences.
Subvention	Financial or in-kind support given by local authorities (predominantly) to attract major events to a destination. Occasionally some subvention may be offered by the private sector. For example, a privately owned venue / convention centre may offer their own discount or subsidy to the client OR as we are beginning to see more subvention is offered via a BID (Business Improvement District) levy on hotel. A private sector board will then determine how this is paid. (More information on subvention can be found in Section 5).
Third Parties	External companies or individuals involved in event planning such as event agencies or venue finding agencies. Sometimes corporate clients make use of agencies on an ad-hoc basis per event. In these cases, they generally offer their services for venue finding or accommodation booking free of charge to the client and take a commission / referral fee from the venues/hotels. However, there are some corporate clients who will outsource all their venue sourcing, shortlisting and event management to a third-party agency who will usually be on retainer and will have influence and decision-making authority. In such cases they become an important gatekeeper and influencer in the shortlisting of destinations and venues.