The CTSR pioneered the standardisation of economic evaluation of events that resulted in the development of ‘Encore’. Encore has been used to assess the economic performance of festivals and major events in Australia and overseas. This software was developed in partnership with Arts Victoria on behalf of the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) . The Centre has also been a driving force in the development of tools to assess the social impact of festivals and events.

The Centre has conducted much of the research that has been undertaken in Australia on business events over the past 10 years, with the National Business Events Study (2005) being a benchmark. This study was undertaken on behalf of the STCRC. The Centre has since undertaken work in business event evaluation on behalf of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), amongst others. The Centre has developed software for convention centres and hotels to benchmark their business event performance monthly, enabling real-time assessment of economic contribution of the sector. The centre also conducts a yearly confidential benchmarking study on behalf of Australia’s Convention Bureau to help set their operating strategies.

What we do

Evaluation of festivals and major events: The CTSR has undertaken economic event evaluations for a wide range of events in most states and territories of Australia. This has helped establish standards for the economic evaluation of events, and resulted in the creation of the Encore evaluation tool.

Social impacts of festivals and major events: in conjunction with Griffith University, the CTSR has developed a research instrument to measure the social impacts of events on communities’ quality of life. Studies in this area are now able to compare levels of communities’ perceptions on their quality of life. Longitudinal studies have been undertaken for this purpose.

Event volunteer management: With a number of leading researchers in the area, The CTSR has a specific focus on managing volunteers at events, ranging from festivals to sporting and cultural events. CTSR researchers have examined issues such as recruitment, retention and volunteer development.

Cultural events and authenticity: Researchers in the CTSR are focusing on the issues associated with cultural events the meaning of authenticity – in particular the role that authenticity plays in audience satisfaction and motivation to attend such events.

Our Research Team

The team’s expertise covers both major events and business events and spans a broad range of topics in the events area including:

• event management
• social impact analysis
• consumer behaviour
• conference attendee motivations
• event related destination marketing

Key researchers involved in this program are:

Professor Leo Jago has been involved in event research for over 15 years. The developer of the Encore festival and event evaluation tool, Prof. Jago has undertaken most of the Centre’s research into business event performance assessment. He has been the driver for the development of software to monitor the ongoing performance of business event venues. Prof. Jago also has strong links to industry partners in the event field.

Professor Margaret Deery is Event Area Discipline Leader at Victoria University and has been involved in event research for over six years. She led the National Business Event Study, and has been at the forefront of assessing the social impact of events.

Dr Leonie Lockstone-Binney has substantial expertise in the area of event volunteer recruitment and management, which has become a fundamental component of the success of many events.

Henk Meijerink is a senior data modeller and has developed the software that is used to benchmark the performance of business event venues.

Dr Pandora Kay’s research interests are cultural events ranges from large scale blockbuster art exhibitions to community-based volunteer-managed cultural events, with a particular emphasis on cross-cultural tourist and consumer event motivations, barriers and behaviours and the marketing implications for event managers.

Martin Robertson has considerable experience in the regional promotion, brand value and social cultural benefit areas of event evaluation.

Associate Professor Anne-Marie Hede has over 10 years of experience in researching cultural events. She has focussed on managerial initiatives and attendee responses to these using a range of theories including personal values, satisfaction, stakeholder theory and integrated marketing communications.

Olga Junek has been performing and publishing research in the area of international students and event management education - two areas that are very important in the tourism and events industry sectors.

Dr Judith Mair is involved in research in the area of business events, particularly with regard to consumer behaviour and sustainability.

Research Partners

Researchers in the Centre for Tourism and Services Research have worked on major projects with both commercial and government partners, nationally and internationally. Project partners include:

• Arts Victoria
• Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB)
• Business Events Council of Australia (BECA)
• Definitive Events
• United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)
• Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau (MCVB)
• Canberra Convention Bureau (CCB)
• Australian Convention Centres
• Tourism Australia
• Tourism Victoria





Last reviewed: 27/07/2009