Articles

CEF’s articles are short and accessible, written by leading professors, practitioners, and experts covering all aspects of events and festivals, which introduce readers to new ideas, frameworks, practices and policies and focus around a specific issue or problem and provide action-based solutions to help the world deliver great events and festivals.

Are you an expert in an aspect of events and festivals and would like to write an article? If so, join the CEF Community and get in touch!

Volunteering | Experience | Motivation | Community | Respect

    • Volunteers are the lifeblood of events, but their experiences are too often overlooked, poorly managed, or undervalued.

    • Erik’s research identifies four key dimensions of the volunteer experience—satisfaction, motivation, commitment, and sense of community—offering a practical framework for organisers to improve engagement and retention.

    • Positive volunteer experiences create long-term civic value, inspiring future participation, community building, and even career pathways.

    • Treating volunteering as a two-way relationship, not free labour, is crucial—especially as generational shifts and economic pressures challenge traditional recruitment.

    • Events that design volunteer experiences with intention and empathy will attract more people and build stronger, more resilient communities.

  • Dr Erik L. Lachance (Brock University, Canada).

Inclusion | Legacy | Inequlity | Community Voice | Birmingham

    • Major events often exclude the very communities they claim to uplift, with legacy benefits disproportionately favouring elites and infrastructure developers over local, deprived populations.

    • Socioeconomic disadvantage is multi-layered and place-specific, demanding that inclusion efforts go beyond surface-level consultation to tackle deeper cultural, structural, and geographic inequalities.

    • Birmingham is establishing a pioneering model that demonstrates how a potential legacy can be redirected to address inequities, but only with political will, local advocacy, and sustained investment.

    • The Strategic Alliance Model offers a blueprint for inclusive legacy, built around early stakeholder mapping, co-design baked into planning, and post-event continuity through ring-fenced investment.

    • Real inclusion must be treated as a strategic asset, not a compliance task, with transparent impact measurement and shared responsibility across public, private, and civic partners.

  • Dr Shushu Chen (University of Birmingham, UK).

Community Trust | Over-Eventism | Resident Resistance | Development

    • Public trust is the new currency for hosting major events — and it’s in short supply. Without it, bids fail, and events face opposition from the ground up.

    • Mega-events often stumble when residents see them as “transactional” spectacles rather than “transformational” opportunities for long-term benefit.

    • Over-eventing breeds fatigue. Without clear coordination and strategy, even the most well-intentioned event portfolios risk backlash from overwhelmed communities.

    • Narrative matters. Residents need to understand the “why” behind hosting — how it fits into broader goals, what success looks like, and how they benefit.

    • A shift is underway. From top-down imposition to bottom-up alignment, cities must now co-create bids with their communities or risk being left out of the global event game.

  • Dr Martin Schnitzer (University of Innsbruck, Austria).

Segmentation | Impact | Audience Insight | Experience Design

    • Segmentation isn’t just marketing—it’s strategy. Used well, it aligns event design, communications, and experience with audience needs, boosting impact and Return on Investment.

    • Big data is transforming how we understand audiences. Social media, geolocation, and predictive analytics enable more precise and dynamic segmentation than ever before.

    • Event-goers aren’t the only segment. Residents, sponsors, suppliers, and staff all have divergent interests—successful events must balance and integrate them.

    • Smaller events and mega-events face different segmentation challenges. But all require clear strategic intent and a deep understanding of audience motivations.

    • Misuse of segmentation can marginalise or exploit. Ethical use demands ongoing reflection, transparent goals, and attention to equity—not just economics.

  • Dr Aaron Tkaczynski (University of Queensland, Australia).

Legacy | Accountability | Mega-Events | Equity | Structural Change

    • Legacy must be planned, not presumed: Positive legacies don’t just happen — they require early vision, long-term commitment, and alignment with host city priorities.

    • Inequality is embedded into the current model: Benefits often flow to the already privileged, while harms — from displacement to surveillance — are disproportionately borne by marginalised communities.

    • Legacy measurement is evolving — but still lacks teeth: Despite progress in frameworks and KPIs, legacy remains hard to define, harder to measure, and dangerously easy to manipulate.

    • Reform is possible — and urgent: From Paris’ social programmes to decentralised hosting proposals, new models are emerging, but need scaling, consistency, and enforcement.

    • A new playbook for action: Event owners, city leaders, and community advocates must co-create legacy strategies that are inclusive, accountable, and tailored to context — or risk losing public trust altogether.

  • Dr Holger Preuss (Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany).

    Dr Mike Duignan (University of Paris 1: Pantheon-Sorbonne, France).

Watch out for more articles being released over the next weeks
and months across all aspects of events and festivals!