EventsPRO™ is CEF’s official Continuous Professional Development (CPD) portfolio of training courses – providing an affordable, world class professional education.

Each course is designed by subject matter experts, from industry practitioners to university professors, to develop the current and future generation of event and festival professionals.

EventsPRO™ is split into four programs: Foundational, Specialist, and Challenge Courses, and the Executive Leaders program.

This article looks at how too many events promise social impact but fail to plan, measure, or deliver it meaningfully. Lasting legacy requires shifting ownership to local communities and focusing on outcomes that matter most to people. Wellbeing—not just economic gain—should be the key measure of success. Smaller, local events often create powerful social ripples when designed around inclusion and belonging. To scale what works, the sector needs better knowledge sharing and consistent evidence. Establishing a national Events Data Observatory would provide the insights needed to understand, replicate, and enhance effective practices, ensuring events deliver real, lasting benefits for people and places.

Join the Centre for Events & Festivals (CEF) and the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management and Centre for Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery for an important discussion on the role of events in tackling exploitation and promoting safer, more ethical practices. This hybrid event brings together experts, practitioners, and academics to explore solutions at the intersection of hospitality, tourism, and human rights.

How Events Transform Society is the Centre for Events & Festivals’ (CEF) official book series, published globally by Routledge. The series explores how events and festivals shape culture, communities, economies, and the environment, offering a platform for leading thinkers to influence practice and policy worldwide. Are you a subject matter expert looking to turn your knowledge into a book that could feature in major retailers? We welcome proposals across all areas of events and festivals — from strategy, planning, delivery, and evaluation to sustainability, technology, design, production, and legacy. Share your ideas and help shape the future of the field.

This article looks at how most events still prioritise economic metrics while overlooking harder-to-measure but critical social outcomes. Flanders offers a leading example, embedding social impact into event planning through co-creation and Theory of Change models. Proven tools from other policy sectors can—and must—be adapted to create credible frameworks for measuring impact. Overpromising outcomes without evidence erodes public trust, making expectation management essential. Honest evaluation also requires acknowledging both positive legacies and negative consequences, including environmental and social costs. By adopting rigorous, evidence-based planning and transparent measurement, events can deliver meaningful change while building trust with communities, policymakers, and stakeholders.

This article looks at how electric atmospheres cannot be manufactured—they emerge from rituals, participation, and shared emotion. Too often, organisers mistake spectacle for atmosphere, resulting in experiences that feel flat and forgettable. Fans are not passive consumers; they are co-creators of atmosphere before, during, and after events. Authentic energy extends beyond venues, weaving through streets, public spaces, and entire cities. To foster lasting, memorable atmospheres, organisers must embrace practical, inclusive design rooted in local culture and fan traditions. By prioritising participation and belonging over staged spectacle, events can create spaces where collective emotion thrives and unforgettable shared experiences come to life.

CEF, in collaboration with Dr Jamie Kenyon and Dr Verity Postlethwaite of Loughborough University (UK), is working to objectively define what is meant by “small,” “medium,” “large,” “major,” and “mega” events — and to clarify the implications of these definitions for practice, planning, resourcing, and delivery. As a thank you for completing each survey, we will provide you with a free executive report of the key findings.

Sustainability has become a central promise of many events, yet new research reveals that spectators often overlook or misinterpret organisers’ efforts. Audiences tend to recognise only the most visible, environmental signals—like recycling bins or renewable energy use—while social and economic impacts often go unnoticed. What counts as a meaningful sustainability initiative also depends heavily on local context; what resonates with one community may feel routine or irrelevant in another.

The Centre for Events and Festivals (CEF) is delighted to announce its official partnership with Host City to support the activities of the Host City 2025 Conference. This collaboration strengthens our mission to bridge the gap between academia and industry, ensuring that cutting-edge research, insights, and thought leadership inform real-world practice. Through this partnership, CEF will help transform intellectual outputs from the conference into open resources for our global community, enabling wider access to knowledge that shapes the future of events and festivals. Together with Host City, we look forward to fostering dialogue, sharing expertise, and driving innovation across the events and festivals sector.

Glastonbury is world-famous for its music, mud-soaked fields, and festival spirit—but could it also offer a blueprint for tackling the climate crisis? In this episode, CEF speaks with climate scientist Dr. Richard Betts about how festivals like Glastonbury are becoming microcosms of our global environmental challenges. From renewable energy and green transport to heat adaptation and eco-activism, festivals are testing real-world climate solutions. Are organisers and audiences doing enough? Should ticketing include a green travel contract? Discover what cities can learn from Glastonbury’s sustainability model and why “edutainment” may be key to driving lasting environmental change.

On the 5th August, CEF officially launched with a presentation of the organisation's strategy, plans, how YOU can get involved... and our "Mission 2030" strategy to become the world's first "Chartered Institute for Events & Festivals".

We also hosted our first CEF Debate on "Do Large-Scale Cultural Festivals Deliver More Social Value Than Major Sporting Events?" which saw a battle of wits and brilliant arguments put forward by the two debate teams! If you missed it, you can watch the recorded video.

A BIG thank you to everyone who tuned in, who have shared their views on CEF's plans, and to our panellists!