Impact Day
Impact Day aims to transform the role of the Business Events sector through societal, economic and environmental regeneration.
Monday 14 October
Saint Magdalene’s Church Bruges, Belgium
Organised by VISITFLANDERS, the GDS-Movement, and #MEET4IMPACT, Impact Day took place on 14 October 2024. Impact Day is a pivotal one-day inaugural conference aimed at redefining the role of the Business Events sector in driving societal, economic and environmental transformation and regeneration.
The day brought together industry leaders, funding agencies, and association executives who investigated how funding can be secured and managed for scaling impact initiatives.
The conference brought together approximately 130 attendees, including representatives from external organisations actively funding impact initiatives beyond the business events sector. The discussions explored the conditions and models under which impact projects connected to business events could become attractive opportunities for impact investors.
Programme
In the morning, you received all the insights and learnings from a 2-year journey whereby VISITFLANDERS Convention Bureau shifted from ‘more’ to ‘better’
Together with moderator, Francis Kadaplackal, we celebrated VISITFLANDERS methodology and learned more about the importance of generating impact with a congress or event in your destination. You have heard from 3 best practices and interacted with different international experts.
You learned from the members of the European Academy for Childhood Disability (EACD), the European Federation for Food Science and Technology (EFFOST), and the World Breaking Championship who went beyond the economic impact with their congress and event and truly generated impact.
In the afternoon dived into a new topic: Funding of Impact. The well-known Belgian Captain of Impact Industry, Piet Colruyt, started the conversation and together with our partners #MEET4IMPACT and VISITFLANDERS, several workshops took place to explore the topic of funding and investing in impact.
You met with well-known experts on impact, e.g., Geneviève Leclerc from #MEET4IMPACT and Wendy Braeken, Social Impact Coach joined by expert Guy Bigwood from GDS-Movement.
Partners
