Thanks to 54,400 out-of-town visitors to the Ottawa Convention Centre (OCC), the city’s economy experienced a CAN$101 million windfall in 2012.

The OCC commissioned Ipsos Reid, a third-part research firm, to conduct an economic impact study on 57 OCC conventions and tradeshows held that year that drew at least 25 percent of participants from outside the Ottawa-Gatineau area. The $101 million in direct spending includes:

• $78 million in attendee spending
• $16 million in exhibitor spending
• $7 million in production spending

The study found these conventions and trade shows attracted more than 47,000 delegates and attendees from outside Ottawa and nearly 5,900 staff members that represented more than 1,500 non-local exhibitors. These events also generated tax revenues for the federal and provincial reserves estimated at more than $38 million.

The new report shows the OCC to be a major force in Ottawa’s economy and a good business partner, says OCC President and CEO Patrick Kelly. 

“The OCC has had a significant impact on the national capital region’s economy in many sectors,” Kelly told One+. “1,300 jobs annually are supported by the conferences taking place in the OCC…jobs in sectors such as arts and culture, accommodations, transportation, retail, warehousing and more. We are pleased with how OCC’s presence has assisted our city both financially and in connecting our industry clusters to the national and international marketplace.”

In any city, meetings always have a positive effect in the places where they are held, says Stuart Taylor, a chapter business manager supporting all of MPI’s eight Canadian chapters. 

“Not only does the facility benefit from the business, but so do the hotels and restaurants in the area, local transportation that brings them to the meeting and the airport and airlines that bring them to the city,” he said. “In Ottawa, it’s as important as ever to show how meetings affect everyone in Canada. People may have a different perspective about meetings in Ottawa because that is where our federal government has their own ‘meetings’ in the House of Commons, which help to move our country forward in the decisions that are made there on a daily basis by our elected officials.”

MPI is currently in the middle of conducting our own third Canadian Economic Impact Study (CEIS). The first was released in 2008, with the release of version 2.0 in 2009. CEIS 3.0 will be released in 2014 and will focus on regional data, as opposed to the national data focus of the previous studies. It is MPI’s vision that the CEIS 3.0, combined with other valuable studies such as the one conducted by OCC, will help our industry tell the story of how much economic value meetings and events bring to local communities—ours is a powerful story.

The following was written by Lindsey Press, event specialist for National Events Deloitte, and Angie Draskovic, founder and CEO of ZOË Alliance Inc.

We are MPI members for many reasons. Personal and professional development, career enhancement, networking and business development, to name a few.

As an industry that is in the business of bringing people together, we are acutely aware of how we are interconnected and the fundamental importance of community.

Our latest ECOS Committee event, “MPI Build a Bike Day,” took us to the Toronto Kiwanis Boys & Girls Club (101 Spruce Street), where we helped provide five boys and five girls from Regent Park with very empowering gifts of dignity, autonomy and the opportunity to build confidence.

Sixty-nine percent of the families that use the Spruce Street location have average incomes of less than $20,000 and some even earn less than $8,000. This is staggering to consider and painful to think about how neighbors in our community are expected to excel with so much less.

On June 20, a group of 27 MPI Toronto members and their families came together and built bikes for 10 very deserving children. The morning was full of the usual up-beat atmosphere that surrounds an MPI event. We enjoyed seeing another side of our colleagues and quickly realized who in the group knew how to use a wrench!

A bike is typically regarded as a childhood staple, but to these children it is so much more.

As volunteers, many of us did not anticipate what we would learn once meeting the children who received the bikes. Many of them had never ridden a bike before and would be learning for the first time at the ages of 10 or 11. For some, this bike would become transportation to get to a part-time job and earn much needed supplementary income for their families. Of course the children’s faces were beaming when they were presented with their bike. However, we could not have anticipated the looks of heartfelt gratitude that appeared on their parent’s faces!

What was accomplished would not have been possible without the private donations of corporate sponsors and generosity of the following; Toronto Kiwanis Boys & Girls Club, AVW Telav Audio Visual Solutions, Elephant Entertainment and D.E.Solutions.

On that Saturday morning, our MPI Toronto family grew a little and 10 bikes became much more than a toy.

Awareness of Canada as a tourism destination, created through the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, is translating into travel bookings in the Canadian Tourism Commission’s (CTC) core markets as a result of post-Games marketing campaigns.

Highlights include:

• 290,000 British travelers were inspired by Canada’s marketing campaigns to book flights to Canada—almost double 2009 and triple 2008 figures. Tourism revenues from this market were up over 2009 by CAD$134 million (from $256 million to $380 million), reflecting the additional traffic.
• More than 70,000 Australians shifted from considering a trip to Canada to making a firm booking in 2010—twice 2009 numbers. Revenues rose from $62 million to $117 million.
• Some 128,000 German travelers were persuaded by CTC marketing campaigns to book a trip to Canada in 2010, up from 91,000 the previous year. Revenues rose by $61 million to $196 million.
• CTC marketing campaigns convinced 120,000 French travellers to take a trip to Canada, generating $160 million in revenues.
• CTC’s media and public relations activity around the games resulted in global coverage for travel to Canada and roughly $1 billion in “advertising value equivalency” in 2010. 

These figures come from an interim report, "Tourism Steps Up to the Podium," prepared by the CTC. This interim accounting examines the early results from the Government of Canada’s investment in a $26-million, tourism-focused strategy to leverage the games.

"As host of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Canada seized the opportunity to showcase the spirit and hospitality of its people and the natural wonder of our attractions to the world,” said the Honourable Rob Moore, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism). "Our tourism industry is poised to build on the successful collaboration of public and private partners as we focus on drawing many more visitors to Canada." 

As part of its tourism strategy, Canada became the first hosting country to successfully integrate new, high-definition footage of tourism experiences into the coverage of the games by international broadcasters. Audiences around the globe followed the games, and also got a taste of the Canadian adventures that await them here in all regions of the country.

“From the outset, we knew that our job was to market Canada—to use the games platform to advance Canada’s tourism brand,” said Michele McKenzie, CTC president and CEO. “Through innovative campaigns, bold strategy and judicious investments, we are competing to keep Canada front of mind as a premier tourism destination in 2011 and beyond, ensuring that international travelers can find—and experience—the Canada they saw on their screens during the games.”

The list of Canada’s “Green 30”—organizations whose employees are most positive about their record on environmental stewardship—was released this past week by Aon Hewitt, the global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corp. The list was compiled from employee feedback using Aon Hewitt’s Employee Green Index, which focuses on employers’ environmental strategies and activities and their efforts to consider long-term social, environmental and economic impacts when making decisions.

As part of the 2011 Best Employers in Canada and Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada studies, Aon Hewitt surveyed more than 130,000 employees at more than 250 organizations regarding their employers’ commitment to environmental stewardship. At the Green 30 organizations, an average of 82 percent of employees have a positive perception of their employers’ eco-friendly efforts. At the 30 organizations with the least positive reviews, that figure is 46 per cent.

“Our findings show that employees really see the difference when their employer is focused on developing and implementing environmentally-conscious policies and practices,” said Neil Crawford, Aon Hewitt’s leader of the Best Employers in Canada study. “Effective green programs and practices may persuade certain employees to join or stay with an organization. Certainly employee engagement scores at the Green 30 are higher than those at the 30 organizations that ranked lowest on the Employee Green Index—67 percent for the Green 30 versus 46 percent at the 30 lowest ranked employers.”

The Green 30 list appears in the May 9 issue of Maclean’s magazine, available now on newsstands.

Most people don't think of librarians as meeting planners. Think about it, though. Librarians, like planners, are in the togetherness business. Saying a librarian's role is to just check out books is like saying a planner's role it to just count coffee cups. Both ultimately aim to create communities that foster ideas and connections. 

It's shouldn't surprise you, then, that the Toronto Public Library checked out humans to bring people together for face-to-face conversations in order to educate and eradicate prejudices. The program is part of the Human Library Organization, which promotes positive dialogue and interaction about people. 

"The Toronto Public Library held its first Human Library event at five branches on Nov. 6, attracting more than 200 users who checked out the likes of a police officer, a comedian, a sex-worker-turned-club-owner, a model and a survivor of cancer, homelessness and poverty," wrote Paul Gallant for online magazine Yonge Street. "They're all volunteers whose lives would make good reading, but even better one-on-one chatting. The library is considering make the program long-term, so a supply of human books will be regularly available to readers."

The event was a huge success, and the library is considering doing it again next year.

"I purposely chose a book I would know absolutely nothing about," said library patron. "It was fantastic! What a great idea and a great experience."

It does seems like a great concept. Curious, though; would this program bring you to the library more often?

(Photo credit: Human Library Organization)