Event legacy: how to turn your event into lasting impact
The programme wraps up. Delegates head home. What happens next? The Helsinki Legacy Toolkit Introduction helps organisers explore what their event could leave behind – and move from intention to action.
Back in 2024, when the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) held a congress in Helsinki, 12 Finnish schools took part in a linked challenge raising awareness of brain health. The congress ended, but the classroom work continued.
This is event legacy: the value that continues beyond the event. Event impact, meanwhile, is the wider term for the changes generated through an event, from immediate benefits to longer-term outcomes. Why does it matter? Because events can do more than deliver great experiences. When designed with intention, they can create lasting value for people, sectors, destinations and your organisation.
Not all impact is legacy, but all legacy is impact. So, where do you begin? Not with a grand transformation. With purpose. The Levels of Impact Engagement framework helps you choose something your team can deliver.
Start with your organisation’s purpose
The first question is not “What can we do in Helsinki?” It is “What type of change does your organisation genuinely care about contributing to?” Purpose first. Activity later.
For a scientific association, that might mean improving public understanding or connecting researchers with local institutions.
Five questions to guide your event’s impact:
- What positive change could your event create for the people and place hosting it?
- Which organisational priorities, values or causes does your event naturally support?
- How could your event strengthen your sector, advance your association’s goals or support a cause your company already cares about?
- Which of the host region’s priorities does your purpose connect to?
- Who needs to be involved from the start – your team, an impact partner or other key stakeholders?
Bring them to the planning table. Argue a little. Then turn your answers into one clear impact objective.
Three levels of impact engagement
Helsinki takes environmental sustainability seriously, with a focus on preserving its natural beauty for future generations. Congress participants are encouraged to engage in urban preservation through volunteer work, cleaning campaigns, and removing invasive plant species. Congresses can donate leftover congress materials to workshops like Uusix, promoting a circular economy.
The Levels of Impact Engagement framework describes three levels of commitment. They differ in ambition and resources, not quality.
Level 1. Responsible Action: “We want to do the right thing.”
You take practical actions within your event, such as reducing waste or choosing local suppliers. CSR activities, such as volunteering or donations, also sit here when nothing is co-developed with local partners.
Level 2. Collaborative Impact: “We want to create shared value.”
You work with local partners to design activities that benefit both your event and the community. Think student projects or public learning sessions.
Level 3. Transformative Legacy: “We want to leave something that lasts.”
You co-create an initiative intended to continue beyond your event, such as an educational programme.
One congress worked at all three levels. Here’s how.
EAN’s Brain Health School Challenge
Organisation: European Academy of Neurology (EAN), a scientific association.
Events: EAN congresses in Helsinki in 2024 and 2025.
Impact goal: Raise awareness of brain health among young people and the wider public.
Local partners: Neurocenter Finland, the Finnish Neurological Society and Business College Helsinki.
Initiatives:
- Level 1 (Responsible Action): Choosing Messukeskus, an ISO 14001-certified venue.
- Level 2 (Collaborative Impact): Inviting residents to its 2025 Public Brain Health Day.
- Level 3 (Transformative Legacy): Developing the continuing Brain Health School Challenge.
What happened: “We asked Finnish primary and secondary school students, as well as high school students, to develop ideas to promote brain health, and we rewarded the best suggestions,” said Professor Reetta Kälviäinen, chair of the congress’s Finnish Organising Committee. The initiative also “provided additional training for teachers on brain health.” EAN initiated the challenge. The Finnish edition launched in January 2024, ahead of that summer’s congress.
Outcome: The challenge has run in Finland every year since and expanded to other European countries.
Results like these don’t measure themselves.
How to measure event legacy
Helsinki has been ranked #2 in the Happy City Index 2026. The Finnish capital places a strong focus on community and healthy lifestyle and it’s reflected in the congress legacy.
Choose your measures during planning, not after everyone has gone home. To measure event legacy, the toolkit uses two types of indicators.
- Effort and output indicators record what you invested and delivered: activities organised or partners involved.
- Outcome indicators capture what changed: participants reporting greater understanding or partners identifying collaboration opportunities.
A full room shows reach, but not necessarily what people learned. Longer-term legacy needs follow-up and measures agreed with your partners.
Then share the results. Evidence of change is what makes the case to your board, members and partners – and builds your association’s credibility and reputation. The full toolkit provides measurement worksheets and guidance.
When to start planning
Bring impact into your earliest event discussions. The toolkit suggests allowing up to 3 months for Level 1, 6–12 months for Level 2 and 12 months or more for Level 3. Lasting things take a while.
That’s where we come in. Helsinki Convention Bureau can walk you through the tools, explore ideas and recommend local contacts. We know a few. The initiative stays yours.
Download the Helsinki Legacy Toolkit Introduction
What could your next event set in motion? The Helsinki Legacy Toolkit Introduction gives event organisers an overview of the impact journey and ideas for local impact partners – a starting point for moving from intention to action. Bring it to your next planning meeting.
Want more? For tailored partner recommendations or the full toolkit’s detailed guidance and worksheets, contact us at Helsinki Convention Bureau: meetings@helsinkipartners.com
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