InsideEvents Programming

InsideEvents is an international podcast hosted by Dr Mike Duignan, featuring 50+ scholars and practitioners talking about ideas, concepts, “Difficult Conversations” and “Wicked Problems” in events. Below, you can find all podcasts currently published and scheduled, and to the right you can cluck to find out more about the aim of each series.

  • Apart from “difficult conversations” and “wicked problems” most of the InsideEvents podcasts are dedicated to explore ideas and concepts related to events, from “event portfolios” to “legacies” and all the ideas in between.

  • There are a lot of difficult conversations that event owners, organisers, governments and critical commentators are having, and that are needed to have, to tackle some of the most pressing - often existential - challenges facing the events industry. "Difficult Conversations” is a special track of InsideEvents podcasts designed to bring key stakeholders together to openly discuss these issues. These podcasts will be launched in 2024, covering a range of issues. Examples include:

    Does Saudia Arabia’s quest for global sport event domination represent an attempt at “Sportswashing”?

    Do major events, like the Super Bowl, increase risks of human trafficking and modern-day slavery?

    Events often manifest as “cities within cities” and often fail to engage meaningfully with the host destination: Why is this and to what extent is this true?

    Is development associated with mega-events incompatible with sustainable social and economic development principles?

    What are the benefits of failed bids?

    Can FIFA ever clean up its image of corruption and human rights scandals?

    Race and sporting events in the USA": What progress has been made in the last century 1920’s to 2020s?

    Is Paris 2024 just a project to extend a gentrified “Grand Paris”?

    Do we do enough to promote a strategic “event portfolio” approach to scheduling events in the calendar for destinations? What are the barriers?

    Why is it that major- and mega-events consistently overestimate benefits and underestimate costs? Is this part of the game? Can we do anything about it?

    Is it fair to judge cities and countries like Qatar on human rights with the same standard as developed nations (who also historically had dubious rights records)?

  • Hosting events, particularly large-scale major- or -mega-events have become more complex both in terms of the business environment they find themselves in, and the operational and strategic demands around sustainable development and the legacies they leave behind.

    This special track of InsideEvents applies some of the principles of wicked problem solving to interrogate and seek solutions to some of these pressing issues in the bidding, planning, delivery and legacies of large-scale events. The thing that makes events interesting is that they not only produce wicked problems (e.g. planning issues), they can also tackle non-event related problems too (e.g. tackle everyday socio-economic challenges in the destination).

    The principles of wicked problems is ideal to frame these discussions as they are all inherently complex with no “stopping rule” and not always a clear “right or wrong” solution. This is because events are always situated in social contexts that have their own norms and values, therefore, each problem is always inherently different with various local economic, political, social and cultural factors influencing processes and outcomes. And finally, solutions to wicked problems are always “one shot” operations, which is often the case for one-off events, like the FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl, to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

    Examples of topics include:

    1. How do we produce lasting legacies out of events that are fundamentally temporary?

    2. Are events and festivals doing enough to be environmentally friendly and encourage pro-environmental behaviours?

    3. How do we balance hedonic experiences with the need for social responsibility (e.g. pro-environmental behavior at festivals)?

    4. How do we design and deliver major events that result in minimal human rights violations?

Skip to Videos
  • Dr Niki Koutrou (University of Sunderland) on 'Environmental Sustainability'

    Dr Niki Koutrou (University of Sunderland) on 'Environmental Sustainability'

    Podcast blurb: This video aims to enhance understanding on how events and environmental sustainability intersect. There has been an increased focus of event organisers to make events greener with some proactive measures taken to offset the huge impacts stemming from mega/major events such as from travel/transport, energy and water use, pollution, waste generation and resource consumption. However, there is still a lot to be done in terms of adopting a consistent approach to measuring environmental impacts in events, engage and consult environmental scientists in event planning, minimize and mitigate the impacts of events on the environment. Ultimately, events and the environment have a bi-directional relationship. Events affect the environment and are increasingly affected by climate change. As such environmental sustainability needs to be embedded in an events design and planning process to ensure sustained positive long-term impacts for the hosting communities.

    Niki’s bio: Dr Niki Koutrou is a Principal Lecturer in Research & Knowledge Exchange at the University of Sunderland in London. She holds a PhD in Sport Policy from Loughborough University, UK. Her research explores social impacts and legacies of the Olympic Games and other Mega Events, the benefits and impacts of community sport volunteering, civil society stakeholder relationships and sustainability, sport programme evaluation and sustainability and environmental sustainability attitudes in grassroots sport. She acts as a Project coordinator of various collaborative sport related projects funded by Erasmus+ sport programme of the EU. These currently include Be Active for Greener Sports (BAGS) and CHANGE on behalf of the European Sports NGO (ENGSO).

    Further reading and resources:

    • There are some good resources out there for people to delve more into the concept. I would recommend the book by Robert Case published in 2013 by Routledge on Events and the Environment (https://www.routledge.com/Events-and-the-Environment/Case/p/book/9780415605960#:~:text=It%20offers%20insights%20into%20how,be%20resolved%20within%20the%20industry)

    It is the first book to provide a thorough exploration of the multi-dimensional relationships between events and the environment and It gives important information on how sustainable measurement practices can be incorporated into event planning, management and monitoring, presenting several case studies There is also the book titled Events and Sustainability by Holmes and colleagues published in 2015 by Routledge, which also provides a good overview of the topic (https://www.routledge.com/Events-and-Sustainability/Holmes-Hughes-Mair-Carlsen/p/book/9780415744508)

    • There is also the upcoming Routledge Handbook on Events and Sustainability by Whitfield and colleagues. I have also contributed with a chapter that discusses various current sectoral responses on environmental sustainability and the Event industry's dual role on ES.

    • For sports events specifically, I would recommend the audience to look up the various studies published by Brian McCullough, Madeline Orr, Sylvia Trendafilova and Walker Ross who explore the evolution of ES in sport organisations and events and call event stakeholders to consider climate adaptation strategies and risk management to withstand the negative effects of climate change on their events in the future.

    • For practical resources, I would recommend looking on the IEMA website (https://www.iema.net/) and tools, which provide free resources, training and guides for any company who are keen to start adopting more sustainable practices into their organisations

    • The United Nations Environment programme (UNEP)- Green Meeting Guide - Roll out the Green Carpet for your Participants”. also provides extensive guidelines on how to green meetings covering specific indicators on climate neutrality (emissions reduction, calculation and offsetting) with checklists on venue, accommodation, catering and transport for meetings with up to 200 participants

    • The resources and websites of various sustainability advocacy groups and NGOs such as Sport and Sustainability International, Sustainability Report and Green Sport Alliance

    • The resources provided by the Life Tackle project (https://lifetackle.eu/) funded by the EU aiming at improving the environmental management of football matches and the overall level of awareness and attention towards environmental issues in the football sector

    • And the environmental certification standards for the events industry such as the ISO20121 sustainable events standards which offer guidance and best practice in managing sustainable events across the social, economic, and environmental dimensions-benchmark for quality

  • Prof Steve Pratt (University Central Florida) on 'Sustainable Development'

    Prof Steve Pratt (University Central Florida) on 'Sustainable Development'

    Podcast blurb: Sustainable Tourism Development is an important but long debated topic. There is much discussion about how it is defined, what is its scope and how it can be assessed. Sustainable tourism, like sustainable development in general, has been viewed in terms of three pillars: the economic, environmental and socio-cultural dimensions. Some people see it as an oxymoron. Others have focused just on environmental sustainability. The recent focus has been on the Sustainable Development Goals and how tourism has contributed to the 17 goals. Professor Pratt covers some of these issues with Dr Duignan in this podcast.

    Steve’s bio: Professor Stephen Pratt is Department Chair of Tourism, Events and Attractions at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida. He previously served as Head of School of Tourism & Hospitality at the University of the South Pacific and as Assistant Professor at the School of Hotel & Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He completed his PhD at the University of Nottingham. He obtained a Bachelor of Economics and Masters of Economics from the University of Sydney. His research interests include sustainable tourism development, tourism in small island states and tourist behavior.

    https://www.youtube.com/@TravelProfessors

  • Dr Bri Newland (New York University) on 'Environmentalism and Events'

    Dr Bri Newland (New York University) on 'Environmentalism and Events'

    Podcast blurb: Event environmentalism is the practice of making events more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Mega and major events can leave a very costly impact on the environment and the resources of the host location. Therefore, event managers must be proactive and deliberate about decisions they make and the impact they make. Environmental sustainability is not just simply using paper straws instead of plastic. It is the overall measured choices to reduce waste, use sustainable materials, work with environmentally conscious partners/vendors, and enable transportation options that have a lower environmental impact. Climate change impacts us all, but increased severe weather, drought, extreme heat, and wildfires have a substantial impact on the event industry, and managers should understand and own their part in mitigating the effects events have on the Earth.

    Bri’s bio: Dr. Bri Newland is the Assistant Dean of the Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies and a Professor in the Tisch Institute for Global Sport. Her research explores the drivers of mass participation sport event tourism to better understand how to leverage business, social, and environmental impacts. Dr. Newland has published several manuscripts in academic journals, numerous book chapters, and is a co-editor of three textbooks. She serves as the current Academic Chair for NASSM’s annual conference. Dr. Newland is the editor for the Sport Marketing Quarterly, serves as associate editor for Managing Sport & Leisure and Event Management, and sits on several other editorial boards of academic journals.

    Further reading and resources:

    UN: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

    IOC: https://olympics.com/ioc/sustainability-and-legacy-commission

    WTO: https://www.unwto.org/resources-unwto

    Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/think-sustainability/id1090782792 - this is just on general sustainability (not just events), but covers a range of great topics.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/qatar-world-cup-environmental-climate-change-cost-desert-rcna57632

    https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23458620/fifa-world-cup-2022-greenwashing-climate-change

    https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/fifa-made-false-claims-about-carbon-neutrality-qatar-world-cup-regulator-2023-06-07/