event:decision  ·  the global tour  ·  2026–27

Responsible
Futures.

The world’s first independent benchmark of responsible practice across the global event profession.

A live, global dataset of what event professionals want – and actually deliver – on environmental, social and governance issues. Gathered in the room, at the events where the profession already meets. Published for everyone who takes part.

See how it works
Get involved
45
questions per session
20
minutes to complete
6
cities on tour
2026–27
inaugural season

the big idea

An industry that talks about responsibility – but doesn’t prove it.

Responsible Futures fixes that.

Sustainability statements across the events industry are abundant. Independently measured, benchmarkable data is not – so Responsible Futures collects it directly from the profession, at the events where it already gathers, and publishes it for everyone who contributed.

01

Claims without evidence

Sustainability statements are everywhere. Independently measured, benchmarkable data is not.

02

No shared yardstick

Planners, agencies, venues and suppliers all measure differently – if at all. There’s no common baseline to compare against.

03

Practice is invisible

What the profession actually delivers – procurement decisions, contracts, disclosure, reporting – has never been captured at scale, until now.

04

Appetite and opinion

Gathering the appetite for sustainable, responsible events from those who actually deliver them – not just the organisations that employ them.

05

The Gap

In-depth interviews with global event leaders, lined up against the views from those at ground level – where ambition and delivery diverge, and where they align.

what it is

A live benchmark, built in the room.

At each tour stop, event professionals answer 45 questions live, on their own phones, in under 20 minutes – 15 questions on each of Environmental, Social and Governance behaviours and appetites. There are no right or wrong answers; every response is an anonymous data point.

The results become the first independently published benchmark of responsible practice across the sector – shared with every participant and every brand present.

in one line

A live, independent, anonymous measurement of responsible practice across the global event profession – published as a benchmark anyone can use.

45
questions
15
Environmental
15
Social
15
Governance

< 20 minutes · live · anonymous

the global tour · 2026–27

Six cities. One dataset.

Responsible Futures runs as a connected series of tour dates, hosted inside the industry’s own major events – a global season followed by four regional stops.

Regional

London
Global

Las Vegas
Regional

Singapore
Global

Abu Dhabi
Regional

Sydney
Regional

Barcelona

Draft schedule, subject to confirmation.

audience & reach

Who takes part?

1,500+
target participants, year one
5
continents reached
9+
tour events, 2026–27
100%
anonymous & benchmarkable
Exhibition OrganisersEvent AgenciesCorporate Planners
AV & ProductionVenuesCaterers & F&B
Creatives & BrandFreelancers

what makes it different

Four things most benchmarks aren’t.

01

Live

Captured in the room at real industry events – not a long-form survey answered weeks later.

02

Independent

Published by event:decision, not commissioned by any single association, brand or venue group.

03

Anonymous

Every response is unattributed. Participants answer what they actually do, not what looks good.

04

Benchmarkable

A consistent 45-question framework, repeated year after year, so progress can be tracked.

backed up by

In-depth CEO interviews.

Seven CEOs and board-level leaders of global event delivery businesses sit for an annual in-depth interview. Their approach to responsible practice, appetite for change, challenges faced and the benefits realised are analysed year on year, alongside the survey’s industry sentiment data.

in one line

Seven CEO interviews exploring approach, appetite, challenges, values and benefits of responsible business practice in events.

the outputs

What comes out of it.

01

Industry buy-in

Individuals from across the event ecosystem – expo organisers, venues, agencies, corporates and associations – stay engaged in person as the data develops.

02

Compass

The digital manual of responsibility, published twice a year: analysis, context and trend, built around the tour and interview data.

03

The Dataset

The underlying, anonymised dataset, made available for analysis and citation – a shared evidence base for the whole industry.

the value

Why it’s worth twenty minutes.

Every participant gets more back than they put in.

A Compass subscription

Twice a year, a benchmarked digital report cut by region, sector, role and seniority – the kind of intelligence you’d ordinarily pay for.

Evidence you can cite

A dataset built by your own profession, ready to use in bids, tenders, board papers and sustainability statements.

A head start on what’s coming

Clients are starting to ask harder questions under CSRD, Scope 3 and social value frameworks. Twenty minutes now is a low-cost rehearsal for that conversation.

A stake in closing the gap

The responsibility gap doesn’t close itself. Every response helps build the evidence base the sector has been missing.

Peer comparison

See how your organisation’s attitudes and practice compare with the rest of the industry – not just your own assumptions.

Recognition

Contributors can claim a Responsible Futures digital badge, shareable on LinkedIn and elsewhere.

Corporate buyers

RFPs increasingly weight ESG at 10–20% of the total score, with pass/fail gates on supplier sustainability credentials.

Regulation

Scope 3 disclosure, CSRD reporting and social value frameworks are pulling event suppliers into their clients’ reporting boundary.

Talent & audience

The next generation of event professionals – and the delegates they host – expect responsibility locked in, not bolted on.

precedent

The model has a track record.

Responsible Futures sits inside a recognisable family of live, repeated, independently published practice benchmarks.

Time for the event sector to grow up.

Stack Overflow Developer Survey
~70,000 developers, captured online, annual – became the reference simply by being cited every year.
Edelman Trust Barometer
Released each year at Davos, branded around an independent firm, quoted everywhere it lands.
World Happiness Report
Gallup World Poll data, UN-published, annually – free, branded and comparable across countries.
Net Promoter Score benchmarks
Proprietary methodology, openly published by sector, cited by procurement teams as the yardstick.
Corruption Perceptions Index
Transparency International, annual, single methodology – changed the language governments use simply by existing.
Purchasing Managers’ Index
Monthly, sector-specific, anonymised, published as a reference – markets move on it.
World Values Survey
Global, repeated waves, cross-cultural attitudes – the kind of compounding dataset Compass aims to become.
Matt Grey

responsible futures lead

Matt Grey.

CEO, event:decision · CISL, International Fellow CEF

Matt leads Responsible Futures and speaks regularly on responsible event practice – challenging the industry to close the gap between what it says and what it does. Here’s what audiences said after seeing him on stage.

“

Thank you so much for putting such an outstanding effort into yesterday’s event. Matt, you are a natural on stage – I was sat at the back of the Great Hall and all eyes were fixed on you, it was incredible to see.

“

Really big thanks for yesterday, Matt – it couldn’t have gone any better, had some amazing feedback.

“

Thank you for your kind words on our successful sustainability initiatives, Matt Grey – you were an inspiration on stage.

“

The event, and especially event:decision’s Matt Grey’s opening remarks, really lit a fire under me.

“

Matt Grey from event:decision gave a talk called ‘The Comfortable Lie We Are All Telling’, and it really landed.

get involved

How to take part.

01

Attend a tour date

Join a live session at one of the tour locations. Takes under twenty minutes – and you’re there anyway.

02

Complete the survey

Answer the 45 questions, anonymously. Every response becomes part of the benchmark.

03

Read & use the data

Receive Compass, the biannual trend and data digest, to shape your own practice.

responsible futures · 2026–27

Ready to take part?

Get in touch and we’ll point you to the nearest tour date.

hello@eventdecision.com
eventdecision.com