Edinburgh Napier University

  •Despite their global economic and knowledge value, international association meetings and events (IAMEs) have long rotated in patterns that remained unexamined by data.
•New longitudinal analysis reveals that mid-sized events (500–999 delegates) rotate further and more frequently than large-scale conferences — offering agile destinations a targeted focus for bidding efforts.
•European associations are significantly more likely to rotate events globally, while associations based in Asia-Pacific and the Americas tend to host within their own regions — reshaping bidding strategies.
•Annual events dominate regional circuits but do not equate to global influence; frequency, geography, and event size must be considered together when bidding.
•Destinations and convention bureaus must evolve from reactive bidding to proactive intelligence — targeting the right event type, at the right time, with tailored pitches grounded in rotation data.