The chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Events has urged the business events industry to rethink how it lobbies government, arguing that statistics alone will not persuade ministers to invest in the sector.
Speaking at The Business of Events' Policy Forum in London, Labour MP Martin Rhodes said the industry already had strong evidence of its economic value, but needed to do a better job of explaining the human impact of business events.
Rather than leading with billion-pound economic figures, Rhodes encouraged the sector to tell the stories behind them - from jobs and careers to local businesses, skills and regional growth.
Rhodes warned against becoming overly focused on government structures or departmental responsibilities, saying the priority should be agreeing the industry's policy objectives.
"I do think there is always that danger when you get so bogged down in processes and structures that you don't pay enough attention to actions and policy," he said.
"It's about having a policy direction that works and the secondary question really is how you deliver that."
Instead of concentrating solely on which government department should lead on business events, Rhodes said the industry should first be clear about what it wanted ministers to achieve.
"I would want to start with, what's the policy ask? What is it we want done? Secondary to that is the process.
"Once you get bogged down in talking about the process, the attention moves away from the policy that you want."
He also challenged the industry to broaden its advocacy beyond economic impact figures.
Politicians hear headline statistics from countless sectors, Rhodes suggested, but are often more persuaded by examples of how policy affects individuals, communities and businesses.
He said: "You can say 50 billion, 60 billion, there's all these figures, but they don't cut through. Just saying the figures won't grab their attention.
"Think about those case studies, those narratives you can tell about what sort of impact has it had in terms of people in the community. It's those sorts of stories will engage people more, and then they look at the figures."
For the business events industry, that means demonstrating how conferences and exhibitions create skilled jobs, support SMEs, attract investment, strengthen supply chains and contribute to regional development.
Asked whether responsibility for business events should move from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the Department for Business and Trade, as suggested in this week's report from the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee, Rhodes said structural changes could help, but should not become the main focus.
"No, absolutely I'm not [saying don't pursue it]," he said. "All I'm saying is you need to look at that as a process issue, a structural issue, which we think will be best done in order to best deliver what we want.
"But not the end. We need to be clear about what it is that we want in terms of policy. That's the key thing we need to make sure is central.
"If we spend our time arguing about what government department responsibility lies in, then that's time that we're not spending saying, 'Here's what more government should do.'"
Rhodes suggested that stronger cross-government coordination could ultimately prove more important than where responsibility formally sits, with ministers and civil servants working together to support the sector.
He also promised to write to VisitBritain as chair of the APPG to ask about the recent cuts to VisitBritain's business events team.
His remarks reinforce a growing consensus that the industry's next challenge is not proving its economic value, but demonstrating why business events matter to the UK's wider growth agenda.
