Too hot to handle?
How Europe's heatwaves are forcing the events industry to rethink venues, destinations, and the conference calendar
For years, the meetings industry has discussed climate change through the institutionalised language of sustainability.
Which is to say, how the climate is changing - and how it is affecting meetings and events - hasn’t been discussed much at all. Instead, the industry has focused on 2050 targets, the UN SDGs, food waste, recycling of materials, and single use plastics, etc.
While these topics are, of course, important, they are somehow ‘missing the moment’.
Extreme heat is already a thing, with Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, already experiencing more frequent, longer and more intense heatwaves, as a result of climate change.
Right now, wildfires are raging across France and Spain threatening lives and livelihoods. Over the last two months hundreds of meetings and events have been cancelled and postponed due to the relentless heat.
Across Europe, conferences and exhibitions help to shape cities - not just in terms of 'visitor spend' but through supporting industrial strategies and economic development. Yet much of the infrastructure supporting these events was designed for a climate that increasingly no longer exists.
Many of the industry's most prestigious venues occupy Victorian civic buildings, medieval guildhalls, Georgian assembly rooms and listed country houses. They remain spectacular settings for awards ceremonies and gala dinners. They are also increasingly challenging places - during the summer months - in which to spend any amount of time in business attire.
Unlike venues in Dubai, Las Vegas or Singapore, cooling has rarely been viewed as a defining part of the guest experience in Europe. While modern public buildings and chain hotels tend to have air-conditioning (not all of it great), general installation across Europe (20 per cent) remains significantly lower than in the US (90 per cent). And people are starting to notice.
Photo by marco allasio on Pexels
Photo by marco allasio on Pexels
At the end of June 2026, a major congress in Lille organised by professional congress organiser Kenes Group coincided with temperatures approaching 40°C. More than 6,000 delegates attended the event in conditions that, organisers say, stretched the local infrastructure to its limits.
According to Kenes, air conditioning was limited or unavailable across many hotels, restaurants and public buildings. Cooling systems at the venue struggled under pressure, while heat-related power cuts affected parts of the city and interrupted some congress activities.
Demand for drinking water exceeded available supplies, while delegates and event staff experienced significant fatigue and dehydration. The annual charity run associated with the event was cancelled following government restrictions on outdoor sporting activities.
Although, thankfully, no serious medical incidents occurred, the experience also showed how extreme temperatures can create operational disruption far beyond the venue itself.
Climate resilience
Hotels, transport providers, restaurants, cultural attractions and public infrastructure all contribute to perceptions of an event. A convention centre may perform flawlessly, but if delegates spend evenings in uncomfortable hotel rooms, find themselves dripping with sweat at a cocktail reception, or face significant transport disruptions caused by heat-related infrastructure failures, the overall experience suffers.
Iva Popper, Kenes marketing manager, said planners could no longer treat extreme heat as ‘a rare or unexpected disruption’ and that ‘climate resilience’ would ‘increasingly become part of event planning, alongside security, accessibility and sustainability’.
She said backup power systems, shaded rest spaces and heat-response protocols may soon become standard requirements for major events, particularly during summer months.
And rather than simply hoping for the best, she said: “Venues and destinations can support organisers by being transparent about the limits of their infrastructure and demonstrating that their cooling, ventilation, electricity and water systems can cope with unusually high demand.”
Louise Gorringe
Louise Gorringe
Louise Gorringe, VP of association management at Kenes, said associations were still evaluating destinations through a ‘broad range of criteria rather than focusing narrowly on weather’.
However, they increasingly wanted evidence that venues and destinations could communicate effectively, respond quickly and maintain continuity if conditions deteriorate.
Planning for a hotter future
The experience in Lille illustrates why climate resilience is moving rapidly up the agenda for event organisers. The question is no longer whether extreme heat should be considered during planning, but how early those conversations begin.
For Liz Taylor, founder and chief executive of Taylor Lynn Corporation, contingency planning around weather now starts at the very beginning of the client journey.
"We're certainly talking about weather much earlier in the planning process," she says. "What's changed is that contingency planning is now discussed from the very first meeting."
Liz Taylor
Liz Taylor
Rather than abandoning summer events altogether, organisers are becoming more flexible in how they deliver them.
"It's about planning for every eventuality. Whether that's adjusting timings, reconfiguring layouts, moving seamlessly between indoor and outdoor spaces or having alternative catering and entertainment options ready to go, the guest experience should never be compromised."
Taylor argues that luxury itself is beginning to be redefined.
"It's never having to think about where the shade is, whether there's enough water or how you're going to stay cool. Comfort has become part of luxury."
That gradual shift is also being reflected in corporate event planning. While clients are not yet routinely demanding heat contingency measures during venue sourcing, agencies are increasingly incorporating climate resilience into wider risk assessments and delegate experience planning.
Jo Lake, operations manager - special projects and events at Brighter, says: "Heatwaves are increasingly becoming a consideration in event planning, although they have not yet emerged as a major operational challenge for most UK-based conferences and corporate events.
"At Brighter, we haven't seen a significant increase in clients specifically requesting cooling, ventilation, or heat contingency measures during the venue sourcing process, but these factors are becoming more relevant as part of our overall risk and attendee experience assessments.
Jo Lake
Jo Lake
"As an agency, we're increasingly mindful of venue infrastructure, including air conditioning capacity, ventilation, access to outdoor shaded spaces, and contingency options should temperatures exceed seasonal norms.
"While these discussions may not yet be front and centre during venue selection, we believe they will become a more important part of event planning as extreme weather events become more frequent."
That evolution reflects a wider shift in industry thinking. Risk registers that once focused primarily on terrorism, cybersecurity and transport disruption are increasingly incorporating heat stress, wildfire smoke and extreme weather planning.
Can venues keep their cool?
For venues, however, the challenge extends far beyond handing out extra bottles of water.
Louisa Watson, ESG director at beam, said organisers were asking far more detailed questions about cooling, ventilation and heat contingency planning than they did even a few years ago.
And it’s not just period properties that are coming under scrutiny.
“A lot of venues sit in older or lighter-construction estates with far less thermal mass than a modern purpose-built building, so internal temperatures react much faster to solar gain, external heat and occupancy.
Louisa Watson
Louisa Watson
“That last point gets underestimated: the average person gives off 80-120 watts of heat at rest, so a 400-person venue can be adding over 30kW of extra heat into a space that then needs to be controlled or dispersed.
“With the recent run of heatwaves, we're also hearing from venues that ageing condensers, pumps and fan motors are failing faster because they simply can't keep up with sustained demand, especially where overnight temperatures aren't dropping enough to give plant a chance to recover.”
For many venues, especially those in historic buildings, finding an answer to these problems could be considerably more complicated than event attendees might realise.
"You can't simply retrofit air conditioning into a listed building," Watson said. "It's a balancing act between protecting the character of the building and meeting modern guest expectations."
Installing modern cooling systems in listed properties frequently requires lengthy planning processes, specialist engineering solutions and negotiations with conservation authorities. External plant equipment, ducting and alterations to historic fabric can all become contentious issues. The result is a collision between heritage preservation and climate adaptation.
As well as challenges, Watson sees opportunities in the changing climate, particularly for venues with outdoor space, for ‘embracing the growing demand for wellness at events.’
“Whether that's morning yoga, guided walks, or simply moving parts of the day outside, handled well, heat resilience and a richer delegate experience aren't in tension with each other.”
Flexing the great outdoors
Johanna Byrane, head of business development at Allianz Stadium, home to England Rugby and one of the UK's largest events venues, says event planners have become more confident in using open-air spaces for large-scale activations, exhibitions and conferences.
Yet that confidence depends on flexibility.
"The close proximity of the outdoor spaces to the venue itself does help, not just to avoid showers, but increasingly to take in some air conditioning, and make sure all the delegates are well hydrated," she says. "At its best it's an inside-outside formula that really works."
Johanna Byrane
Johanna Byrane
That hybrid approach - allowing delegates to move seamlessly between outdoor experiences and climate-controlled interiors - is becoming an increasingly important design principle.
At Campfield, a media and technology hub in Manchester's St John's district, operational planning around heat is now embedded much earlier in event development.
Operations director Abigail Chew said organisers needed to consider the entire delegate journey, from outdoor queues and registration areas to breakout sessions and networking spaces. Areas that may once have been operationally insignificant can become pressure points during extreme temperatures.
Chew said flexibility was becoming one of the most valuable assets a venue could offer. The ability to open extra spaces, spread attendees across multiple areas, adjust timings or move activities at short notice could ‘significantly affect’ delegate wellbeing and event continuity.
Will climate change where - and when - we meet?
In the end, attendees are unlikely to judge venues on planning constraints or conservation regulations. They'll simply remember whether they felt comfortable. And if delegates consistently enjoy a better experience elsewhere, climate resilience could become another factor shaping destination competitiveness.
The international meetings market is already fiercely competitive. Accessibility, cost and reputation remain fundamental considerations, but organisers may increasingly ask another question: how well can a destination cope when temperatures soar?
Lake believes the impact could extend beyond operational planning and eventually influence the conference calendar itself.
"Looking ahead, there is potential for increasingly hot summers to influence the traditional UK conference calendar," she says.
"Prolonged periods of high temperatures could make these dates less attractive for delegates, particularly in venues with limited climate control or in city-centre locations where heat can be amplified.
"We could see greater demand shifting towards the shoulder seasons of spring and autumn, when weather conditions are generally more comfortable and predictable. While this trend is still emerging, it's something Brighter is actively monitoring as we advise clients on future event strategies and venue selection."
That possibility may sound speculative today, but destinations elsewhere have spent decades preparing for extreme temperatures. Across the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and parts of North America, airports, hotels, convention centres and public transport systems were designed with climate control in mind. As European summers become hotter, those investments are beginning to look less like luxuries and more like competitive advantages.
Europe's strengths remain formidable: cultural heritage, academic excellence, international institutions and business connectivity continue to make it one of the world's leading meetings destinations. But increasingly, organisers will expect reassurance that infrastructure can withstand the conditions delegates are likely to experience - not those of a decade ago.
Photo by Pau Casals on Unsplash
Photo by Pau Casals on Unsplash
"Ultimately, climate resilience will depend on investment, transparency and preparation - not simply better software"
Forecast: getting hotter
Climate scientists predict that Europe will continue warming faster than the global average, with heatwaves becoming more frequent, more intense and longer lasting over the coming decades.
Weather events that were once considered 'once in a generation' occurrences could become regular features of the European summer.
Southern European destinations are likely to experience more days above critical heat thresholds, while northern Europe and the UK are expected to see some of the fastest increases in extreme heat events because much of their infrastructure was designed for cooler conditions. Buildings, transport systems and public spaces that historically functioned perfectly well in summer may face growing pressure as temperatures climb.
Scientists say temperatures exceeding 40°C could occur more often in some regions and 'end-of-century' levels of heat made possible as early as the 2030s under certain climate scenarios.
Technology: saves the day?
HVAC systems can monitor temperature, humidity, air quality and occupancy levels, allowing operators to identify overheating risks before anyone begins to feel uncomfortable.
Weather forecasting tools have become far more sophisticated, too, allowing organisers to track heat risks days or even weeks ahead and activate contingency plans earlier.
Event apps can push real-time notifications to attendees, advising of schedule changes, cooling areas or hydration points, and providing guidance during extreme heat.
Data is also helping planners rethink how events are designed. By analysing delegate movement patterns, venues can identify congestion points where temperatures may rise, adjust room capacities and redesign layouts to improve airflow and comfort.
Technology will undoubtedly make heat planning easier. Smarter buildings, better forecasting and real-time communications can all help organisers respond more effectively when temperatures rise.
But technology alone cannot compensate for infrastructure that was never designed for prolonged periods of extreme heat. Ultimately, climate resilience will depend on investment, transparency and preparation - not simply better software.
As Watson puts it:
"Organisers want to know there's an actual plan, not just an assurance that it'll be fine."