Shape the City: Turning impact ambitions into action

Introduction

From artificial intelligence and agri-tech to renewable energy and the circular transition, our rapidly changing world comes with a unique set of challenges and opportunities.

The meetings industry plays a key role in addressing these challenges by enabling knowledge exchange, bringing diverse stakeholders together around shared issues, and providing a platform for inspiration and dialogue.

Conferences also have a direct influence on the cities and communities in which they take place.

Increasingly, meeting planners and delegates are considering how events can contribute to positive outcomes in their host locations across economic, environmental, and social dimensions. This broader influence is commonly referred to as impact.

Shape the City is Amsterdam's response to the growing need for business events to turn their impact ambitions into action. The programme connects events with local organisations working on environmental, social, and community priorities. Through interactive volunteer opportunities, meeting planners and delegates make a tangible difference while forging meaningful connections—with each other, the city, and the communities addressing urban challenges.

Activities align with both conference objectives and Amsterdam’s strategic goals for sustainability, liveability, and wellbeing.

How do we define impact?

The Amsterdam Convention Bureau defines impact as the social, economic, and ecological added value a conference generates for the city of Amsterdam, its residents, local organisations and businesses, as well as for conference organisers and participants themselves.

While many event organisers recognise the importance of creating value, integrating impact into a conference programme can be challenging in practice. Limited time, resources, or access to local networks often make it difficult to identify appropriate partners or design detailed impact programmes that are both meaningful and feasible.

Shape the City has been developed to address this challenge. The programme provides conferences with structured, ready-to-use impact opportunities and direct access to Amsterdam-based organisations, making it easier to embed impact into events in a practical and well-supported way.

What is Shape the City?

Shape the City is an off-the-shelf impact framework that enables meeting planners to connect

their event with Amsterdam-based organisations working on key urban and societal challenges. Amsterdam is home to a wide range of organisations that approach these challenges through collaboration, innovation, and practical action to improve the quality of life for current and future generations.

Delegates and meeting planners can actively help shape the city by engaging with one or more of the following impact themes:

• Empowering Future Generations
• Circular City in Action
• Greening the City
• Caring Communities

Within each theme, organisers can choose from a selection of ready-to-use impact opportunities. Activities can be selected within a single theme or combined across themes, depending on the focus, scale, and format of the event

How does Shape the City work?

Shape the City is designed to make it easier for conferences to integrate meaningful, measurable impact into their programme.

The Amsterdam Convention Bureau acts as a connector between conferences and local partner organisations. Based on the chosen impact theme, ACB supports coordination and alignment so that the activity is meaningful, feasible, and beneficial for all parties involved.

Impact contributions may take the form of hands-on involvement, financial support, in-kind contributions, or a combination of these, depending on the activity and the needs of the partner organisation.

Shape the City is facilitated by the Amsterdam Convention Bureau. While ACB supports coordination and access to local partners, selected impact activities require a financial contribution from the business event, depending on the scope and format of the activity.