Although event portfolios have become an integrated part of destination development, a lack of empirical research into the nature of portfolio design exists. A case study was conducted in Auckland, New Zealand, to explore the nature of the applied portfolio strategy in the city. The findings indicate that Auckland employs an outcomes-driven approach which is characterised by the orientation on economic outcomes, an ‘agnostic’ attitude to the compositional structure of the portfolio, an intensive bidding campaign and leveraging strategies. The current city’s reputation awards, successful event bids and positive economic indicators justify this approach. The identified issues, including a supply-led nature of the event portfolio and its predominantly quantitative measures of success, call for a revalidation of the approach. The results of the study contribute to the ongoing discourse about the value of event portfolios and their sustainable design in different urban destinations

In order to exploit the strategic value of an event portfolio, a set of leveraging activities should be designed and implemented by event portfolio managers (Ziakas, 2014a). Such activities could be focused on the relationships among different events and their stakeholders. They can synergise events with one another and with the host destination’s overall product and service mix (Ziakas, 2010, 2014a; Ziakas & Costa, 2011). This chapter thoroughly considers the concepts of leveraging and cross-leveraging and their application.

attention to cities by transforming their fabric into a performance place (Bevolo, 2014). The event policy domain contextualizes events at a macrolevel to enable the exploration of the prerequisites for event-led policies and the effects of these policies on cities (Foley, McGillivray, & McPherson, 2012). Events that planned to deliver specific outcomes

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A concise introduction to portfolio theory and methods for use in event management and event tourism. Divided into 2 parts of ‘Theory’ and ‘Practice’ it explains why it is important in event studies and management, and then shows how related methods can be used and adapted using real world international case studies.