Event Data & Economic Impact Analyst Contractor

Discover Durham is seeking an analytical contractor to measure and communicate the economic impact of festivals, cultural events, and other tourism-driving events throughout Durham County. The role will evaluate imperfect event data, develop defensible methodologies, use the Destinations International Event Impact Calculator, and produce reports and standardized processes for stakeholders.

Responsibilities:

• Review attendance, ticketing, geographic, lodging, event schedule and other information submitted by festival and event organizers
• Assess the completeness, reliability and reasonableness of organizer-provided data rather than treating all submitted figures as equally reliable
• Identify gaps, inconsistencies or potential double-counting in attendance and visitor data and work with Discover Durham staff and/or event organizers to resolve them
• Translate locally collected audience information into appropriate assumptions about local attendees, regional day visitors and overnight visitors
• Develop reasonable methodologies for events that do not fit traditional event models, including free events, multi-venue events, citywide events, recurring programming and festivals spanning multiple weeks or months
• Distinguish attendance or admissions from unique attendees when appropriate and account for individuals participating in multiple days or performances
• Use available supporting data — such as ticket ZIP codes, hotel information, surveys, historical event results or other relevant sources — to strengthen or validate assumptions when available
• Become proficient in the Destinations International Event Impact Calculator (EIC) and use the platform to generate economic impact analyses
• Review EIC outputs for reasonableness and identify situations in which an input or assumption may be producing a misleading result
• Maintain clear documentation of methodologies, assumptions, data limitations and adjustments made for each analysis
• Produce concise final reports or summaries that Discover Durham can share with event organizers, community partners, policymakers and other stakeholders
• Help Discover Durham establish a more standardized methodology for collecting, evaluating and translating festival and event data into economic impact analyses
• Recommend improvements to Discover Durham's existing post-event data collection process and questions to increase the quality of future analyses
• Complete orientation and training on Discover Durham's economic impact reporting process and the Event Impact Calculator
• Review Discover Durham's existing event data collection form, historical reports and methodologies
• Recommend improvements to data collection and documentation practices
• Complete economic impact analyses for an agreed-upon portfolio of Durham festivals and events
• Develop a standardized working file or methodology log documenting the source, confidence level and rationale for major inputs used in each analysis
• Identify opportunities to improve the quality of audience and visitor data collected from Durham event partners over time

Requirements:

• highly analytical, curious and detail-oriented
• exceptionally good at making sense of imperfect data
• The successful contractor will combine quantitative analysis with sound judgment to turn these varied inputs into consistent, credible and defensible economic impact estimates
• The contractor will be expected to develop proficiency with the tool and, more importantly, understand how the quality and interpretation of inputs affect the credibility of its outputs
• Exceptional quantitative reasoning and analytical problem-solving skills
• Experience cleaning, interpreting and reconciling incomplete or inconsistent datasets
• Strong Excel and/or Google Sheets skills
• Ability to distinguish correlation, estimation and assumption from directly observed data
• Comfort developing methodologies when a dataset does not provide a straightforward answer
• Strong attention to detail and an instinct for questioning numbers that don't appear reasonable
• Ability to clearly document analytical decisions so that another person can understand and replicate the methodology
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate quantitative findings for non-technical audiences
• Ability to work independently while knowing when additional information or organizational judgment is needed
• Experience in data analysis, research, statistics, economics, public policy, business intelligence, market research or a related discipline
• Familiarity with Durham and/or the Triangle
• Experience with Destinations International Event Impact Calculator
• proficiency with other analytical or visualization tools
• Experience in tourism, hospitality, festivals or economic impact analysis