Now commonly known as World Expos - and sanctioned by the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) since 1928 - these mega events have historically been distinguished by three eras: industrialisation (1850-1938), cultural exchange (1939-1987), and nation branding (1988-present).
Today, as a result of three current trends outlined in this article, I would argue that we are entering a new epoch for these mega events.
When we talk about Expos in the present day, we tend to reach for the same vocabulary: showcase, infrastructure, legacy, nation branding. All of that is true. But none of it tells you what an Expo is actually for.
Expos force governments and societies to take abstract ideas like technology, sustainability, energy, water, food, health and human experience and make them tangible, public and real at scale, on a deadline.
I have spent much of my career in major events, and what I have learned is this: the strongest events are never really about the event itself. They are about the change it is meant to create.
That is as true for Expos as it is for the Olympic and Commonwealth movements. The question is no longer simply whether an Expo can impress. It is whether it can shift behaviour, capability, confidence and investment in a lasting way.
A shifting centre
The story of Expos used to be told largely through the lens of Western industrial progress: science, technology and innovation. That centre of gravity has shifted. The pipeline of candidacies and host nations is increasingly running through the Gulf region, Southeast Asia and, soon, Africa.
This is the first of three key trends in the sector today. Hosting an Expo is now about more than visibility. It is about what a country wants to say about itself and what it wants to become.
The scale of ambition is also different. When a host nation is investing at this level, the event is tied much more closely to national strategy, political expectation and public scrutiny.
Riyadh 2030 will receive the highest capital investment of any Expo in history. What that means in practice is that the relationship between government ambition and what the event delivers is fundamentally different. The expectations of what an Expo delivers for the national agenda are considerably higher.
From our perspective at Trivandi, that changes the conversation from “what can the Expo show?” to “what can the Expo help a country do?”. That is a much more demanding question, but it is also the right one.
Proving value
With heightened expectations, the pressure to make and prove impact has become critical to success. This drives the second shift in the space. We have moved well beyond the era when a well-designed pavilion and a few million visitors could be treated as success. Host nations are under real duress to demonstrate durable economic and social return.
I have seen this lesson again and again in major events. At Trivandi, our work on legacy planning has shown that an event's true impact depends on embedding measurable outcomes and long-term value into the design from day one.
That is especially important for Expos because the costs are visible, but the benefits are often diffuse. If impact is not designed in from the beginning, it becomes hard to prove later. And if it cannot be proved, public confidence quickly erodes.
Evolving formats
The third core change we are witnessing is that the traditional six-month, single-site, physical gathering is evolving. We now operate in a world that has learned, partly through necessity, to work in hybrid, distributed and digital ways.
That does not make the live experience less valuable. It makes it more important to get right. But it does mean the old assumptions about format need to be challenged. What must happen in person? What can extend digitally? What should continue after the event closes? Those questions change how value is created and who gets to participate in it.
I was recently reflecting on this in the context of ceremony and spectacle more broadly. Some of the most powerful event moments are also the least frequently reused. That feels like a missed opportunity. The same logic applies to Expos. If the ideas are strong, the value should not disappear when the gates close.
Start with the why
What ties these three trends together is the growing experimentation with what an Expo is. This represents a genuine opportunity to help shape what the format becomes, rather than simply responding to a fixed site-based brief.
The organisations that extract the most value from major events are the ones that shape their strategic purpose rather than simply responding to commercial or political pressure.
For me, this is the defining discipline. When I look back at the most effective event strategies I have worked on or observed, the successful ones all started with a clear purpose. Not a slogan. A real reason for existing. A reason that could be translated into delivery decisions, governance, partnerships and legacy outcomes.
That is what Expos now need. A clear “why” should drive the site strategy, the content strategy, the political narrative and the post-event plan. Without that clarity, the event becomes a collection of impressive but disconnected parts.
I have seen how much stronger delivery becomes when legacy is not treated as an afterthought. In Glasgow, where Trivandi was the Official Event Delivery Partner for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, for example, the legacy framework was co-created with more than 170 stakeholders, showing how much more powerful an event becomes when it is built with communities rather than simply for them.
Turn ambition into delivery
Big ideas are easy to announce. It is much harder turning them into actionable, reliable, grounded programmes and delivery plans.
That is where governments and organisers need discipline. Who owns what? What is measurable? What happens after opening day? How does the Expo connect to wider economic or social priorities? These are not administrative questions. They are the difference between an event that feels inspiring and one that actually changes something.
At Trivandi, we have seen the value of embedding legacy into the delivery system itself through our work with Osaka 2025, where we assisted the
USA, Australia and UAE pavilions.
The best outcomes happen when the ambition is operationalised early: when sustainability, capability building, reuse, participation and long-term economic value are all part of the same plan. That is how you move from aspiration to impact.
Trivandi will continue this approach as Official Advisory and Delivery Founding Partner for Expo 2031 in Minnesota and our work with the USA pavilions for both Expo 2027 Belgrade and Expo 2030 Riyadh.
The human layer
There is one more thing I care deeply about. Expos are fundamentally about people.
The best Expos create confidence, capability and connection. They bring together planners, engineers, designers, operators, diplomats, educators, innovators and communities. They leave behind skills, relationships and expectations that can shape a country long after the event ends.
That is why I believe the human impact is often the most important impact of all. If an Expo helps a city learn how to collaborate better, helps a country build international trust or helps a new generation see itself differently, then it has done something far more valuable than simply fill a site for six months.
That has always been the best part of this industry for me. Not the temporary theatre, but the permanent shift in what people believe is possible.
The next test
The next generation of Expos will be judged less by spectacle and more by credibility. Can they prove value? Can they reach beyond the site? Can they contribute to a national agenda in a way that is visible, measurable and lasting? Those are the right questions.
For organisers, that means designing with more discipline. For governments, it means demanding clearer returns. For everyone involved, it means being more honest about what an Expo can do, and more ambitious about what it should do.
Expos still have extraordinary power. But that power now lies not just in what they display, but in what they change.