The topics brought the annual event, which aims at targeting representatives from cities and regions across the world who are willing to develop strategies that connect sport and cities, to a close.

A topic on how IFs are having to rethink their bidding processes, with a focus on whether this will have a positive effect for organisations and the host cities, was among the discussion points.

European Athletics chief executive Christian Milz presented on the organisation’s highly-praised staging of their European Championships in Berlin earlier this year.

The event became incorporated as part of the inaugural European Championships, with a further six sports taking place in Glasgow in Scotland.

Milz highlighted that European Athletics worked in collaboration with Berlin to devise both promotion and ticket sales strategies in the build-up to the competitions, with studies conducted to show the gradually increasing awareness of the event.

He stated that the Championships achieved a total of 360,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, a figure purported to have been double the overall attendance in Glasgow.

A further 150,000 spectators were found to have watched sport at the European Mile, an outdoor venue established by European Athletics and Berlin.

The outdoor venue was also considered a success from the city’s perspective, the concept considered to have created an urban and diverse environment in the city.

Gabriele Freytag, Head of Division for Sports Development and Marketing at Senate Department for the Interior and Sport of Berlin, claimed the collaborative process with European Athletics enabled organisers and the city to have strong presentation, live event experience and boost impressions of the city.

An additional positive was claimed to be the increased development of programmes and local partnerships.

United World Wrestling also highlighted a collaborative approach to their new bidding strategy, which launched last year.

The governing body claimed their process was now clear for interested parties and incorporated key stakeholders such as Governments at an early stage, which led to a “dynamic exchange”.

It is claimed this process ultimately helped the organisation to take their 2021 World Championships to Oslo, due to an increased dialogue and model having been developed earlier on.

UWW expressed their hope the bid process would help them grow the sport in new markets, such as Norway, while the National Federation could also develop as a result of training for staff.

The summit expressed a view that a dialogue process was more favourable than the traditional, competitive, bid process which would create “losers” against the interest of both cities and IFs.

A focus was also placed on Africa following the recent awarding of the 2022 Youth Olympic Games to Senegal.

Antoine Goetschy, Youth Olympic Games associate director at the International Olympic Committee, expressed his hope the Games could both demonstrate the power of what sport brings to people’s lives, but also help change the perception and possible reluctance surrounding hosting events in Africa.

He claimed the Games could help to provide momentum, with IFs and National Olympic Committees potentially working together to create a network which could led to more international events heading to the continent in the future.

A key challenge for African countries, which was citied by federations, was a lack of infrastructure suitable for holding their premiere events.

Ibrahima Diame, Deputy Mayor at the City of Dakar, suggested their Senegalese capital have devised a strategy to boost infrastructure.

He claimed they had a mandate to create infrastructure which could be used by young people, with over 60 per cent of the country’s population being under the age of 25.

Diame also highlighted how he hoped the Games would help to halt the drop out rate from sport and encourage young people in the country to continue to taking part.

The two-day summit, which was claimed to have over 300 participants, also saw sessions on encouraging women's sport participation, creating sport innovation hubs and personal leadership.

A session on "How can data help cities host bigger and more commercially successful sports events?" also took place.