Defining Sustainable Event Management

Sustainable Event Management (SEM) is the process of designing and organising an event following sustainable development principles in order to achieve strategic goals which serve the economic, environmental and social interests of organisers, delegates and host communities. Sustainable events bring positive results for the local and global society through diversity and inclusivity, promoting healthy, creative and effective meetings.

SEM is more than eliminating bottled water or offsetting the event-related carbon emissions. SEM is a strategic way to lead and operate events and meetings. It includes strategies, policies, processes, systems and actions that intertwine to support and manage events more efficiently, effectively and professionally. Unlike the concept of greening, sustainability is not something which can be just plugged into the event management function. Sustainability is a management competence which leads the integration of responsible business practices with a culture of values and principles that guide the organisation and its talent.

International Sustainable Event Standards

Driven by industry professionals seeking a clear, uniform description that best defines a sustainable event and its necessary components, four separate and unique voluntary standards and related initiatives are now available, or are in-development, for the meetings industry. Each standard will support the sustainable event process for meeting planners, organisers and industry suppliers. These formal standards are being developed based on a consensus of stakeholder opinion, which meets the requirements of an independent standards organisation. They are:

• BS8901: The British Standards Institute (BSI) released in 2007, and updated in 2009, the BS8901 specification and guidance for creating and implementing a sustainable event management system.

• ISO20121: Developed from BS8901 and integrating elements of ISO26000 standard for social responsibility, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) is facilitating a process to create an internationally recognised standard for the design and imple men tation of a sustainable event management system. This is due for release in 2012.

• APEX Green Meeting standards: The Convention Industry Council, working with the US EPA, Green Meeting Industry Council, the ASTM International standards body and more than 200 contributing professionals from the meetings industry, have created a performance standard with guidance and a specification of best practices and measurable, performance based criteria. This is due for release in the summer of 2010.

• Global Reporting Initiative Event Supplement: The GRI G3 guidelines are the dominant international standard for organisational sustainability reporting. GRI, with wide spread meetings industry support, is creating a supplement to the G3 guidelines for the event sector. The supplement will provide guidance and performance indicators that will help organisers report the impacts of an event in a transparent and comparable fashion.

The CSMP explains how to use the three standards together to deliver optimum results. 


            

Business Case for Sustainable Events

Sustainability is a significant trend that has been having an impact on all parts of the events and meetings industry. More and more, event planners and their suppliers are working to increase the social, economic and environmental sustainability of their organisations. In the 2010 MPI (Meetings Professionals International) FutureWatch study 76% of European and 63% of US meeting planners report that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a focus for their organisations. Over 19% claim that they have a group or committee who guide them in their sustainability journey.

There are a number of strong business reasons to implement a strategic sustainable event management program:

Cost Savings: A well-orchestrated sustainable event can save money. Oracle Open World experienced savings of $858,638 in their 2010 conference. The Danish Government saved almost €600,000 by not providing gifts and merchandising at COP15.

License to Operate: Events are a primary communication platform for an organisation. They are a window to the soul of a brand. For organisations with stated sustainability or corporate responsibility commitments, it is important that events actively and visibly reflect such statements. At COP15 91% of delegates interviewed, said the active green agenda of COP15 was very important to them. Increasingly, delegates will expect organisations to take action to organise sustainable events.

Competitive Advantage: According to the 2009 Ernst & Young Report Global Hospitality Insights: Hospitality Going Green: ‘Green programs can provide a competitive advantage as long as green activities are still optional in the market. However, over time, green practices will become a baseline requirement to doing business in the hospitality industry, particularly as the cost of non-renewable energy continues to increase. Thus, those companies with business models that revolve around green practices will have the strongest opportunity of achieving a “sustainable” competitive advantage.’

Staff Motivation: In a recent survey from MCI 81% of employees said that they want to work for a company that cares and is responsible. Successfully engaging employee groups in sustainability projects can result in motivated, inspired individuals who create change and drive innovation.

Healthy Workforce: According to the World Health Organisation cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes, obesity, cancer and respiratory diseases, now account for over 59% of all deaths. More people die from overeating than die from malnutrition. Relatively few risk factors – high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and alcohol being among the most significant – cause the majority of the chronic disease burden. A change in dietary habits, physical activity and tobacco control has a major impact in reducing the rates of these chronic diseases, often in a relatively short time. Events can help to inform delegates on the benefits of healthy lifestyles and diets. Healthy people make healthy companies.

Reputation: Media exposure and word of mouth storytelling can be an additional benefit of good sustainable event management. A recent trade-group conference in San Francisco promoted its green initiatives and saw 15 articles published within 30 days of the event. The COP15 sustainability initiative was featured in over 40 mainstream press interviews, with the website receiving four million visits.

Business Opportunity: Once a small niche, the developing green and social market segment, referred to by marketing professionals as LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability), is booming. Nielsen and the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) estimate the size of the LOHAS marketplace to reach $400 million in 2010 in the US alone. At COP15, the Danish Government received over €15 million in sponsored services and products from organisations who wanted their brand to be seen as endorsing sustainability and climate change. Opportunity awaits for organisers who can capitalise on the new opportunities for sponsorship and for designing the event experience to attract and delight the LOHAS profile of attendees. To motivate LOHAS attendees, planners need to develop an event experience equal or superior to the environment in which these participants live at home.

Inclusivity: Sustainable practices make events more open and more inclusive. Approximately ten percent of event participant attendance is hindered due to various inhibiting circumstances or challenges such as physical disability, colour blindness, pregnancy, financial or geographic reasons.

Lessons from the Leaders

A number of insights into successful integration of sustainability were observed in the preparation of the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol. These include:

• Events as a multiplier: The implementation of an event sustainability strategy may not always deliver the highest sustainability impact for an organisation. Actively pursuing a green agenda in a factory or implementing ethical practices throughout a supply chain may yield bigger benefits. However, events can act as a multiplier of an organisation’s sustainability program by providing a model environment within which people can discuss and live the values and visions of the brand’s sustainability commitments. It is this tangible way of providing solutions to a complex problem that helps to engage and inspire employees, partners and clients. When extrapolated to a national level, the results from COP15 illustrate the significant potential for positive impact: 75% of food was organic, 94% of event participants taking public transport, 20% reductions on CO2 emissions, social inclusivity and financial transparency as a rule.

• Beyond Green: Sustainability plans must consider people, planet and profit. It’s this unique combination and balance that delivers results which bring reward to public and private communities.

• Inaction is not an Option: Once seen by some as a fad or fashion, sustainability is now understood to be required for successful business in the long term. Failure to act is not an option. Sustainability is now a solid part of a brand’s competitive positioning and value proposition.

• A Strategic Approach: Successful integration of sustainable development principles brings triple bottom line benefit when company leadership develops a long-term strategic commitment supported by investment of time and money. Leaders who have realised success from sustainable systems have learned that positive business returns are the result. For this reason sustainable business practices should be integrated as a general management competency.

• Integrate, don’t Attach: Sustainability should be integrated as part of the core business strategy and not attached as an additional organisational program. The temptation to treat sustainability as an attachment to the organisation’s core strategy generally delivers only unbalanced, short-term results. For long-term benefit strategic sustainability thinking must become integrated into existing business culture, policy and processes. When processes are integrated and mutually interdependent, the system can sustained long term efficiency which creates win-win results.

• Importance of Measurement and Reporting: The management idiom, What gets measured gets managed, certainly applies to good strategic event management. By defining challenging targets and managing them using key performance indicators, event owners can monitor and implement needed improvements. Transparent reporting following the GRI guidelines are now becoming a critical part of brand building, employee communication and shareholder relationships.

• Ask not what your Company can do for Sustainability, but what Sustainability can do for your Company: Sustainability need not be a burdensome imposition. Taking account of social and environmental issues can lead to extensive innovation that reduces costs in the long term. At its best, it can open the way to new market opportunities and help the company mitigate increasing environmental and social risks.

Introducing the Protocol Framework