Event Industry Thoughts

Your CSR Program is a Sham and a Joke

This is actually a true statement according to me.

This is something that I have always known in the back of my mind, but have never really moved it to the front burner to look at the "whys" before. Then Joan Eisenstodt had to send a little tweet that got me thinking about CSR:

Aren't labor practices part of #CSR considerations? www.meetingsfocusforum.com and read comments & links. #mpi #pcma #pcma11 #assnchat

She has been following this up with many more like it lately and it has been burning a whole in the back of my brain until I finally thought "That's enough, I can't take it anymore".....and I sat down to write this post about me, you, your company and your CSR program. 

This has taken me down a yellow brick road all the way to see the wizard where I promptly had to push him off his stool and sit down because my head was pounding....and the wizard is a fraud anyway.

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The Scariest Movie I Have Ever Seen

I watched a movie the other day and it is the scariest movie I have ever seen and the scariest part of that statement is that this movie is based in fact, it is a documentary.

I have tried to think of a way that I could relate this movie to the meetings and events industry, I have tried to come up with some witty words that would impart the urgency and the concern to implore us all to do better in our role as meeting and event professionals when it comes to greening our meetings and events.

What I have found is that there are no words to describe what I feel after watching this documentary, except to say, in uncertain terms that if you are one of those idiot meeting planners that refuses to produce a meeting in a more sustainable way, you should be ashamed of yourself and of your company or association. Period.

Everyone should watch this documentary because it will change the way that you look at the world and will make you fear for our children because if even half of the facts are correct, the issues that are coming are not in some far off America... they are happening already and we cannot stop them. 

This film is not Democratic or Republican, it is not about whether Global Warming is fact or fiction, it is simply about oil and the fact that there is very little left of this resource. The jig is up, it is over.

The movie is called Collapse.

Here is what Roger Ebert had to say in his 4 Star Review:

 If this man is correct, then you may be reading the most important story in today's paper.

I have no way of assuring you that the bleak version of the future outlined by Michael Ruppert in Chris Smith's "Collapse" is accurate. I can only tell you I have a pretty good built-in B.S. detector, and its needle never bounced off zero while I watched this film. There is controversy over Ruppert, and he has many critics. But one simple fact at the center of his argument is obviously true, and it terrifies me.

That fact: We have passed the peak of global oil resources. There are only so many known oil reserves. We have used up more than half of them. Remaining reserves are growing smaller, and the demand is growing larger. It took about a century to use up the first half. That usage was much accelerated in the most recent 50 years. Now the oil demands of giant economies like India and China are exploding. They represent more than half the global population, and until recent decades had small energy consumption.

If the supply is finite, and usage is potentially doubling, you do the math. We will face a global oil crisis, not in the distant future, but within the lives of many now alive. They may well see a world without significant oil.

Click Here to continue Roger Eberts Review

Here is the trailer for the movie:

 

Here is a short clip from the movie:

 

If You Build It, Will Meeting Planners Come?

Thanks to @MPITheresa for sharing this in her twitter feed......

Meeting and Event Planners, is this tool, built for MPI and the GMIC something that you will use while planning your green meetings and events?

 

Why aren't there more green consumers - A couple more reasons

Reading an article that Heidi Thorn wrote today, the title is "Why Aren't There More Green Consumers?". Great Article ......100% awesome Heidiness,  you should read it.

I can relate to every point. One of the biggest reasons there are not more green consumers is a lack of information, tools and resources. I especially like the coffee house example because the exact thing happened to me, although on a larger scale and tying right to the meetings and events industry. 

I was speaking at a conference on Green Meetings and the hotel where the conference was being held was touted as "green". I found this a little odd because the hotel had no obvious green markings. This hotel was chosen for this Green Meetings Conference because it was green. No automated lights, no towel reuse, no low flow shower heads and no recycle bins, not one, not anywhere, no how, no maam, not a one....So, I asked.

I was shocked by the answer that I received. Apparently, in this state, hotels are on the "Green List" because they put themselves there. It is a self policing system. All the hotel had to do was simply say that they are green and "presto", they are on the list.The sales person was actually a little sheepish about the whole thing, he knew.

When I asked about the recycling, here is the answer that I got. Their waste hauler does not accept recycling....... WTF. It is 2010, 20.....freaking.....10. I am appalled at the mere notion that there are communities in the United States that do not recycle. Communities (and waste haulers) can actually make money in this day and age by recycling. The cost/benefit is on the recyclers side.

This brings me to the first addition to @heidithorn's reasons why there are not more green consumers. Lazy.

The waste hauler and the community are lazy. They do not want to put in the effort so they blame it on the easy way out......cost. They will say that it is too expensive, it can't be done, blah, blah, blah....

It is a shame, we can be doing much better, especially in the meetings and events department. Many meeting and event planners are lazy as well and do not put in the extra effort in greening their meetings and events and they use the same arguments that they don't have the budget or other lame excuses, but the fact remains, you can green your meetings and events without adding a dime to the bottom line and perhaps even saving a nickle or two and it certainly does not really take that much more time. It comes full circle back to lazy.

Too lazy to do the research, too lazy to spend the time putting a plan in place and too lazy to even be bothered.

The second addition to Heidi's reasons are Blowhards....

The blowhards on the right have an amazing following in the millions and they spew forth their BS that global warming is myth. If their followers believe that global warming is junk science than why should they need to recycle, reuse or be more green... hell, they should go out and get a second Hummer because they can! No need to worry about the effects, there are no effects!Why don't we all save a little money on heating gas and go back to coal fired stoves! It is less expensive and coal is plentiful!

What the right wing talking heads fail to see is that they are killing jobs in the US and probably hastening our own demise by their irrational "world is flat" arguments. Here is how I position my argument to idiots:

You buy a house in the suburbs. There is a 99.9% chance that in your lifetime, your house in the beautiful burbs will NEVER be robbed... Yet you lock the doors "just in case". Wouldn't the same argument hold true for global warming? Even if you did not believe in it, shouldn't we all be going green "Just in Case". Sorry, but even if you are against the notion that global warming is a threat, the "just in case" argument should have you recycling and acting a little more responsibly because if the "just in case" becomes reality you are actually killing your children because the full effects of our irrisponsibility will be on them to deal with. 

The right wing arguments actually permeate the meetings and events world, there are many followers of right wing talk show hosts in the industry. These meeting and event professionals do not see the need to green their meetings. They listen and believe the arguments their champions support and these planners actually go out of their way to ungreen their meetings because they want to prove a point. Sad, but true, this really happens. I actually talked to someone who said just that. She said that she serves bottled water because she can, even though it costs more. She poo-pooed my arguments and cited Rush Limbaugh (because he says it, it must be true by god!).

Let's all work together here and  let's all get on the same page, we should all give an extra hour or two to see what we can do to make our meetings and events a little more responsible,  right-wingers, you too. For once, turn off the propoganda that you listen to 24/7, think for yourself and ask yourself this question:

Just in case, what do I want to do. You lock the doors to protect your children don't you?

50! Tips for going green with your meetings

I love giving green meetings tips. Some good, some great but most are useful. I was planning a follow up to an old post I had written about Green Meetings that was published in Event Solutions and was trolling the web looking for some useful things that perhaps I didn't even know. Look at what I ran across over at MeetingsNet, 50 great tips for greening your meeting --- They did my follow up for me!

Now, even though it says "50", it is actually a little more, have a look at number 34, it has like 5 or 6 bullet points, each one its own tip. Great article, I suggest you take the time!

Green Meeting Tip - Choosing the Venue

Choosing a green venue or hotel to help in your green meeting and event planning plans has never been easier. In fact, what meeting and event planners are finding is that many hotels are in the process of establishing green initiatives on their own. 

When looking for a venue or hotel that fits your green event and meeting planning needs, the first step is to simply ask. With many properties, meeting and event planners are finding that the venue’s initiatives actually go way beyond the steps that the planner has already undertaken or are planning to adopt.

But what do you do if a venue or hotel does not have an initiative of their own or does not offer the services that you are looking for?

Should this happen, negotiate them into your contract. Some meetings and events actually carry the weight to make a property make significant changes, but meetings and events of any size will find that most properties are willing to work to make meetings a little greener. If a property or venue is unwilling to work with you and reasonable requests regarding hosting a green event, find a new one. This is actually an indication of how they will treat your group as a whole.

Continue Reading over at PlannerWire.net

Going Green Should Should Not Make You Blue

Going green, buzz words that are sweeping the event industry and something that everyone who turns on the TV or opens an industry magazine is trying their hand at, unless you live under a rock, this is something that should be on your event planning radar.

It is truly a noble cause, helping the environment by doing what we as event professionals do best, plan events. By doing our part we are turning an industry that is seen as wasteful and un-eco friendly into a model to be looked up to.

As an event professional I make it a point to tell every client about how going green can positively affect their events in a variety of ways,  by taking the steps necessary to create a green and sustainable meeting environment, our clients find that they are saving money, creating good press and helping the environment. The world is starting to realize that going green is not just hype, going green is actually sound business. 

But in the rush to be environmentally friendly and meet the mandates of our corporate or association’s policies,  event planners must ask ourselves the  hard questions.………..when is green not green, am I telling the truth and might we actually be doing the environment a disservice.

Before you announce to the world, the industry or your mom that your event is green, be  100% sure to avoid embarrassment, harm to your brand or even legal action. Here are some thoughts to ponder as our industry embraces the rush to be green.

Is your event  green?

This is a “be 100% honest” with yourself moment because at the current time being green is purely subjective, so it is important to have an internal system to evaluate one’s “greenness”. 

First, take the time to do the research and set up internal checks and balances to determine what is green. Work with industry resources such as the Green Meetings Industry Council to develop green practices in all of your meeting and event activities. Becoming green need not be a painful process, others have gone before us and have laid the groundwork for developing company or association wide green meeting and event mandates. Basically, copy the success of others.

Second, once you have initiated green policies, walk through your event timeline minute by minute to uncover areas where you can make improvements because, the world is watching and you do not want to open yourself, your event or your organization up to unnecessary scrutiny or criticism. 

Look at everything from transportation, shipping and registration to food and beverage service, marketing handouts and give-aways. Are you serving water in bulk rather than in single serve plastic containers, are the event give-aways produced using sustainable methods. These are the things that sound internal policies will allow you to identify as you plan your event.

If you determine that portions of your event are not green and there are no alternatives to your course of action, don’t candy coat it or try and sweep it under the rug. State it as a fact, such as “We understand that our transportation options do not allow us to use busses that run on natural gas or bio-diesel, but in an effort to be as green as possible, we are scheduling attendee arrivals to make as few trips as possible to and from the airport which will reduce the overall carbon emissions of the program”.  You have just turned a negative into a forward thinking positive.

Don’t be a “greenwasher”

One of the biggest pitfalls in the rush to be green is “greenwashing”. This is something that we are beginning to see in every industry, not just the meeting and event world and greenwashing will come back to haunt you in the long run, especially if your company or association is mandating green policies or if it is part of a larger event marketing plan.

Greenwashing is the act of over-hyping or misrepresenting the greenness of your event, product or service. An example is announcing to the world that you are hosting an eco-friendly event simply because the convention center happens to recycle newspapers and soda cans. 

As a planner, you actually did nothing to impact the green aspects of the event, but are taking credit for the actions of others.

Simply put, greenwashing is dishonest and in the long run can hurt your product or brand, especially if your competition, an industry group or the heaven forbid, the blogosphere gets hold of your deception. In today’s world, this is just about as bad as taking candy from a baby and will be treated with the same type of enthusiasm.

Rather than greenwash, it is better to give credit and put a positive spin on the effort put forth by the convention center. This can be done very simply by stating “We are proud to choose the Mars Convention Center as host of our 2008 conference because of their contributions in regards to environmental awareness and sound environmental policy”. The act of recognizing the convention center’s environmental policies shows that you are thinking green and establishes that you are not taking credit for someone else’s work.

If it looks green, it must be green……..right?

One aspect of the green event movement that is often overlooked by many, including companies and associations with sound environmental policies is the “it looks green, but it really ain’t” scenario.

This is the hardest item to combat, both internally in the planning stages and in realm of public opinion.

A good example of this scenario is transportation; let’s say for example that you have 20 attendees arriving throughout the day at the local airport. Is it better to send one hybrid Toyota Prius to pick up attendees individually or send one twenty passenger bus running diesel fuel to pick them up all at once?

The sexy thing to do is to send the Prius and send out a press release and tell the world that you are using hybrid technology for airport arrivals, “aren’t we great!” you exclaim, but in reality the diesel belching bus making one trip probably has a smaller carbon footprint. Another common example is paper vs. cloth napkins. Sometimes paper is actually greener when you factor in the transportation, water, detergent and bleach required to clean the cloth napkins.

The “it seems green” dilemma can run so deep as to make your head spin, I once tried to evaluate whether it is more green to have paper handouts at our conference or put the presentations on USB flash drives to be given to each attendee.

My thought was using less paper saves trees; therefore it must be good for the environment. What we found was that USB flash drives are produced in ways that are not green and that by using them, we might actually be doing more harm to the environment than good.

Now, it was decision time. Announcing that we were not having paper handouts would have made our client look very green and would probably have not been questioned by the event community. But, in an effort to actually practice what we preach, we decided on a multi-faceted approach.

The presentations were e-mailed to each attendee prior to the conference thus eliminating the need to give out paper handouts or USB flash drives, we had three USB flash drives to transfer presentations to attendee computers for those that did not receive the e-mail and we purchased carbon off-set credits to cover ourselves just in case. Complicated, no. Required a little creative thinking, yes. Creative thinking is what event planners do best.

Green meeting and event planning was largely unheard of only a few short years ago, but today it is fast becoming the normal way to do business as more and more organizations discover that a positive impact on the environment can have a substantial impact on their bottom line.

Planners will find a treasure trove of resources to help them adopt green meeting and event practices. Planners that use a little common sense and take the time to understand the pitfalls and traps of green event planning will help ensure that our industry moves to the forefront of the green movement helping to make the world a better place.

From February 08

Reinventing The Give-Away

Here is a thought from my “green meeting file”. Should you be making the leap and holding a green meeting, don’t overlook a major part of what currently makes meetings very un-green.

You know what I am talking about. They are usually little, have logos on them and in a tradeshow setting, cause grown men to climb across chairs while knocking over little old ladies to get a piece of the action..........Give-aways.

Whatever you call them, bobbles, tzotchkes, trinkets and trash or even swag, they are a necessity at many events and range from the ever present cheap pen to Waterford Crystal. Unfortunately they are the most often overlooked item when it comes to producing your event in a sustainable, environmentally sound way.

My guess is 98 percent of the event give-aways produced today, from pens and bags to paper weights and flash drives are not green. From the raw materials used to create them to the ways in which they manufactured, they are about as environmentally sound as a Hummer running on leaded gas.

What makes it even worse is that because most people choose foolish give-aways that are not well thought out, they are likely to end up in a land fill.

Don’t believe me, how many of the give-aways that you received in 2007 do you still have and if you still have any, is it being used or is the poor thing inching closer to the waste basket every day.  

To stop this enormous waste of energy and to avoid being the victim of C-GAS (“crappy give-away syndrome"), we as planners need to do a couple of things.

Number one is choosing give-aways that are hip, cool and are actually useful. If you do this, people will use them and they won’t go into that special place we have reserved for the average give-away. You know the place………the trash.

Waste engineers across the nation are pleading "Please, stop giving away pens and sticky notes with your name on them.........."

These items do your company and brand no favors. Most people are particular about their writing instruments and scrap paper, I know I am, and if it is not a .07 mm black pen, it silently makes it way to pen Heaven, should it be a sticky note with with no room to write because your logo takes up half the real estate, my 3 year old has a new scribble pad. 

Average pens have a place. They are meant for hotels and resorts to put in rooms and lobbies where they go through thousands of them. They go though thousands because dolts like me never remember to stick a pen in our pocket.

There are many companies out there that can help you with gifts that are cool and cost no more than other, average items. Trust me on this one. Shoot me an e-mail, I would be more than happy to send you some great companies that can make you shine.

The second thing planners should do to take advantage of the newest trend sweeping the give-away world, renewable, sustainable, green “trinkets and trash”. Now, thanks to this movement, even if you choose a really crappy give-away and I toss it where it belongs, I don’t have to feel quite so bad about it (and yes, I actually do feel bad when I have to toss it. It cost you a lot of money and valuable time and I hate to do it).

The cool thing about the "greening of the tzotchke" is that they can be fun and useful. Honest, they can.

There are now green items that you would not believe, from pens that qualify as writing instruments and notepads for their soy ink to write on, to swankier items such as briefcases, backpacks and padfolios that are functional, useful and (gasp) have style.

Some of the unique items that I have seen and used are messenger bags, frisbees and laptop bags made from recycled materials.

The green give-away movement even has something for those of you that can not resist a pen that no one wants; an everyday average model made from “corn plastic” that is 100% biodegradable. Finally a bad pen that I can chuck guilt free.

No offense is intended to the folks who invented the corn pen, it is a necessity because there are people who will never get with the program, so they are doing the world a favor. I wish them nothing but success and I hope they make a fortune.

Besides, we hipsters with the good give-aways need the folks with bad give-aways. They make our swag the envy of the event world.

From 3/8/08

Event Themes - Green Meetings, Helping us all breath a little easier

I was busy writing back in March of 07...this was a piece that I believe was published in Event Solutions Magazine. Still timely, the thoughts are not radical, more common sense. These are simple steps everyone should be doing for every event, although many still are not.

Let’s face it, despite all of the current evidence that global warming is upon us and that we had better radically change our ways…many companies and of course politicians are slow to come around, naïve, greedy or just stupid…. who knows. No matter your political tilt, I think that is just common sense to want to protect the environment don’t you think?

This leads me to “green meetings”, although not always possible, they are a good way for the meetings industry to do our part when and where we can. They also help promote our clients as caring and cutting edge, and right now it is simply a good idea.

While holding a "green" meeting may seem like an impossible task, meeting planners doing what they do best, will find that these meetings are achievable and add value to their programs in the eyes of the attendees and the general public.

Here are some simple tips to get us all headed in the "green" direction:

----Easiest is to choose a meeting venue with a proven track record of environmental commitment; energy conservation and towel/linen re-use programs. Examples are the Oregon Convention Center and San Francisco Hilton. Both have amazing and award winning "green" practices that you can promote to potential attendees.

----Locate meetings at or near hotels to minimize transportation. Publicize and subsidize a mass transit transportation option. We do this in Chicago by providing tradeshow attendees with train passes that will take them from downtown to McCormick Place convention center (a couple of minute ride, but it saves hundreds of cab trips).

----Encourage clients, exhibitors and speakers to limit printed handouts. Although not always possible in the case of medical meetings or technical presentations there are hundreds of times the attendee would rather listen to the presentation and then have a PDF file e-mailed to them for later review. It also saves shoulder and back muscles because you are not carrying around 400 lbs of paper in your bag.

----When printing is necessary, use double sided printing and find a printer that uses soy based inks and let the world know that you are doing this. A simple blurb can bring recognition about how forward thinking we as meeting planners are.

----Plan nature based activities such as hikes, eco-tours and sailing. These do not have to be nature walk, love ins. They can be cool, exciting and a chance to teach attendees about the location they are in. We did a few of these in and around Cancun and Minneapolis and they we a major hit.

----Collect waste and paper during the event and encourage the venue to participate in the recycling efforts. They can also benefit from some good press.

Simple idea-- serve water in bulk containers rather than in plastic bottles (which end up half empty sitting on bus trays or tables anyway).

Tell your clients, attendees and exhibitors about the environmental savings achieved and then write a press release and let the world know that we may not always be able to achieve nirvana on the environmental front, we are at least trying. Which is more than anyone can say about a lot of industries.

Event Sustainability: Make it Count | SmartMeetings.com

Event Sustainability: Make it CountAuthor: Shawna McKinley January 2010

The Green Scene with the GMIC.

Trying to green your events? Here’s how to get started Why green meetings? Is it to save money, reduce impacts or make the world a better place? We pursue sustainable events for different reasons, but no matter the reason there is a purpose: by acting we hope to achieve something. If that is the case, how will we know we are successful? The fact is, we won’t know until we start measuring the impact of our actions.

Meeting professionals are constantly working to show their value. Measuring event sustainability shows how meetings contribute to corporate responsibility, the health of communities and the planet. Follow these tips to help you track your results and show how green measures add value.

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