Welcome to the Daily Plan-It (published quarterly) designed to inform and inspire your meetings and conferences to higher levels of success! Read on for ideas and tips to expand the strategic importance of your meetings, enhance your delegates’ satisfaction, reduce costs and help the planet. Further ideas and information can be found at www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com. If you prefer to not receive future issues of the Daily Plan-It, please contact editor@meetingstrategiesworldwide.com.
Congratulations to two of our clients, US Green Building Council and Sierra Club, for being recipients of the 2006 Green Meetings Award presented by the Worldwide Exhibition for Incentive Travel, Meeting and Events (IMEX) and Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC). Each of these organizations was recognized for their outstanding efforts in implementing green practices at their events.
A special thanks to Eclipse Foundation, who donated two boxes of leftover backpacks to School House Supplies.
UN-Habitat's World Urban Forum 3, produced by The GLOBE Foundation of Canada was awarded a Four Star MeetGreenSM Certification. The MeetGreenSM Certification Program is a service of Meeting Strategies Worldwide. The purpose of the program is to certify an organization's current environmental practices in the meetings and convention sector. For details on how your conference can be MeetGreenSM Certified, please contact us today at info@meetgreen.com or visit www.meetgreen.com for more information.
Location, Location, Location.
By Nancy J. Wilson, CMP
In the last issue, we focused on accommodations for meetings and events. Today, we're focusing on the destination itself. The destination selection refers to the city or area which typically offers a variety of meeting venues and accommodations.
Does the location of the meeting really make a difference? Absolutely! Choosing a destination that is conducive to the event's purpose and takes into account the location of attendees is the first step in producing a successful event. It is also the first step in producing an earth-friendly meeting.
With this in mind, take a look at the attendees' geographic locations to determine possible sites requiring minimal travel for all participants. Understand why it matters economically, environmentally and for the greater satisfaction of your guests. And then, as always, begin asking questions…
Is the city served by adequate airlines to allow for just one air flight? No one really enjoys layovers, changing planes, and extra time to get to a destination, not to mention the environmental considerations. (Mitigating the attendees' travel through the use of carbon offsets will be discussed in detail in the Fall issue of The Daily Plan-It.)
Is the city's mass transit system adequate? Can the attendees go directly from the airport to their hotels or the convention center? The ability to jump off a plane, right onto mass transit and arrive at your hotel saves time, money and the Earth.
Is the city walkable? One of my favorite stories was told to me by a volunteer conference chair who was visiting the conference city for the first time. He arrived at the airport with his luggage and could see his hotel sign from the airport. Because he wanted to learn more about the city (and because he had been scrunched in a plane too long) he started off towards the hotel with his rolling luggage. Across the airport parking lot he strode only to find a long fence. He walked along the fence until he could find an opening. Once he maneuvered around the fence, he came to a highway with no pedestrian access to cross. Now determined to get there, he scrambled madly across the highway (luggage flying) and he made it to the hotel. After settling in, he decided to explore the city and see what his attendees would experience. Once again, he could spot the convention center sign from his hotel. Because of the busy roads and highway, there was no way to walk to a restaurant, store, or to the convention center.
So, as planners, we must ask not only "Are the hotels within walking distance to the convention center?" but also "can you walk there?"
Does the Convention and Visitors' Bureau have a list of venues, properties, and suppliers that have environmental practices in place? Where can you go for a local or organic meal? Which hotels are environmentally-friendly? Can you have tours or off-site events in natural attractions using alternative fuel vehicles? Has this research already been done on your behalf by a CVB who is interested in minimizing the environmental footprint your conference will have on their area?
When sending out the Request for Proposal for city-wide events, include the environmental criteria you have developed. Specify the importance of environmental criteria in the site selection process. Cities that understand the importance of eco-friendly meetings and have prepared a green list will be a more effective partner as you move into other aspects of planning.
How do these environmental considerations also increase the attendee satisfaction? Ask yourself as if you were the attendee, "Wouldn't it be a luxury to take just one flight, ride convenient/inexpensive transportation to the hotel and then walk to a local restaurant serving fresh, healthy food for dinner?"
While it is unrealistic to believe that all destination decisions will be made on environmental considerations alone, these factors can be important when choosing between comparable cities. The more cities and venues understand and embrace environmentally-responsible practices, the easier it will be.
Case Study
By Amy Spatrisano, CMP
Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA) recent actions make for a great case study to illustrate best practices for destination selection. The UUA is a liberal, non-creedal (meaning they don't ask anyone to subscribe to a particular creed) religious organization. The Unitarian Universalists do subscribe to seven principles. The seventh principle promotes: "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part." It was this principle that prompted the UUA to engage in planning and implementing environmentally responsible events, mainly their annual event called the General Assembly (GA). The GA typically draws between 3500 - 4500 attendees from across North America.
When considering what they could do during the destination selection process to minimize any negative environmental impact, we recommended they incorporate minimum environmental guidelines in their RFP or site selection criteria. Here's a sampling of what they used when sending site selection criteria to potential destinations:
Preference will be given to sites with a maximum number of policies/practices in place. These strategies serve as minimally expected practices. Additional detailed strategies may be required. Compliance language to ensure implementation will be included in final contract.
UUA found this tool to be very helpful in the selection process because it both informs potential destinations of their expectations and it assures the CVB addresses those expectations when responding to the RFP. It has also been used to influence destinations to take on environmental practices not just for our clients, but to attract future business.
Jan Sneegas, Director, General Assembly and Conference Services for the Unitarian Universalist Association, in a recent site selection process for future conference locations had narrowed the selection to three cities. She ultimately eliminated one destination in response to the site inspection, because it was evident they did not have any environmental practices in place nor were they willing to do so.
Another example of UUA's commitment to support environmentally responsible destinations was during the procurement of event hotels. During one of Jan's site inspection trips to St. Louis to contract additional hotels, she found one of the hotels who had originally agreed to the environmental requests was no longer willing to do so. Even though the hotel offered a lesser rate and was close to the convention center, Jan realized to "walk-the-talk" of greening the General Assembly, she would not be able to use the hotel. She wrote the hotel general manager expressing her concerns and received no response. So, to ensure their attendees did not book that hotel (since they were not willing to comply with their environmental efforts) she posted the following notice on their housing information page of their website.
Please be advised that the Hampton Inn was unwilling to work with us in our efforts to promote environmental sustainability and so is not one of our contracted hotels.
For planners, this example illustrates how you really can make a difference by the choices you make in selecting a destination and the importance of supporting those suppliers who participate. For suppliers, take note: there are planners and organizations that are committed enough to support suppliers who implement environmentally responsible practices.
Ask the Experts
In each issue, your questions will be answered by experts in the industry including responses from both planners and suppliers.
Q: When you are planning a "green" meeting, what do you look for in a destination?
Rebecca Mebane, Director of Conferences & Meetings, National Recycling Coalition
A: As part of our RFP process, we also send a "Recycling and Waste Minimization Information Checklist," which both hotels and convention centers are required to fill out and return with their bid. Included in this checklist is information on whether a facility has a recycling program and what materials they recycle, energy and water conservation programs, and purchasing of reusable or recycled products. We use this information as one of the five areas of criteria to evaluate and decide on future locations.
Q: When a meeting planner contacts you about having a "green" meeting in your city, what is available to them? Jerad Bachar, National Sales Director, VisitPittsburgh Naina Ayya, Communications Manager, The Moscone Center, San Francisco Moscone Center's in-house caterer offers china service in place of disposable settings and to economize on water, does not pre-fill water at banquets. In addition to organic seasonal foods and wines, catering offers biodegradable packaging options, such as cutlery, lunch boxes and salad bowls made from innovative "corn starch plastic". Have a question for the experts? Send your questions to expert@meetingstrategiesworldwide.com. We've had a sizzling summer and we're planning on keeping it up through the fall!! We've got lots of events going on locally & globally this quarter - check us out as we continue "making a difference…one meeting at a time." Oregon Food Bank, SAVE THE DATE: November 1, 2006, 1-4pm Meeting Strategies Worldwide will join PCMA at the Oregon Food Bank as part of PCMA's Service in Sync day. We invite you to join all of us there and spend a few hours with other folks in our industry having fun and volunteering for this very worthy cause. RSVP to: All you have to do is RSVP to nancy@meetingstrategiesworldwide.com and show up. Many thanks to those who joined us Friday, July 14 at the OFB. We had a great time and produced great results! Our group packed 3,564 pounds of food which totaled 2,762 meals for families in Oregon, and equaled 137 meals packed per person! Fall 2006 VON — September 11-14, 2006, Boston, Massachusetts Eclipse Summit Europe — October 11-12, 2006, Esslingen, Germany OOPSLA 2006 — October 22-26, 2006, Portland, Oregon BSR 2006 Conference — November 7-10, 2006, New York, New York 2006 GreenBuild International Conference & Expo — November 15-17, 2006, Denver, Colorado A recent study reveals the following environmental criteria for host cities are most important to meeting planners: walkable venues and accommodation, availability of local transit, and recycling and reuse programs. Green accommodation and meeting venue criteria are also found to be important to meeting planners (McKinley, 2006). Event planners rank the following as their most important destination decision making criteria: destination accessibility, meeting venue and accommodation availability and cost (McKinley, 2006). Benchmark Hospitality International BlueGreen Meetings Convention Industry Council's Green Meetings Report Environment Canada's Green Meeting Guide Greener Buildings Green Globe Green Tourism Business Scheme Sustainable Travel International United Nations Environment Programme Meeting Strategies Worldwide © 2006 Meeting Strategies Worldwide All Rights Reserved
A: The sales team at VisitPittsburgh sincerely celebrates "green" meeting/convention inquiries. Beyond the extreme environmental advancements of the region, Pittsburgh is home to the largest certified green convention center. The convention center, now 3 years old, has hosted many environmental based events. These events have been successful and are certainly fulfilling the vision of bringing together a great facility and earth-friendly consumers.
A: San Francisco's Moscone Center offers a sustainability program that gives planners a chance to recycle as much as 70% of their meeting's waste. The program diverts everything from cardboard and foam core to paper, bottles, cans, wood, metal, carpet padding and leftover tradeshow product. Materials are either recycled or donated to local nonprofits. All food waste is composted.
Upcoming Events!Local/Community Events:
Conferences/Events:
In the world of Internet Protocol (IP) communications, VON is the conference for must- know industry insight and education on the what is now, the what is new, and the who's making it happen. VON brings the critical food chain of services together to compete, partner, and procure. VON is about building communities to network and share strategies that result in invention, implementation and distribution of technology.
Eclipse Summit Europe is the inaugural European conference for the Eclipse community. The two day event will be held in Esslingen, Germany on October 11-12. The entire Eclipse community is invited to participate in an Eclipse membership meeting and six different technical symposia including Embedded (Systems) Engineering, Application Development - application components and services and base technologies (RCP, RSP, AJAX etc) and more.
OOPSLA is the premier gathering of professionals from industry and academia--practitioners, researchers, students, educators, managers, and more--all sharing their experiences with today's object technologies and its offshoots. Whether you are new to OOPSLA or a veteran, you will find a wealth of information and people with whom to share experiences and knowledge.
The Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Annual Conference serves as both a construction site and an exhibition hall for the work of building a more just and sustainable global economy. By attending BSR's 2006 Conference, November 7-10, in New York, you will learn about the best practices in corporate social responsibility (CSR) today and what lies ahead.
The Greenbuild International Conference & Expo brings the industry together under one roof. Three days of extensive educational programming, workshops, a vast exhibition floor and ample networking events give attendees unrivaled opportunities to learn about the latest innovations, exchange ideas and develop new business relationships.
Food for Thought
Article with list of criteria to consider for destination selection.
http://www.benchmarkhospitality.com/Meetings/Articles.asp?tc_id=3&ta_id=38
Guide to environmentally responsible destination selection.
http://www.bluegreenmeetings.org/HostsAndPlanners/DestinationSelection.htm
Lists of best practices for green meeting planning, including destination selection.
http://www.conventionindustry.org/projects/green_meetings_report.pdf
Detailed guide with checklists about green meetings.
http://www.fhio.gc.ca/9076E298-09C2-4EA8-BDBD-57F3BBB296B1/WEB_GreenMeetGuide_E.pdf
Reprinted article with list of top green cities for 2006 as ranked by Green Guide.
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/news_detail.cfm?NewsID=30852&print=true
Worldwide benchmarking and certification programs and services to the travel and tourism industry.
http://www.greenglobe.org/page.aspx?page_id=49
Community/Destination Standard report.
http://www.greenglobe.org/page.aspx?page_id=31&standardID=1#2
Accreditation body for green tourism-related businesses in the UK and Europe.
http://www.green-business.co.uk/
Eco-directory.
http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/scripts/ecodirectory/op_ecodirectory.php
Several articles on ecological, economic and social impacts of travel on destinations.
http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/policy/destination-mgmt.htm
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