Pretentious Musings of a Meet Green Martyr

Red, White and Green

2009-07-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

As we here in the US head out for a long holiday weekend (with a nod to Canada who already celebrated this week), I wanted to post a quick reminder. If you are involved in green meetings in ANY way, you should be subscribed to the Green Meetings Portal http://www.sustainablemeetingsportal.com/ I know I have talked about it before, but it bears repeating as it has quickly become an incredible resource.

I am getting information several times a week on what's new in the green meeting industry, content from recent conferences I can't attend, certfication updates, etc.

This kind of information will make your job so much easier and keep you connected to others in the community working together to make a difference!

Serving It Up Hot, Green and Local!

2009-07-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

Sustainability is still a key initiative for the food service industry based on an article in the Environmental Leader.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Restaurant Associates (RA), a New York City-based foodservice, restaurant and catering company, have released their free Green Dining Best Practices, packed with recommendations for environmentally friendly foodservice. Covering sustainable food purchasing and dining facility operation, early results at two test RA clients, Random House and Hearst Corporation, show these two sites will save more than $85,000 each year, cut 275 tons of carbon pollution and reduce landfill waste by 60 tons annually.

In a National Restaurant Association survey of trends for 2009, environmentally friendly equipment and sustainable practices topped chefs’ lists of hot trends and top cost-savers. In 2008, the No. 1 trend among chefs was local produce, according to the “What’s Hot” survey.

The best practices recommendations focus on areas of the foodservice and restaurant industry with the biggest environmental impacts, including food purchasing (addressing specific products like meat, produce and seafood), facility operation (improvements in the use of energy, waste, and water), packaging, transportation of food, and the use of toxic cleaning chemicals.

As meeting professionals it is important that we also make menu selections for our participants according to these same practices. Here is the link to the full article. http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/01/06/restaurants-to-become-greener-offer-more-local-produce-in-2009/

Trashing the Competition

2009-06-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

Not that we are a competitive group or anything, but the meeting/event industry folks are vying for "Top of the Heap" when it comes to diverting trash. GMIC reports since the Trash Action Challenge was announced:

33 Organizations/Companies have pledged to join

13 Events/Companies have already reported their measurements and

100 tons of trash has been diverted from the landfills--the same weight as a Boeing 757-200!

Visit the website to learn how to join in the fun http://www.trashchallenge.com/. Note: The website is currently being revamped to show you who the challengers are and total diversion numbers. Perhaps a "Crap-O-Meter" is in order?

Frequent Flyer Food

2009-06-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have talked in my blog before about the fact that most of the food in the US travels 1,500 miles before it gets to our table. Greg Christian writing in an article entitled, Farm to Fork, from the June PCMA Convene drills down even further:

Food miles for items bought in a grocery store are about 27 times greater than food miles for goods bought from local sources. About 40 percent of our fruit is produced overseas. Nine percent of our red meat comes from locations as far away as Australia and New Zealand. The broccoli we buy at the supermarket travels an average of 1,800 miles to get there even though broccoli is likely grown within 20 miles of the average American's house.

Wow, another great reminder to ask your caterer to source food locally!

The New Green Lantern?

2009-06-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a great case study about how sustainable lighting is not only efficient but also does cool tricks from Dwayne Thomas over at Hollywood Lighting Services!

“Bing,” Microsoft’s new “Decision Engine,” had just been launched and its marketing agency wanted to make a big splash. Bing has a distinctive logo that was presented in lights in a very large format for filming from a helicopter for future advertising use.
“It needed to be extremely bright and draw as little power as possible. As a bonus, we set out to create a logo display that could be animated.” Traditional projectors or video would not have done the trick and would have been prohibitively expensive, so we decided to take an approach that employed 100% LED technology.”

Ultimately, the Bing logo was created using (330) LED RGB fixtures, which were individually pixel-mapped to video (via media server) for amazing real-time effects. The fixtures were laid out to within a 1/4 inch tolerance on a lawn at Seattle Center using survey equipment, following a CAD layout that was created from a simple graphic image of the logo.

The LED logo array was over 90’ wide when finished, and the entire job was installed and ready to show in just over a day. “I credit great equipment and diligent pre-production processes,” said Tony Bove, HLS Seattle’s Creative Director and the project manager. “When we told the survey equipment provider that we intended to locate 330 points in about 6 hours, they laughed! But we got it done in plenty of time, and only had to relocate one fixture after the initial camera test.”

As seen in the event photograph, the beam of light from the logo compared very favorably in brightness to the nearby pod of (20) 7,000w searchlights (seen in the top right-hand side of the photo). However, the logo consumed on average about 20% of the energy of the searchlight beam, changed color and played back video signal, and of course, had the added bonus of actually spelling something!

Water, Water Everywhere...

2009-06-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

"and not a drop to drink"--as the saying goes. More information is coming out every day about the "water footprint" of things we consume. Sustainable companies (and individuals) are now taking a look at this metric. It is something green meeting planners may want to take into consideration.

Here is a great resource for information, case studies, and even calculators to help you learn more about why your water footprint is important http://www.waterfootprint.org/

Leaving A Legacy

2009-06-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

I read some exciting news this week about how the New Meadowlands Stadium is setting the bar for green sports venues http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/06/01/new-meadowlands-stadium-ups-ante-for-green-sports-venues/

This is particulary exciting for me because in 2007 we introduced green event practices to the old Giants Stadium for the Live Earth Concert. Through the commitment of the venue and its vendors, we were able to achieve a 76% diversion rate the day of the event. The Operations Team at the stadium hoped they would be able to incorporate many of the practices they learned on Live Earth when the new stadium was built.

Live Earth organizers also hoped to be able to leave just such a legacy at the concert venue sites http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/06/27/live-earth-wants-to-leave-green-legacy-at-concert-venues/

It is that type of news that makes my heart sing--what an impact each of us can have!

Lone Star Green

2009-06-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I attended the Green Task Force meeting held just before PCMA's Leadership Conference. PCMA is committed to furthering the green initiatives of the hospitality industry and looks at ways to partner with other industry associations to do just that. Deborah Sexton, Executive Director, reports that even in this economy, sustainability is on the top 10 list for member meeting planners and vendors. Let me know if you have ideas or suggestions for the Green Task Force.

On a side note: the meeting is being held in Austin, Texas--a venue I would recommend you take a look at for future meetings. For being "deep in the heart of Texas" they are working towards green initiatives and certainly are ahead of the game in social consciousness.

Green Meetings: Getting Older and Better

2009-06-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

One last stat from the GMIC survey (if you will allow me) tells us that planners and suppliers have been incorporating green practices for many years now. Those who said it was just a trend, no longer have a case. When asked how long they had been planning or supplying green meeting services, GMIC members responded:

27% less than one year
41% 1-3 years
13% 3-5 years years
18% more than 5 years

These same professionals report that 68% of their organizations now have environmental or CSR policies.

New Resource for Finding Green Meeting Venues

2009-06-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

The International Association of Conference Centers has a new Code of Sustainability for its members which assesses the following areas:

Education, Awareness and Public Declaration
Waste Management
Recycling
Reuse
Water Conservation
Purchasing
Energy Management
Air Quality
Food & Beverage

By signing the Code of Sustainability, IACC members certify that their organization: (1) has agreed to sustain and support IACC's Environmental Policy; (2) has adopted and currently adheres to at least 75% of the code; and (3) willingly joins other member organizations that have signed the code in an assocaition-wide effort to continually strive for greater sustainability.

Members that have signed the Code of Sustainability are recognized in three tiers: To qualify for the Platinum tier, they have 100% of the code's practices in place; for Gold tier, 85% of the practices are in place; and for the Silver tier, 75% of the practices are in place.

To make it easy for planners to find venues with environmental practices, they have provided a list along with their ranking. Here is a link to those sustainable Conference Centers:

http://www.iacconline.org/education/index.cfm?fuseaction=environmental

Catch of the Day

2009-06-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a great slide show featuring fish you should avoid when planning sustainable menus for your meetings and events. In fact, from the photos, you probably want to avoid them anyway.

http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2009/05/10-tasty-fish-you-dont-want-to-eat.php?page=1

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

2009-05-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

Meeting planners responding to the Green Meeting Industry Council survey answered the question:

"What percentage of the time do you include "green" clauses in your RFPs?

42% include green clauses

Now that is a lot of buying power as survey participants reported that 33% of their meetings were over 1,000 participants and another 30% were over 250 participants.

The ROI of Sustainable Meetings

2009-05-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

"Where have you seen the greatest ROI in being involved with sustainability initiatives for you or your organization?"

That was the question posed to Green Meeting Industry Council members in a survey released this week. Their answers...

44.3% Increased Brand Marketing Exposure for the Organization
39.6% New Business Opportunities
33% Professional Development
25.4% Promotional Opportunities
13.2% Other

Survival Checklist

2009-05-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Regina Baraban, Editor of Financial Incentives & Meetings for this 2009 Top Ten list for financial and insurance planners:

10. Sustainability. Our future depends of sustainable solutions. Keep moving forward with your green meetings and travel initiatives.
9. Creativity. When times get tough, the best planners get creative.
8. Community. We’re all in this together, reach out to colleagues.
7. Technology. Learn it and use it.
6. Education. Business content, not boondoggles, is the mantra for meetings in 2009.
5. Big Picture. Think strategically, not just logistically.
4. Return on Investment. Crunch the numbers to prove value.
3. Regulatory Reform. A new era of regulatory reform is about to begin and your meetings will not be immune.
2. Perception. In 2009, image is everything.
1. Humor.

Amazing how many of these can and do relate back to green meeting practices!

Green Travel On The Rise

2009-05-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

According to a recent Business Travel News survey of 197 corporate travel buyers, 39 percent said they consider environmental issues in their buying processes. That is up from 29 percent in 2008. In a January CWT Travel Management Institute Report, 18 percent of 178 travel managers said managing an environmentally friendly program is a higher priority in 2009.

"People are concerned with making the economical right choices, but they are also being pressured to make environmentally good choices too," said Advito general manager Mary Ellen George.

Source: Green Profile Rises Despite Economy, by Seth Harris, Business Travel News, 04/06/09

Dangle The Right Carrot

2009-05-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to Go Green...but mostly to save money, we drastically reduced the number of conference bags ordered for EclipseCon this spring. At registration, instead of just handing them a conference bag, we asked the participants if they wanted one. They were also told they would receive an extra drink ticket if they refused the bag. Surprising(or not) more than 50% wanted a drink more than a bag.

This also allowed the conference to eliminate sponsored items getting pre-stuffed in the bags. Take a look at the savings:

o on purchasing and shipping of the bags (50% fewer),
o on the cost of drayage with the decorator (lower poundage)
o less exhibitor promotional materials shipped
o no bag stuffing labor costs
o less trash produced

More than offsetting the cost of a beverage. Creative and fun solutions to the exiting challenges we face!

It's What We Do

2009-04-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Produce all our meetings sustainably,

Teach green meeting practices,

Provide tools to calculate how green your meetings are,

Help organizations develop green guidelines,

Share ideas with peers inside and outside our industry to learn more,

Write books about it,

Connect people on the journey,

And, talk...talk...talk...about green!

Guess it's time to finally admit we...MeetGreen!

The Sky Is Falling!!!!!

2009-04-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is a longish post written by Amy Spatrisano for another forum, but it is well worth the read.

"It feels a bit like Chicken Little is on the loose in the meetings industry at the moment. It started with the legislation you may have heard about that passed on February 17th as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which put limits on luxury expenditures, including meeting and events. The Act’s language says that companies that receive funds under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) must have a "…policy regarding the excessive expenditures on:
entertainment or events…aviation or other transportation services; or other activities or events that are not reasonable expenditures for the staff development, reasonable performance incentives, or other similar measures conducted in the normal course of the business operations". A rather reasonable set of policies actually.

Unfortunately, like most well intended rulings this one too went a bit awry. It created an impression that all meetings are excessive, wild boondoggles dismissing any value of meetings.

Well, you can imagine the effect this news had on a multi-billion dollar industry that has been challenged over the years to be seen as an industry at all. Finally, the meetings/events industry gets recognized! Not obviously the impression we wanted the world to have about meetings. The good news is the industry mobilized. A petition was spawned called keepamericameeting.com asking people to send a message to their legislators to publicly support the meetings and events industry. The petition states: Corporate meetings enhance employee and partner performance, fuel company growth and profitability, support the needs of local communities and aid the American economy as a whole. In addition, a coalition of industry leaders published their own policy statement calling it a "Model board policy for approval of meetings, events and incentive/recognition travel". The model has ten points: starting with a general policy statement similar in messaging to the Act’s language. In general terms the points go on to cover specific measurable criteria: the return on investment to be considered, when it’s appropriate, dollar amounts to consider, percentages of spending, written justification, who should attend and participation. Number 7 is a favorite:
"Performance incentives shall not promote excessive or unnecessary risk-taking or manipulation of financial results." (for the details: http://meetingsnet.com/financialinsurancemeetings/news/model_guidelines_tarp_0209/index.html)

The irony about much of this is all of these processes, the Act, the petition and model all came out of MEETINGS people attended to decide all this. But the most troubling part is that no where in any of these initiatives does anyone tie the correlation of meetings to the creation, preservation, implementation or journey of sustainability.

Consider how many conferences, summits, meetings have been and are being held worldwide that play a significant role in the path towards sustainability: the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 which spurred international conversations around sustainability issues, the 5th World Water Forum coming up in Istanbul, Turkey which will address the concerns and viability of the earth’s most precious resource, water and the upcoming COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December. Those are a meager sample of the hundreds, actually thousands, of meetings globally that illustrate the power of meetings.

What a HUGE missed opportunity - especially given today’s administrative focus and openness - that not once did any of these groups underscore that meetings are an essential component of creating sustainable communities. Even the events themselves can be seen as opportunities to educate attendees on the impacts of meetings. The US Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo is a great example. The conference has won the IMEX Green Meetings award twice and most recently went through the certification process of BS 8901 for Sustainable Events. Attendees are asked to minimize their impact before coming to event with before-you-leave-home tips reminding them to bring a reusable beverage container and use public transportation. The organizers work in advance with all of the vendors, hotels, venues, food and beverage providers and transportation companies to minimize their negative environmental footprint through initiatives that also often save money. The conference’s environmental impacts are measured and use as benchmarks to ensure continued improvement. This is only one example; there are many other meetings building similar awareness.

At the end of the day our connection to each other, the planet and our impacts are realized when we meet. It is in those gatherings/meetings that innovation breaths life, relationships create connections and amazing things happen."

Redefining Ourselves

2009-04-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

"It's not about the whales anymore. It's about us." This true statement is an excerpt from Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. He goes on to say..."We need to redefine green and rediscover America and in so doing ourselves and what it means to be Americans." I would add, not just Americans but the bigger community--citizens of Planet Earth.

One Million Tons of Trash

2009-04-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

We've joined the GMIC Trash Challenge http://www.greenmeetings.info/trashchallenge/challenge.html and are working together with other industry professionals to divert one million tons of trash this year. Rough estimates tell us that is about 10% of what our industry tosses into the landfill. Certainly an achievable goal.

My question is...what does one million tons of trash look like? It is certainly bigger than a bread box. Would it fill the Super Dome? Would it create a mountain high enough to ski down? Fill a 100 railroad car train? I have no idea. But I do know a visual description would really help me get my mind around this.

I also know there are engineering types out there (Bjorn among them) who might be able to assist us and further tell the story of what we are going to accomplish.

Can you help?

I Challenge You to Talk Trash

2009-04-21T19:31:00.001-07:00

Happy Earth Day! Because celebrating Earth Day just once a year is for rookies, the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) launched the Trash Challenge today.

The challenge to the event and hospitality industry is to take action by diverting, recycling and composting one million tons of waste in all of 2009. GMIC developed the measurement tool and associated website where participants of the trash challenge can load data and where the progress of the challenge will be tracked throughout calendar year 2009.

Why is this issue so important? The average meeting or event produces 20 pounds/9.1 kilograms of waste per person per day. This compares to the on average production of 5 pounds/2.27 Kg of waste produced by individuals daily when at home. With an estimated 700 million event attendees annually in the US and Canada alone, that is an estimated 10.5 ton(nes) of waste annually.

Organizations with the best recycling and waste diversion rates will be recognized and the results of the challenge will serve as a best practices guide for the entire industry. We see the trash challenge as a way to build awareness, educate and engage the industry in reducing our environmental footprint. The industry loves friendly competition. This is a great way to challenge your colleagues and competitors to participate in something we all benefit from!

Closed Loop Cow Poop

2009-04-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Several years ago--after a full year of flying about--our company offset the employee's carbon emissions by buying carbon offsets as usual. That year, the project our money went toward was capturing the methane gas from the MANY dairy cows in Tillamook, Oregon, for use in generating electricity (my simple description).

I recently received a notice that the green power option at my home would be using the electricity from this very same project our carbon offset money supported. How cool! My computer is now running on the cow poop gas I had a small hand in diverting from our environment. Another step (and silly story) on the journey to sustainability!

Transparent Hotel Chain

2009-04-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

We talk about the journey to sustainability being just that--a journey. No one is 100% sustainable. It is important to be transparent along the way, sharing where you are on the journey and what practices you are currently working on implementing. I found a great example of that today.

Joie de Vivre Hotels is a large boutique hotel chain in California. I have blogged before about staying at one of their properties and the incredible practices they have in place. Sustainability is core to all of their business practices and you know that from the moment you walk into the lobby and are greeted. Now I find they have a website that rates their properties with a scorecard http://www.jdvhotels.com/greendreams/scorecard. This scorecard lets me know some properties are further along the journey than others and I will know what to expect when planning a meeting or booking a room.

Wouldn't it be great if all hotel chains would provide this information for us!

"Never Let A Good Recession Go To Waste"

2009-04-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

This quote was from a keynote panelist at the Society of Independent Show Organizers' CEO Summit. This Summit is where the key players in the industry make connections and talk about today's reality and the future possibilities. From discussions and presentations, it was obvious that business has changed and those that survive will be reinventing themselves.

The recession is opening up possibilities for strategic partnerships, corporate restructuring and innovate solutions to everyday challenges. More CEOs are willing to "look outside the box" and have conversations that would not have occurred under different economic conditions.

Great advice!

Taxi!

2009-04-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I was in San Diego to address the SISO (Society of Independent Show Organizers) Annual CEO Summit (more later on this important meeting). When I left the venue after talking non-stop about green trade show practices to head for the airport, I was picked up by a beautiful black Prius from a transportation company called Terramoto http://www.terramoto.net/. I thought they had ordered it especially for "the green lady"--as both Amy and I often get tagged. Better yet, this company is now serving everyone in San Diego (not just green ladies).

The next time you are in San Diego, call them. The service is as great as the car! Now if they would just branch out into other cities so I could use them everywhere I travel.