Green Life »Tips, tricks, and advice
It’s Easy Being Green – Green meetings article from issue 11 of the Conceptualize! newsletter
Annette Gregg almost 2 years ago |

It’s Easy Being Green

Recent Green Meetings Industry Council conference gives planners practical tips for turning green

Article from reprinted from Issue 11 of the Concepts Worldwide newsletter, Conceptualize! : It’s Easy Being Green by Lisa English, CMP, CMM, Director of Operations

I have never been much for recycling paper. Oh, I believe in saving the world and having a clean environment. I saw Al Gore’s movie and believe in all these important issues. I just never saw the need to take it personally. At Concepts Worldwide, we have a long tradition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental practices. For myself, I have always been the first to admit that I will not save the planet by stopping my habit of printing every email – it is something I just “need to do”. Until now.

In February, I attended the Green Meetings Industry Council’s 4th Annual Conference in Vancouver, BC. Over 150 meeting and hospitality professionals gathered to discuss the “greening of meetings” and our responsibility to give back. I knew going in that this was going to be challenging subject-mater for someone like me – someone who was not quite ready to take action. I think this is why I was the perfect person to go – because I represented the majority of people out there! During the three days of conference sessions I heard from speakers who discussed such issues as alternative power for hotels, water-saving practices, carbon omissions, volunteer projects, and donating food. I learned about purchasing carbon offsets and where to source conference tote bags made from recycled soda bottles. There were alternatives to plastic silverware, and much discussion about the difference between 100% recycled paper and 100% post-consumer recycled paper. (Do you know the difference? I do now.) It was a different experience than any other industry conference I’ve ever attended. It was serious. The subject is one that, once you’ve been truly exposed to, can no longer be ignored. Even for someone like me.

I found myself reviewing my own behavior as I walked between sessions – how many times have I thrown away perfectly good paper? Why don’t I recycle at home? Why do I keep buying plastic water bottles when I could refill a container? I had to stop beating myself up and look to the opportunity. And that is what we have – the opportunity to reinvent the environmental and social impact we make with the meetings we plan. At an average of $3.50 per bottle of water, having central dispensers and cups available for attendees not only is friendly to the environment, it saves money. And planners who have tried it tell me that once meeting attendees understand why you are making the change, they support it and actually admire it. When we conduct site visits, it’s time to check into the recycling practices of the venues consider – and use this criteria to select properties that help our clients’ match their own corporate objectives around being green. Companies like offsetters.ca in Canada offer a way for meeting attendees to purchase carbon offsets for their flights as they register to attend a meeting. Working on our own programs toward a common goal, we will make a difference – I can see that more clearly now. The more I think about the opportunities, the more excited I become!

I encourage every reader to visit greenmeetings.info to learn more about the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) and get involved. Learn all you can yourself or partner with a company that believes in the importance of this work and become inspired. For our clients, we continue the practice of offering community service projects on all programs and following our own “10 Steps to Green” guide for meeting operations.

My biggest take-away from the conference? CSR is a journey. And like any journey, it starts with that first step. I took mine – it was a newly-placed recycle bin in my kitchen. Next will be a composting bin in the lunchroom at the office! Challenge yourself to take a small step today.

Conceptualize! is a meetings industry online publication of meeting news and know-how by Concepts Worldwide . Enjoy our latest issue, and sign-up for our Conceptualize! mailing list to be alerted when new issues are released.

Concepts Worldwide www.conceptsworldwide.com is the recognized leader in strategic meeting management with a 20-year proven track record of planning thousands of successful meetings around the world. Innovation, experience and collaborative processes enable the company to function as an integral member of their client’s team, producing impactful events that deliver measurable results with the highest return on objectives—and investment. Services encompass strategic planning, contract negotiation, theme design, logistics management and program execution, as well as consulting services. A privately held company with headquarters in Carlsbad, California and an office in Memphis, Tennessee, Concepts Worldwide is one of only a handful of companies certified in Return on Investment Methodology from the ROI Institute, and has a prestigious Women’s Business Enterprise certification from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Founder & CEO Terri Breining, CMP, CMM, voted one of the 25 most influential people in the meeting industry, served as past Chair of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and currently chairs the APEX Commission, charged with establishing meeting and exposition industry standards.