The Good Event

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden, his ode to nature and self-reliance. It seems that, both personally and professionally, many meeting planners seem to get what Thoreau was talking about back in 1854.

For instance, at an education session on producing “green” events at the recent annual meeting of the Professional Convention Management Association in Toronto, a standing-room-only group of planners was asked what compelled them to attend a workshop on reducing waste and being better environmental stewards. Were they attending due to their organizations’ mission? Three hands were raised.

Who was there because their organizations’ competitors were going green, and they wanted to keep pace? Five or six hands went up.

Which planners were in the room because they felt personal passion for protecting the environment? Nearly everyone in attendance suddenly raised their hands in unison. There was astonished laughter as planners in the room realized their shared desire to bring about change for the better with their professional lives.

Indeed, organizers of the estimated 1.2 million meetings, conventions and exhibitions held each year are in an ideal position to invest in “goodness” as primary decision makers in the hospitality and travel industry. And imagine the social, philanthropic and environmental impact of planners who together pour some $107 billion into the U.S. economy each year. (Figures are from M&C’s 2006 Meetings Market Report).

“Planners don’t understand exactly how powerful their dollars are, or how hyper-competitive the meetings and conventions industry is, or how much hotels, suppliers and destinations are competing for their business,” says Jason Ortiz, director of strategic initiatives for the Washington, D.C.-based Informed Meetings Exchange. “Planners do, in fact, have a lot of power and leverage. If your dollars are sent to companies you’re happy with, those that behave responsibly, then those companies are more likely to continue that behavior.”

Aside from the power of planners’ spending, there’s a viral quality to their efforts: By shaping the experience of the estimated 136.5 million people who attend a meeting or convention each year, planners can raise awareness of poverty and hunger, inspire more volunteerism or motivate people to demand environmental responsibility on a mass scale.

This ethical-minded approach to planning can be incorporated into all aspects of an event, so that the decisions a meeting planner makes are in line with his or her desire to do good.

Worthy destinations

Where and when planners decide to hold an event influences economies and the consciousness of participants. Besides eyeing the dollar value of a destination and gauging which location would prove most attractive to attendees, planners can choose to place their meetings in destinations that are in dire need of business or are environmentally responsible.

For instance, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, groups such as the National Association of Realtors and the Air & Waste Management Association have booked major events in New Orleans and affected areas of the Gulf Coast, intentionally giving vital support to these devastated communities. Additionally, New Orleans and its battered environs offer groups a meaningful platform for volunteerism.

“Every client is seeing opportunities related to their field or expertise, or things that have a real need,” says Stephen J. Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Maritz had their meeting and committed to relandscaping a city park. The American Library Association has been refurbishing libraries. A lot of associations and corporations are realizing they have great opportunities for branding and community participation that are very good for their organizations.” (A listing of volunteer needs in New Orleans is available at www.neworleanscvb.com.)

Other destinations might appeal to planners because of their reputation as environmental stewards. Pittsburgh and Portland, Ore., for example, have the only two U.S. convention centers that are LEED-certified (for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council, the most stringent environmental certification offered. Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center is the world’s largest green building, using skylights, glass walls and natural ventilation to provide light and heat, and with a water-reclamation system that reduces potable water use by 60 percent. Other features, such as sensors that determine levels of occupancy per time of day, allow the facility to allocate energy in smarter ways.

For its part, Portland “has always had a green reputation,” notes Michael Smith, vice president of sales with the Portland Oregon Visitors Association. “The city has done garbage recycling, green roofs, you name it. Our green approach, to be honest, started out as a marketing strategy, but it has turned into a passion. It’s hard not to get personally involved once you learn what’s at stake.”

Indeed, the POVA itself practices what it promotes. The bureau’s printed materials are made with recycled paper and soy-based ink; its website is partially powered by renewable energy, and it has established a “green team” that meets once a month to optimize the bureau’s environmental efforts.

SustainLane, an organization based in San Francisco that sets sustainability benchmarks for city governments, provides an online ranking of green cities at www.sustainlane.us/overview.jsp.

Hotels that help

Planners have many choices in most markets for hotels practicing some degree of sustainability. Properties cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s green meetings program (www.epa.gov/oppt/
greenmeetings/pubs/current
_init.htm) for significant commitment to greening their operations include the Fairmont chain (for its EcoMeet program); participants in the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies’ Green Hotel Initiative (www.ceres.org/
industryprograms/ghi.php); members of the Green Hotels Association (www.greenhotels.com); properties certified by the Green Seal program (www.greenseal.org); the Boston-based Saunders Hotel Group, and Swissotel.

The National Recycling Coalition suggests that in requests for proposal, planners ask hotels about their recycling and waste-reduction programs. Additionally, the NRC’s Green Meetings Policy (www.nrc-recycle.org/resources
/library/nrcgreenmtgsguide.pdf) suggests that hotel contracts should stipulate that any in-place recycling program at the property still be in place during the event.

Another useful tool for earth-friendly planners is Meet Green (www.meetgreen.com), recently launched on the web by the green meetings pioneers at Portland, Ore.-based Meeting Strategies Worldwide. With Meet Green, a planner can track an event’s environmental practices against benchmarks; produce guidelines and contracts for hotels, destination marketers, caterers and venues; and certify that events meet rigorous environmental standards.

“Environmental consciousness is a philosophy that you use,” says Amy Spatrisano, CMP, principal with Meeting Strategies Worldwide. “There’s a learning curve for those who don’t know the right questions to ask, but it shouldn’t take any more of a planner’s time to do a green meeting.”

One more consideration in vetting hotels is the way in which they treat their work force. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Informed Meetings Exchange (INMEX), a group affiliated with the hotel workers union UNITE HERE, there are huge disparities in pay and compensation for hotel workers from city to city. Some planners might want to avoid properties and cities where workers are underpaid or where labor relations are bad enough to add tension to an event. And while union membership is certainly not the sole criteria for weighing how workers are treated at a given hotel, it is one easy means of ensuring service personnel working a meeting are fairly compensated.

INMEX’s website (www.inmex.org) provides a database of destinations and properties, rating relationships between hotel owners and workers.

Beneficial venues

Planners looking to support worthy causes can easily find excellent off-site venues that are owned by charities and not-for-profit groups. For example, Common Ground Community (www.commonground.org), an agency that helps homeless people find housing and assists others to maintain their housing, owns and runs several event spaces in New York City, including the Prince George Ballroom, a 4,800-square-foot neo-Renaissance space in a restored turn-of-the-20th-century hotel in Manhattan’s trendy Flatiron District.

“Profits go toward solving the problem of homelessness,” notes Jonathan Rives, ballroom manager at the facility. “It’s a beautiful space, and almost every event person loves it. We do everything -- corporate events, fashion shows.”

Another example is Mountain Valley Lodge (www.outdoorodyssey.org), a conference center and corporate retreat in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Mountain Valley. The impressive, stone-built facility not only is a scenic venue for an executive conference or team-building trip, but all proceeds from the lodge fund the nonprofit Outdoor Odyssey Youth Mentoring Program, a free education and training opportunity that teaches Pennsylvania high school students how to “improve communication, develop teamwork, learn to overcome obstacles in their own lives, as well as help others do the same.”

Beyond venues that contribute directly to a charity, planners can choose from thousands of halls, ballrooms, classrooms and other spaces owned or operated by nonprofit entities such as universities and colleges, community theaters, museums, libraries, parks, camps and cultural centers.

A local convention and visitors bureau should be able to steer planners toward venues that are nonprofit or charitable. Other resources include services such as Edwards, Colo.-based Uniquevenues.com (800-933-3500), which connects planners with meeting spaces nationwide. “Fifty percent of the 7,000 venues on our site are nonprofit,” notes Chuck Salem, president. “All you have to do is call us and tell us where you’re planning a meeting. We can help you find a nonprofit venue.”

Planners also readily can find a variety of off-site venues that are environmentally responsible, or at least receptive to a planner’s environmental concerns. A searchable list of LEED-certified projects, for example, is provided by the U.S. Green Building Council online at www.usgbc.org.

Menus with a mission

One choice increasingly made by planners is to serve food featuring organic ingredients, which is good for attendees and for the environment. If that’s not an option at the facility, planners might choose to hire an outside F&B supplier that practices sustainable catering.

“We make sure to infuse as much fresh food as we can, with as many organic and sustainable products as we can,” says Jessie Ziff Cool, founder of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cool Eatz catering. “Another huge issue for us is waste management. We compost about 95 percent of the waste. Even if our venue is not composting, we haul garbage back to our facility.”

When it comes to fish, Ziff Cool points planners to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch website (www.mbayaq.org/cr/
seafoodwatch.asp), which is continually updated with the latest information on sustainable, healthful seafood choices. By using such a resource (or ensuring that suppliers do), planners and event producers can help shape the seafood marketplace and preserve the health of our oceans.

Another consideration: Does a meal come to the table on plasticware that will be tossed into the garbage following the event? The National Recycling Coalition recommends eliminating disposable settings in favor of china service, and also using cloth napkins and tablecloths. To further reduce waste, all condiments should be served from full-size containers, rather than solo packets.

Of course, any discussion about doing good with food should consider the hungry. In the United States in 2005, an estimated 12.4 million children lived in “food insecure” households, according to research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An easy way planners can help with this problem is by donating leftover food.

America’s Second Harvest, based in Chicago, specializes in connecting donors to the local distribution centers that supply both charitable food banks and soup kitchens. “A lot of food-rescue groups will work with caterers, restaurants and institutions on product that was prepared but was not served because the crowd was not as big as expected,” says Eric Davis, director of food-sourcing program development with ASH. “We take food-service products still in their containers or wrappers, if there’s excess of that.”

Another option is to request that attendees themselves bring a can of food or other nonperishable food item to an event and donate it to a food bank.

Planners can visit America’s Second Harvest online at www.secondharvest.org and input the zip code of their event to receive contact information about food rescue organizations in the area.

“Generally, the food bank will supply a collecting bin, walk you through the process and send someone out to pick up the food,” notes Davis.

Good giving

Besides food, some planners may have excess or unwanted materials left over from an event, such as product samples, centerpieces and even furniture. This is especially true of trade shows and exhibitions, where often it is less expensive for exhibitors to donate products and materials than to pay for the cost of shipping them back to their offices.

Gifts In Kind International (www.giftsinkind.org), based in Alexandria, Va., specializes in handling such donations. The organization helps sponsors of shows such as the American Apparel & Footwear Association and the Toy Industry Association find worthy recipients for goods used in their events. Each year, GIKI retrieves more than $850 million in donations and distributes goods to more than 150,000 charities throughout the United States. Recipients include child-care facilities, schools, transitional housing providers and safe houses.

Even if an event doesn’t generate donatable goods donations still are possible through GIKI. As with cans of food for food charities, planners can encourage attendees to bring a particular type of item to donate to a worthy cause.

Donations also can benefit the event’s public image as well as the exhibitors’ bottom lines, says Barbara Florence, vice president of donor development for GIKI: “For the associations that made the donations happen, we can do a media event and congratulate them. We can take photos and put something in their newsletter about the charity effort and the recipient. Lastly, every company that donates items at the trade show receives tax documentation from us. Of course, they can write off their donations.”