Overwhelmed by the challenge of planning a green meeting? Taking those first tentative steps to meeting green begins with lots of questions and a collaborative approach. Our industry panel urges planners to start the journey. By Sandra Eagle, Photos by Kevin Kelly, Nov/Dec 2007
Environmental issues have reached the tipping point in the collective consciousness. While the movement to green has been on the radar since the early nineties, the ability to execute a green meeting, until recently, has been elusive. Our industry roundtable included meeting planners and suppliers who are moving the green agenda forward. Our panel included Sandra Wood, CMP, annual meeting manager, Canadian Medical Association, in Ottawa, Ont.; Laura Purdy, director of sales and marketing, Direct Energy Centre, Toronto; Melanie Coates, regional director of public relations, Central and Eastern Canada, Fairmont Hotel & Resorts, in Toronto; Shawna McKinley, project manager, Meeting Strategies Worldwide, in Vancouver, and former executive director Green Meetings Industry Council; and Anthony Watanabe, president & CEO, Innovolve Group, in Toronto.
What’s the level of awareness in the Canadian meetings industry about green meetings?
WOOD: Based on what I’ve seen, I certainly think that in the last six months to a year, there is awareness out there and it’s very high, but the “how to” knowledge is not.
PURDY: I think the venues and the suppliers are leading the green revolution. Meeting planners are finding their niche and trying to bring a greening aspect into their particular industry.
WATANABE: I think we’re clearly in the “how” stage. It’s a delicate balance, because there are some suppliers who are really leading the way. But then there are also planners who are starting to ask for green options to mitigate the impact of their events. As those two elements align, you get a potent combination for running a green event. What we say to planners is, “Ask the questions. Start the journey. It’s not about going from brown to green overnight or in one event, but start that process.”
MCKINLEY: I think that the level of sophistication of the “how” is increasing. For those planners that have been doing this for a while now, they’re becoming more sophisticated in their approach, and more critical in their thinking. When they seek green suppliers, they’re coming to them with prepared RFPs with the specific practices that they want. They have a role to play in terms of achieving broader corporate or association goals for sustainability. Back in 2003, we asked how many planners were thinking about the environment when they plan meetings. We’d get about 15 to 20 per cent of the audience, and now we’re getting survey responses that are as high as 40 to 45 per cent.
What type of education are planners looking for?
WOOD: I joined the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) two years ago and got a huge amount of information from them. I’ve attended workshops, I went to the GMIC conference last year and it was full of really good practical information. PCMA actually has a whole chapter in their manual dedicated to how to green a meeting, so I’ve referred to this a few times. It needs to be incorporated into our professional designation process and tourism programmes.
COATES: It’s our role to educate them about what we’ve delivered in the past and also work together to achieve something that might be very different.
PURDY: In our venue, they get a green building, venue and practices. We describe what our regular day-to-day practices are, and they take that as inspiration and start to build on it. We are educating the meeting planners from the sales cycle through to production meetings and service delivery during the meetings.
COATES: There is a lot of behind-the-scenes activity that happens, I would encourage meeting planners to go behind the scenes; do a back-of-the-house tour and see if they really have a recycling station in the hotel.
WATANABE: We have leaders on the industry side at this table; so the fact that you are both in your own ways educating the planners, it’s fantastic, it’s not yet the norm. Education sometimes happens from the planners to the suppliers, and our message in our numerous presentations has been, ask those questions, ask about policies, ask for transparency. There are skeptics who say, “Well, we can recycle at the front end, but what happens at the back end of the house? Does it all get lumped together?” So transparency is a key thing.
MCKINLEY: In Canada, the basic level of practice can be higher than what we find in other locations. We have an issue ensuring that planners are aware of what’s provided as a baseline at some of the facilities that we’re already meeting in. You know, we can toss around terms like ‘green,’ ‘organic,’ ‘local,’ ‘carbon offsets,’ I’m often assuming that people understand basically what they mean. And I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. I think we need almost a common foundation of definitions of what some of these terms mean for some of the professionals in our industry, because they are at the very beginning stages and we need to try and meet them where they are.
What were some of the initial goals that meeting planners can tackle?
WATANABE: I think our approach is one of inquiry and encouragement. What are the big bucket areas? What is the impact? And then, what can you do to both plan and purchase responsibly to mitigate that impact?
PURDY: I think one of the first and the easiest things for any meeting planner to do is a green audit of their event. And then select several initiatives to incorporate green goals. They might not select the biggest initiative, but it could become the catalyst to implementing environmental practices in other areas of their meeting. I think it’s easier for meeting planners to ask their suppliers what they’re going to do that is more environmentally responsible, and get their commitment in writing.
MCKINLEY: We look at it as a five-step process. The first process is really talking about that commitment issue, what’s really motivating us to go green? How can we get the leadership support we need to go ahead with a green initiative? The next step is to identify what specific practices you’re going to do in all the areas of meeting management that you’re involved in. Then making sure that all of those vendors, as a third step, know what your expectations are, and getting it in your RFPs, so they know what to expect. The fourth step is negotiating those practices with them. Make sure they’re in the contracts; make sure that you’re explicit with them about what you expect them to do for you and that they’re prepared to track the kind of information that you need, which is really the fifth step. It’s important for planners, as they’re getting started, to be tracking the success and the costs and the challenges. Some things will present cost savings, others won’t. We need to be cognizant of how we’re evaluating the green actions that we’re doing, and that’s where the measurement piece comes in. So, for me, it’s really quite process-based rather than necessarily practice-based.
WATANABE: Sustainability, to be successful, has to be holistic and integrated and, frankly, innovative. It’s no longer an either/or; it’s an and/and – it’s profitable and socially responsible. Communicating sustainability, communicating green, is fundamental. So, as you look at greening an event, you take those first steps; communicating that to your stakeholders, your suppliers, your exhibitors, your attendees. And the approach we take is, “We recognize our impact. We see this as a responsibility and an exciting opportunity and we have taken these steps to mitigate the environmental impact or to embrace sustainability and here it is.”
How hard is it to go green when you don’t have the buy-in from senior management?
WOOD: I think that if you pitch green as a cost-savings thing, that’s not going to carry and you’re not going to be able to prove it. For me, the jury is still very much out on cost. We wanted to encourage laptop use in our plenary session, because we’re trying to have less hard copy documents at our conference, which is a great idea in theory, but it cost us $10,000 to bring the power into that session. It was a huge expense for us. But I think when it affects the bottom line, if it affects your processes, if we’re spending more time on things that we didn’t before – that’s when you need to have the support of upper management in order to move forward with it. For me, the fact that I looked at our mission statements and what our political position was, I knew I could strongly argue in support of why we should green. There was a recent study, published in the Journal for Environmental Research, that said pollution is killing as many as 25,000 Canadians a year. Since my organization has a vested interest in the health of Canadians, I could easily tie those two things together. And I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t one of the catalysts for our green stance that we as an organization need to walk the talk.
MCKINLEY: We’ve had situations as well where there is no leadership support and it takes a person like Sandra behind the scenes to start to make it happen. As those things are done year after year, they’re tracked and measured, they show results, and then leadership starts to take notice. When they become aware of some of the accolades that can be earned from that, whether it’s positive PR through green-meeting award schemes or feedback that they’re getting from their sponsors, they realize that they need to take a formal organizational position on it.
There must be some efficiencies that hotels must be finding in adopting green practices? Or was that just an offshoot of actually deciding to go down that road?
COATES: Streamlining your operational performance is all about greening. And when it comes to operational performance, for example, the Fairmont Royal York, built in 1929, is very energy-efficient. We’ve retrofitted lights, our water, our waste management system, and our steam traps. There is much behind-the-scenes activity. When you’re speaking about trying to get leadership buy-in, green efforts need to be quantifiable, then we can speak to leadership and they will understand.
WOOD: I want to say that as a planner, at this point in the greening of our industry, I don’t want to come down heavy on a property and say, “You’re not green enough for me. I’m not coming there.” I want to encourage properties to get online. I had a wonderful learning experience, working with the Westin Bayshore in August. We did our annual meeting there. They didn’t really have a lot of green practices in place. I developed a relationship with the convention-services manager, and she started a green committee in the hotel and they were really keen to do as much as they could for us. Did I have it written in the contract, “Thou must be green?” No, I didn’t, because it’s so early for so many properties – it’s a huge expense. But, maybe in a few years from now, once the infrastructure is really in place, then we’ll start to get really choosy. If this property isn’t green enough for me, then I think I’m well within my rights as a planner to say, “Well, sorry, I’m going to pass you up for another property that’s a lot greener.”
What are some of the obstacles when attempting a green meeting?
MCKINLEY: The biggest challenge is getting the information from the organization about what its motivations are to green, so that we can develop a strategy that fits with their objectives. Once we get down into the actual planning, it is always an interesting and new process with each supplier we work with. What really makes our job easier is connecting with someone in an organization or at a property who is embracing this personally. Whether we’re trying to get recycling bins into guestrooms or to ensure that the housekeeping staff is actually going to facilitate the towel and sheet re-use programme for us. Having a person who is our go-to person helps to make our job easier. The other challenge is the idea that going green is going to lower customer service or the quality of the product. Fairmont is a good example of how the green product is being turned into a high-quality product. It’s much higher quality when you have silverware and china and linen service.
WATANABE: Part of the green baggage is that it’s more expensive. And another part is that it either performs poorly, it’s ugly, and it’s not luxurious. And indeed that has really started to shift. BMW is coming out next year with a hybrid car for the market. I know a few car aficionados who espouse sustainability, but espouse their leather interior, high-performance vehicle more. We’re consulting for a law firm for a high-end female client-appreciation event, for 200 corporate executives from across the country. Someone at the firm said, “Hey, what if we ran a sustainable event this year?” And the committee said, “Well, we need to spoil these ladies. We can’t make it sustainable and spoil them.” That led to a conversation with us, and while we’re not planning that event, we are consulting them on specifically how to strike that balance. That sense of well-being, business and sustainability. It’s demonstrating that you can have all the things that you appreciate and it can actually be environmentally responsible.
MCKINLEY: I’ve got a great story, I think, that illustrates that piece. There’s a luxury hotel I know of that doesn’t like to flout their green achievements, because they have this idea that it’s not what their clients want, that giving them the option to reuse their towels every second day is not a good thing. When guests come into their rooms, they are greeted with this box that was put in a very conspicuous place. It really piqued your curiosity and had a little note on it that says, “open me.” When you open it up, there is this decorative frog inside and an invitation for people to let the frog out of the box, which is a sign to housekeeping staff that you want your room to be managed as a green room. It was packaged up in a really fun way that someone opening that box would think, “Why not? Why wouldn’t I do this? What a neat idea.” And I think the packaging of it becomes very important and how it’s communicated to the guest. And I think that a lot of it is perceptual when it comes to quality. It is an issue that we have to deal with.
So, does holding a green meeting cost more, or less? Or is it more now and will become less? Or is that a fair question to ask?
WATANABE: It really depends. Organic food still comes at a premium. We have a solution that we’ve used on a couple of occasions with success, which is creating a sponsorship opportunity around green for an event. In June, we helped the North by Northeast Music Festival, for independent music lovers, so maybe the 18- to 34-year-old rock’n’rollers – that community. We brought in a very unlikely sponsor in Loblaws, with their PC Green. So the demographic of this festival is not what you’d think of as a typical Loblaws shopper, yet they came together around sustainability. So there was a way to offset some of the costs of the catering, which they told us was 30 per cent more expensive than the year before.
What are some of the other premiums that you had to deal with?
WATANABE: Paper. FSC-certified stock, that still comes at a premium. These particular postcards or business cards are printed with waterless printing. That’s fairly competitive, but depending on your quantities, it can come at a premium.
MCKINLEY: I think, too, we need to look at the issue of costs on an overall bottom line. There are those green practices that come at a premium, but there are also efficiencies to be gained. You can look at increased cost for getting FSC-certified paper and printing it with more sustainable inks, but if you’re printing less of it and using less paper, oftentimes, that can be offset. So there’s a bit of cost neutrality to it. So, it’s definitely an overall balance that you have to try and strike.
What would you say would be the first five things that you would have to do if you wanted to attempt a green meeting?
PURDY: Do your audit and then make sure and see if you can align green initiatives with your existing goals. I think that gives you your overall vision. You may not be able to implement everything in your first meeting, but it gives you an idea of where you are, and where you want to be. And then you can start to develop your strategic plan to move forward.
WOOD: Auditing made us take a good, hard, realistic look at what’s nice to have, and what you need to have. That feeds into the idea of reduce. Do we need to produce all these hard copies of these documents? Maybe we just need to produce a few of them.
MCKINLEY: If I was to recommend one thing, it’s that planners and suppliers really leverage the RFP and contract process. So that they’re being explicit about what the expectations are and what they’re able to provide. Whether it’s the communication from the supplier to the planner to educate about all of the environmental services that are possible, or the planner educating and raising the bar of practice when it comes to the supplier and making sure that it’s formalized in that process.
COATES: One should ensure that the company that is supplying services to you is dealing with reputable companies that are supplying them.
WATANABE: Look at your procurement. Once you’ve identified what it is that you absolutely need, make those procurement decisions responsibly and rethink them. Communicate, and tell your stakeholders about it. And so even for M&IT, and the greening of IncentiveWorks 2008, I would say, talk to your exhibitors, give them the lead-time to engage and get on board with this. Your overall impact will be far greater, I think, than planning it when you’re by yourselves and then seeing what they come up with.
WOOD: I think the whole green initiative is one of the best things that has happened to our industry in a long time. We’ve had some pretty tough beatings. 9/11 was huge and pulled a cloud over the industry. And seeing this growing is just refreshing. I would encourage every planner out there to embrace it.
Is this here to stay in our industry?
PURDY: I don’t think this is going to be a passing phase or a trend. We need to take responsibility for our surroundings and our environment. I think this is something that is going to be a way of life. Environmental stewardship will be an issue that people will embrace and feel empowered by.
WOOD: Personally, yes, I’d like to believe it’s here to stay. I think as long as we can overcome some of the main obstacles – the issues of cost, the perceptions that it’s not a substandard thing when you go green and making sure it’s embedded within our processes as opposed to an extra step that you take.
MCKINLEY: I think the interest that we’re seeing in the issue right now is a cycle that we tend to go through. It was the ozone layer 10 years ago. Then five years ago, it was really about toxins and human health. And this year, I think we’ve really found a pressure point with climate change and what our vulnerability is to these kinds of things. Each time that takes place, the imperative to integrate the environment with our business model hits closer and closer to home. What makes it different this time around is, the practice is being mainstreamed in a way that sees it integrated into the fundamental parts of our business process – our supply chain, our purchasing, the return on investment evaluations that we do when we come to the end of a meeting process. I think that when we’re seeing companies and events and organizations take that kind of holistic kind of approach – which we are going to see it stick. I’m quite optimistic.
COATES: We’re all in business and we need a return on our investment and being green is going to give you that. It’s clear – we’re all stewards of our environment and we have to preserve our world for future generations. I’m really glad it’s called ‘green’ because that conjures up images of growth and preservation, but we’re growing to get a great return on our investment.
WATANABE: This idea of measurement and empirical data, I think, is fundamental to this movement and has to be balanced with motivation. We need to engage people about what this can do for them now and for future generations, what this can do to create innovation, to help economic prosperity in this country, health, well-being, design – I think if we have the measurement without the motivation, we’re missing a big piece of the puzzle. – Sandra.eagle@mtg.rogers.com
RESOURCES TO GET YOU STARTED
The Convention Industry Council Green Meeting Report
www.conventionindustry.org/projects/green_meetings_report.pdf
Environment Canada’s Green Meeting Guide
www.greeninggovernment.gc.ca
A website for hoteliers but there’s good information about what’s
happening in the industry. www.greenlodgingnews.com
Green Meeting Industry Council
www.greenmeetings.info
Chapter 30 of the PCMA Professional Meeting Management Book on Comprehensive Strategies for Meetings, Conventions and Events, Fifth Edition – not a website, but has excellent information on how to prepare a green plan.
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