Dec 02
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners green meetings
Does using carbon offsets equal green meetings?
“No,” says Jeff Benavides, LEED AP O+M, Senior Project Manager for EcoPreserve, a sustainability consulting firm based in the Orlando, Fla., area. “Hold green meetings with a larger purpose in mind. First, reduce the use of non-sustainable resources where you can, reuse [and] recycle materials, and then look at using carbon offsets.
“By taking this approach, an association can achieve the most carbon reduction,” which is what Benavides says equals “green meetings.”
Benavides spoke November 8, 2011 at an ASAE Convene Green Alliance (CGA) Focus Forum called “Carbon Footprinting Made Easy” to help meeting planners decipher what carbon offsets are and how they differ, as well as what their place is in a green meetings strategy.
A recent survey of CGA members revealed that 38 percent of associations are tracking the carbon footprint of their meetings, and an additional 23 percent plan to track it within the next year.
One group already doing this is the U.S. Green Building Council, which asks attendees of its Greenbuild conference to report their mode of transportation and expected mileage. This helps quantify the largest carbon emitters of most meetings. Other areas to measure include the amount of carbon emitted by shuttle buses, vendor delivery trucks or vans, and taxis taken by attendees. The overall energy used by hotels and convention centers as a result of the meeting also should be measured if possible, and many venues offer that tracking now upon request.
Choosing an organization from which to purchase carbon offsets is the next challenge, one made more difficult by the recent proliferation of these groups, which offer everything from tree planting to renewable energy projects.
“You need to identify verifiable and reputable providers,” Benavides says. “Ask to see their certificates. It is easy to get lost in this world and not know what is real and what is not.” Some of the more well-known carbon offset companies include NativeEnergy, CarbonFund.com, and Sterling Planet.
CGA staffer Kristin Clarke also suggested that the choice of a carbon offset organization should align with the values of the association. “This can help you make choices about what calculator to use and how you want to offset,” she said. “I do all my offsetting through American Forests. If your members care a lot about animals, clean air, and trees, you may want to do that instead of building a wind farm, for example.”
Benavides also encouraged attendees to leverage the environmental commitments of sponsors and exhibitors in calculating what the association is doing to reduce the carbon footprint of a meeting. Communicating this effort to attendees and exhibitors is important, too.
In addition to Benavides, the Focus Forum featured a panel discussion that included representatives of the Orlando Convention District, which sponsored the program.
Dee Dee Baggitt of Rosen Hotels and Resorts and Michael Jueds of The Peabody Orlando joined Benavides to talk about how Orlando is advancing green meetings, including opportunities around carbon offsetting.
A new program called “Green Destination Orlando” now connects all industry sectors to create what Jueds called “The Sustainability Experience:” “We want to make it a sustainable experience from the moment you arrive until the moment you leave. We incorporate the most recognized and aggressive green building and operations standards.”
One partner in that effort is Rosen Hotels and Resorts, which recycles French fry cooking oil into fuel to power lawnmowers used on hotel properties and has a host of sustainability practices in place to lighten the eco-impacts of meetings onsite.
“All industries from restaurants to hotels are part of the initiative,” Baggitt said. “We share and learn from each other.”
Benavides added that the Orlando hospitality community pioneered the concept on which the nonprofit Clean the World has since organized formally, collecting used soap bars from hotels and providing them to nations in need to reduce diseases and infections. Numerous hotels in Orlando and outside of Florida are increasingly partnering with Clean the World to offer meeting planners, conference attendees, and other guests the chance to donate used and unused personal care items for the needy.
For more information about CGA, visit www.convenegreen.com.
Nov 01
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners ASAE & the Center, green meetings, meeting education, Washington DC
Here is an exciting, free learning opportunity for association professionals in the Washington, DC area that sounds too good to pass up! It is also being put on by our industry partner, The Convene Green Alliance:
What: Carbon Footprinting Made Easy 
Learn about today’s green meeting trends and define and explore renewable energy credits, carbon offsets, and other resources that meeting professionals can use to reduce the carbon footprint of future meetings.
When: November 8, 2011
Where: ASAE Headquarters Conference Center
Cost: FREE to association professionals
Registration and Additional Information: www.convenegreen.com
CP Director of Communications, Al Rickard, CAE, will be attending the event (and sharing the highlights with us). Say hello if you see him there!
Sep 01
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners green meetings, meeting planning services, overseas meetings
Where is that RFP?! And that set of green meeting resources…it was here a minute ago! I know I had that list of money-saving tips for the next convention, but now I can’t find it!
If you’ve ever scrambled to find things in the rush of day-to-day business, you’ll appreciate the many ways ConventionPlanit.com can keep you organized and ensure that what you need is literally a click or two away on the web.
Here’s how:
• ConventionPlanit.com offers three different options for submitting online RFPs, and each one ensures that your RFP is easily accessible if you need to check specs or see where and when it was sent. Best of all, the 24-hour RFP Response Guarantee even ensures that you don’t have to get on the phone to follow up.
• Leading destinations, convention centers, hotels, resorts, and other meeting service providers are always there in the online searchable database, complete with all relevant meeting specs so you can instantly make apples-to-apples comparisons to speed your decision-making.
• The latest “Divine Deals” are listed online, helping you take advantage of the best special offers in the meetings industry.
• “Stellar Tips” has hundreds of excellent meeting tips for saving money and improving your next meeting, searchable by keyword. You’ll never lose this list and you can even win a $50 American Express gift card by submitting your own tip if it gains the most votes from other meeting professionals during the next month.
• Green meeting resources include links to industry organizations focused on green meetings, such as the ASAE Convene Green Alliance, plus many articles and white papers.
• Best practices in the meetings industry, including those created by the Convention Industry Council Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) and other groups are all listed.
• Dates and locations for future meeting industry conferences are listed in the “Save the Date” section.
• For global meetings, up-to-the-minute currency exchange rates, conversion tables, international telephone country codes, time zone maps, value-added tax information, and weather forecasts are all available from one webpage.
• Past issues of the ConventionPlanit.com e-Alert, including the headline for each issue, can be easily searched and accessed.
Many of these are listed under the “Planning Resources” tab on the ConventionPlanit.com home page. Look for the “Meeting Tools” and “Planning Resources” dropdowns from this tab and you can see most of the resources.
Jun 01
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners ASAE & the Center, green meetings, social responsibility
Organizations are beginning to place more importance on developing social responsibility strategies – which help accomplish business goals and reinforce values of an organization.
At a recent ASAE Convene Green Alliance CGA) Focus Forum, Jim Clapes, manager of conferences and events for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), detailed why and how his association has conducted several legacy projects at USGBC annual meetings during recent years.
In 2008, for example, USGBC members volunteered to develop a green building education program and successfully integrated it into the K-8 curriculum in the Boston school system.
“We tried to capitalize on the building industry that was happening in Boston at the time,” Clapes explained. “The American Institute of Architects and the Boston Society of Architects were both meeting in Boston that spring, so that was a nice tie-in.”
The success of that effort drove USGBC to sponsor two legacy programs in Phoenix at its 2009 Annual Meeting. There, members built a net-zero energy LEED Platinum home that was given to a needy family at the end of the conference. The organization also built a solar commons in the light rail right-of-way that will provide solar energy for the Phoenix community for years to come.
In 2010, USGBC obtained community grants to conduct six legacy projects at its Chicago annual meeting, including building a Habitat for Humanity home, creating a mobile food market for underserved communities, planting a rooftop recovery garden, assisting a family shelter service, teaching elementary school students about environmental issues, and helping underprivileged youth with cleanup and environmental sustainability projects.
Clapes offered these tips to meeting professionals looking to create legacy programs:
- Identify the needs of the city/community in which you are operating an event
- Work with local communities (conference host committee, organizational chapter leaders, and experts) to select the highest value needs
- Leverage corporate partnerships and other nonprofit partnerships
- Measure the community impact and tell the story
Has your organization developed a social responsibility strategy? What are your thoughts on legacy programs? Share your challenges and success stories with us!
Jan 13
maureen-pickellTrade Shows economy, environmental-friendly, green meetings, Keep America Meeting, overseas meetings, pcma
Your intrepid blogger had another busy day. The sessions at the PCMA annual conference continue to be varied and interesting, beginning with “Beyond Borders: Advanced Solutions for International Meetings.” Roundtable discussion topics ranged from Risk Management and Attendance Building to Budgets and Cost Containment as well as Working with Partners. The goal was to help eliminate the trial and error of international planning by sharing information among participants. Specific issues were introduced and solutions discussed using the expertise of both planners and suppliers.
For those of you interested in the results, the notes will be posted on the PCMA website after the conference.
Then on to “Top Industry Leaders on the Future of Meetings.” The meetings industry version of “The Magnificent Seven” including Jonathan Tisch, Roger Dow, John Graham, Bruce MacMillan, Michael Gehrisch, Brenda Anderson and Deborah Sexton addressed the outlook for 2010 and beyond. A lively discussion about the power of collaboration revealed that the prognosis is basically optimistic but more work needs to be done to rebuild and renew our industry.
The standing room only audience seemed more than anxious to take on the challenge by furthering the grass roots movements begun this past year.
And lastly, how many of you know the difference between Free range poultry and Cage free birds? The session entitled “Green Guide: Sustainable Food and Beverage” presented tips on selecting sustainable food choices and staying within budget while implementing a program to manage food and beverage waste. Again, consult the PCMA website for a glossary of terms relating to this important topic.
Looking forward to Wednesday’s sessions and networking!
Jan 06
Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows cvbs, environmental-friendly, green meetings, meeting ideas, pcma
Are you attending the PCMA Annual Conference in Dallas later this month? If so, here’s the inside scoop on how the conference is working hard to go green:
Getting Started: Choosing a Green Location
Make a difference from every aspect of your conference by choosing a green city. For example, 40% of the energy used in Dallas is renewable. Dallas was also one of the first cities to implement green building guidelines, and is committed to city-wide green programs including park construction.
Green-friendly destinations are eager to work with you to meet your green requirements and implement your ideas at the convention center. PCMA Vice President of Meetings & Events Kelly Peacy said she worked closely with the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau to infuse green elements into all areas of the conference, including area, including the destination, accommodations, food and beverage, communications, and operations.
Implementation: Make a Difference
This year’s conference supports local organically grown food as much as possible – quite a feat with the thousands of expected attendees! Leftover food will be donated to a local food bank and other unused food will be composted.
PCMA partnered with green hotels for conference housing, like the Hyatt Regency Dallas, who donates leftover soap to a recycling effort to provide people in developing nations with soap.
Words of Encouragement:
“You don’t just go out and suddenly become a green organization,” Peacy said. “You have to build on it. You need to decide how high green ranks on your list of organizational strategic objectives. We asked that question and determined that it was very important, so we put significant resources toward it. At PCMA it is half of one person’s job. Every year we build new objectives. If PCMA can be recognized as an industry leader to educate our members about green that would be a success.”
If you’re attending the conference, be sure to tell us what you think of the green efforts!
Sep 29
Ashley ChalmersNews cvbs, green meetings
When it comes to making sure that cities, convention centers, and hotels offer “green meeting” options, one thing is clear: Meeting professionals are in the driver’s seat.
At a recent Convene Green Alliance (CGA) Focus Forum event in Washington, DC, a panel of three convention and visitors bureau executives spoke to a group of meeting professionals about green meetings.
All three executives emphasized that green programs are buyer demand driven, and each of them encouraged planners to let destinations and properties know that they must have sustainability programs in order to win meetings.
Jason Fulvi, CDME, Executive Director of Convention Sales for VisitPittsburgh, explained,
“Planners can not only influence companies but also local governments – they are the ones who need to approve money to make things happen.”
When the recommendation for sustainability programs comes directly from the meeting planner buyer, it carries some weight.
Michael Smith, Vice President of Convention Sales for Travel Portland cited an example:
“The Portland City Council was talking to a major fraternal organization a few years ago, thanking them for bringing their business to the city, and one of the leaders spoke to them sternly about the green issue and the need for more initiatives.”
Smith noted that this got the attention of the mayor and that it helped for him to hear the importance of green initiatives from the organization.
One Focus Forum attendee, whose association requires a city’s compliance with a laundry list of green initiatives, understands the value of meeting planners and association executives in driving environmental change. She cited examples of green initiatives that cities and hotels have made in order to win her organization’s meeting business.
The Convene Green Alliance is the premiere organization dedicated to helping associations to green their organizations and the meetings and events they host. To learn more about the CGA and future educational Focus Forums, visit www.convenegreen.com.
Does your association have green meetings requirements? How do you achieve them?
Apr 22
Ashley ChalmersMisc Tidbits, News, Tips for Meeting Planners environmental-friendly, green meetings, meeting ideas
Happy Earth Day!
The meeting and events industry has embraced green initiatives in a big way…
…from the countless hotels striving for and achieving LEED certification, to companies offering Green meeting and exhibit supplies, to the Convention Industry Council setting the bar with the current development of the Green Meetings and Events Standards.
Give yourself a big pat on the back today for helping to make our Earth a better place!
Are there any green initiatives you are particularly proud of? Tell us…we’d love to hear about them!
Planners, enter your ideas in the Stellar Tip Contest for a chance to win a great prize.
ConventionPlanit.com Members, share your initiatives with us and we’ll post them to your listing page in the new Green Initiatives section!
Sep 24
Ashley ChalmersMember News, News, Places to Stay, Tips, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows Fontainebleau Las Vegas, green meetings, hotels, Las Vegas Hotels, LEED-certification
Start saving for your plane ticket now – the Fontainebleau Las Vegas is opening Fall 2009 and it’s very green and very cool… 
…with features from ECO-Mode Personal Thermostats to iMac laptops in all of the guestrooms, to 300,000 square feet of upscale retail space, an in-house destination management company and 58 meeting rooms!
The hotel is on track to become Silver-Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program.
Be sure to check out the rooftop pool, the Fontainebleau Las Vegas boasts the world’s largest!
Sep 05
Ashley ChalmersNews, Tips, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows APEX, green meetings, meeting education, meeting industry
APEX – The Accepted Practices Exchange, part of the Convention Industry Council (CIC) has instituted a new council to oversee:
1. new initiatives, including green meeting and exhibit data standards
2. relevancy of the seven existing initiatives, created with input from over 5,600 people
Since APEX relies so heavily on the input of meeting planners and suppliers, the Standards Review Council’s updates will help the industry to stay on top of changing times.
Check out APEXsolution.org to see how you can become involved!
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