Yesterday, the organizers of the second greenmeetings and events conference were able to look back on a high level of response at the Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centrum Mainz: Some 400 participants debated about the importance of sustainability to the German meetings and convention industry during the two days of the event. Using practical examples, it was also demonstrated how events can be more organized in a more ecological manner.
A total of 26 experts from industry, research and politics gave talks on different aspects of sustainable conferencing and thus also highlighted the leadership position in the field of sustainability and renewable energy. The conference was organized by the GCB German Convention Bureau e.V. together with the European Association of Event Centers (EVVC) and the Congress Centrum Mainz.
Sustainable conferencing may become figurehead
Jürgen Trittin, chairman of the parliamentary group of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen was the patron of the event and a keynote speaker. He highlighted the establishment of the theme of sustainability in the community and stressed: “Sustainable conferencing may become a figurehead”. He also pointed out the importance of conferences and meetings: “Conference calls are not communicative and not productive; they are only suitable for command output. To be able to exchange creatively it is necessary to meet”. The former federal environment minister finds it all the more important that these meetings are organized sustainably.
Certifications with non-uniform standards
“We need to formulate requirements for certification standards”, concluded Dr. Markus Große Ophoff, head of the Centre for Environmental Communication at German Federal Environmental Foundation gGmbH about another topic of the conference. Almost unanimously, the conference participants called for more transparency in the certification for environmental events, so that companies and congress providers can choose which certification is appropriate for their situation. In the future, the Advisory Board of the conference will focus here and work on developing standards to calculate climate balances as well as reliable data for regional events.
Practical examples are in the foreground
“It is important for the success of the conference to have a pragmatic approach. In this way, we must go further and develop practical support for the industry”, concludes Joachim König, president of the EVVC. Sustainability only makes sense if it is economical. This was something of a recurring theme in the discussion. Due to this, the practical relevance was a key point in the workshops and keynote speeches. Topics such as the customer benefits of sustainability, the problems of sustainable product procurement and the importance of authentic communication for business success were treated here.
Outlook
“The aim of the conference has been reached. Now we have to further develop the topic, beyond the purely ecological aspect”, says Matthias Schultze, Managing Director of GCB.
The high level of response of the meeting has shown: the awareness of the need for green meetings in Germany has arrived in all areas of the meeting and convention industry. Overall, about a third of the participants were providers from the meeting and convention industry: 24 percent of the guests were representatives of convention and event centres, seven per cent came from city marketing and six percent from the hotel industry. Another third of the attendees represented the demand side: 24 percent of attendees came from companies, seven percent from associations and six percent from universities and institutes. Another 13 percent of the participants were representatives of agencies, eleven percent were journalists.
For the future, the organizers want to take the issue of sustainability even further. Social issues such as CSR, employee comfort and compliance will for example be included in the discussion to strengthen the positioning of the conference location Germany. Additionally, the advisory board wants to develop other topics such as reusable packaging and lighting and develop binding recommendations for the industry.
Sustainable organization of the conference from the beginning
Of course, the greenmeetings and events conference itself was organized in line with sustainability standards, as the choice of venue already showed: the Congress Centrum Mainz (CCM) is certified with the Green Globe label and the participating partners in the city, especially the surrounding conference hotels, are already in the certification process. The catering at the CCM was managed by “tegut…bankett”, one of the first event caterers with an organic and natural land certification.
