Mr. Roboto Goes to Washington

The Economist magazine's travel-focused newsletter slash blog, Gulliver's Best, posted an article on remote presence robots earlier this week. Their primary purpose? To take your place at international meetings and save you the slog of international travel. Although, in my opinion, these aren't going to breaking into many boardrooms/conference rooms any time soon, it does serve to illustrate a possible challenge to face-to-face meetings through better, cheaper, more accessible technology. If Mr. Roboto can go to Washington (and Delhi, and Vancouver, and Singapore and London) it could cut costs in the long term for organizations.


It also has an interesting possibility; like a personal avatar, it could allow disabled participants to "attend" events. Another advantage? It doesn't need a hotel room, so no volcano-imposed vacations that reduce productivity, increase costs, and cause very-human-related stress.

The Third Space

A report, "Generation Y and the Workplace" from Johnson Controls came across my desk today. Although focused on the attributes of the best workplace for Gen Y-ers, event professionals and suppliers can take away some good tips to help design "the third space", or space other than home or office. This generation is the fastest-growing in the US workplace, and in other countries, already dominates the workforce. Sustainability is top of the charts for this group, with 96% finding an environmentally aware workforce very desirable.

Venue design: Focus on sustainable design

• Natural light, natural finishes are important
• The generation values collaboration, so more break-out spaces and fewer
  general session spaces
• It values networking, so more social spaces
• Access to technology built-in
• Need to design a visually stimulating environment

Event design: Focus on collaboration, technology and sustainability

• Fewer plenaries, more breakouts, possibly along the lines of the
  "unconference" where attendees set their own topics
• More use of technology
• "Green" meetings paramount
• Need to create an emotionally stimulating environment

Destination: More companies are evaluating travel policies based on potential
carbon taxes; Gen Y is also more aware of impact of travel on environment

• Regional meetings for easier access with a lower environmental
  footprint

To a Gen Y-er, people, sustainability, atmosphere and technology are paramount. This is the new marketplace. How are you changing your strategy to accommodate it?

Steel Doesn't Cry

The meetings/events industry is still coming to terms with environmentally sustainable events. I suspect it will be some time before we get over this logistical hump and move on to the role of how meetings/events influence the sustainability of organizations strategically in the people/planet/profit model.

HOWEVER... I have a few thoughts on the "people" part of the equation. I am completing an MBA program, and taking a course on human resource management. Why are people so important, and such a complex element, to the sustainability considerations of organizations? My professor shared her thoughts on this:

"Because steel doesn't cry".

Voluntary turn-over in organizations (US data) ranges from a low of 5.2% (in utilities) to a high of 19% (hospitality). Not-for-profits (i.e. associations) have an average turn-over of around 10.8% (all figures averages based on 2009 data). In call centres (not part of the data in the study above), turn-over averages between 40 - 60% annually. Making a 1% change in turn-over saves call centres about 5 - 10 million in costs.

What does this have to do with meetings/events?

Events have the ability to create engaged, educated workforces with common goals and common values. This could happen through team-building, education sessions, or, like the famous Timberland example of Servapalooza, community service events. Doing that helps create sustainable workforces and directly impacts the bottom line.

Steel doesn't cry. People do.

People make sustainability happen, environmentally, socially and economically.

Events create connection, networks and the cohesion necessary to be sustainable on all levels.

Door or Mirror?

Last week on Twitter there were a bunch of Tweets about whether a CSR report was a door or a window. The argument went that if it was a door, it let others see into the organization, thus being a way to be more transparent to stakeholders and the community. On the other hand, if it was a "mirror" it let the organization see itself for what it was, and thus improve its operations going forward.

Come on, people, haven't you been to therapy?

A good report, whether it is a CSR report or a post-event summary, needs to be both transparent and reflective -- just like those one-way mirrors they have in psychologists' offices or police stations. If you haven't seen one in person you have almost certainly seen them in shows like CSI, Law and Order, or Fraser. And however you know about them, don't worry. As the saying goes, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".

The Grinch Effect

I have been cleaning out my office over the past couple of weeks. It feels like the arteries of both my office and my mind have been cleared with each box of recycling. I am through the paper stuff, and am now down to things, like the recycled glass business card holder that is a relic from a conference I co-chaired in 2003. It is "things" that are the hardest. I can't, for example, remember the last time this particular object was actually used to hold business cards. But looking at it makes me remember the conference itself; the work I did with my co-chair to make it happen, the branding I designed, even some of the sessions I attended. So, what happens with this thing? Do I recycle it (presumably, being glass, it can be recycled again)? Do I keep it as it has become a memory?

This is a hard question and is, I think, at the root of our attachment to "things" in the meetings and events industry. Things become memories. Is there another way to preserve a memory without a thing, thus decreasing our environmental footprint and our economic obligations through the supply chain? Become like Dr. Seuss's Grinch, whose revelation was:

"It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas -- perhaps -- means a little bit more"

Maybe meetings/events mean more than the ribbons and bags. Maybe conferences -- perhaps -- mean a little bit more.

Sustainable Events, CSR & The War for Talent

I once worked for an organization where a Vice President continually referred to "The War ON Talent". Obviously, he watched too much CNN coverage of The War on Terror. The phrase is actually "The War FOR Talent", and CSR can play a role in recruiting and retaining that talent. Here are some great resources to get CSR involved in building a sustainable, and talented, organization:

1. From Coro Strandberg, a CSR and HR Management Checklist
2. Industry Canada: The Basics of Integrating CSR in HR Management
3. Massachusetts Business Roundtable: CSR and Employee Recruitment and Retention: A Primer
4. Timberland uses service events as a core pillar in its CSR strategy

Interestingly, there is speculation that CSR programs are particularly effective at retaining women.

Events, as a primary method used by organizations to communicate to its workforce, can be a key element of an effective CSR strategy. Not only can they help engage talent and build a sense of team, they can also engage the community -- sustainably, of course.

Myth & Meetings in The Age of Cassandra: Part 2

So back to the Age of Cassandra, the prophetess whose warnings were true but never heeded. Today I explore more myths about sustainable meetings.

1. Achieving BS 8901 certification means that the meeting/event is sustainable. FALSE. British Standard 8901 is a great tool that creates a sustainable management system for events. It makes it POSSIBLE to have a sustainable event that integrates environmental, social and economic sustainability. However, the people behind the implementation must ensure that their scope, values and objectives support sustainability, or the event simply has a management system with no sustainable results.
2. Sustainable meetings are all about "green". FALSE. Admittedly, in these days of oil spills and global climate change, environmentally sustainable meetings are top of mind. And should be. But true sustainability means more than that; it integrates the community and the economy with the environment. After last year's TARP scare in the US coupled with the AIG effect, economic sustainability of meetings should mean that not only are you meeting your budgetary goals, but that the meeting/event you execute helps achieve the strategic objectives of your organization, helping economic sustainability in the long term. Events that identify and engage community stakeholders build goodwill and reinforce economic sustainability for the future.
3. Sustainable meetings cost more. FALSE. While it is true that some elements of creating a sustainable meeting do cost more, it is also true that other elements reduce costs. It's all about balance and identifying your priorities. For example, reducing or eliminating bottled water at an event will save money. Holding an event closer to the majority of delegates will save money, as will reducing or eliminating things like trinkets and registration bags. It is also about long-term and short term organizational goals. If you spend money developing community projects in the short term, your investment in the community builds goodwill and more dedicated consumers in the long term.
4. Sustainable meetings/events start with values, leadership commitment and policy. TRUE. It starts at the top. What are the values of the organization? Does it have any? Do those values include sustainability in any form? The commitment of leadership should be evident in statements and in the creation and application of formal policy in the areas of environmental impact, community involvement, human rights and anti-corruption.

Meeting & Myth in the Age of Cassandra Part 1

On April 18, 2010, Adam Cohen authored an opinion column in The New York Times called Cassandra, the Ignored Prophet of Doom, is a Woman for Our Times. For those of you not familiar with classical mythology, Cassandra was a beautiful woman upon whom Apollo bestowed the gift of prophecy. But because she rejected his advances, he also ensured that no-one would believe her prophecies. Many environmental practitioners would agree that this could be called The Age of Cassandra, a time when those people speaking up for the environment (and for sustainability in general) have been generally derided or dismissed as expensive opponents of profits. The meetings industry has not been an exception to this trend.

This is not to say that there have not been Cassandras among us, quietly or not-so-quietly telling the industry about change and then doing something about it. CSR is, after all, a business "mega-trend" , like globalization, according to The Sustainability Imperative, a paper in the Harvard Business Review by David Lubin and Daniel Esty. Daniel Esty is the co-author of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage.

So here are some Cassandras in the meetings/events industry that you should watch for best practices (in no particular order):

1. MeetGreen. This company, headed by Amy Spatrisano and Nancy Wilson, was a pioneer in environmentally sustainable meetings.
2. The Olympics: The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (led by Ann Duffy) and the London 2012 Games (led by Phil Cummings) are examples of the world's most high-profile sporting events with sustainability top of mind.
3. Sustainable Events Ltd is run by Fiona Pelham, the driving force behind British Standard 8901 soon to become ISO 20121
4. COP 15. The climate meeting of our times produced the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol, in partnership with MCI under Guy Bigwood
5. Global Reporting Initiative. This well-respected global organization is producing an event sector supplement to assist sustainability reporting in the industry.
6. APEX/ASTM/EPA. This group is collaborating on a set of green meetings standards
7. Live Earth. This well-known concert event has a how-to guide for sustainable events
8. Fairmont Hotels. The greening began in 1990, well before "green meetings" became a catch phrase in the industry

Sustainable Events and Human Rights

The area of human rights in the meetings and events industry might seem a little academic to those who are still struggling with the environmental sustainability of events, but there are issues where the industry should take notice and start applying principles and policy. Sustainable events mean more than just "green meetings" -- they take into account the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit.

It was Lord Kelvin who uttered the words "If you can not measure it, you can not improve it", which became more famously paraphrased as "what gets measured gets managed". Lord Kelvin knew a thing or two about measurement; he is the guy who put his name on "absolute zero" and on the Kelvin temperature scale. (Of course, he ALSO thought that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible, just to show that all of us make mistakes). This maxim holds true for human rights -- and so, let's talk.

I have reviewed many of the international protocols and agreements on human rights, including the United Nations Global Compact and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From this review, I have identified areas the meetings/event industry should be aware of in regard to human rights:

1. Hours of work and fair remuneration (equal pay for equal work). This might be less applicable in North America and Europe than in developing areas, but keep in mind the plight of the Hyatt housekeepers last year, which, if not a perfect example, is at least in the ballpark.
2. The supply chain. Ever wonder where those trinkets, registration bags and ribbons are made, and by who? A lot of products are made overseas, and there is the possibility that they were made with child or forced labour.
3. The region you are meeting in. What are the human rights policies of the areas you are meeting in? Not to say you shouldn't meet there, but inserting a contract clause or having suppliers sign a code of conduct is a good idea.
4. The environment and human rights. What are the environmental policies of the region you meet in? Everyone has the right to clean air and clean water.
5. Freedom of association. What is the policy of the region/country on freedom of association? Can labour unionize? Is there political and social freedom?

I suggest that you take a look at your organization and see where your meeting might intersect a human rights issue. Create a policy that might have these areas:

1. Non-discrimination
2. No forced labour
3. Anti-corruption policies
4. Health and safety
5. Fair/equal remuneration
6. Hours of work
7. Freedom of association
8. Environment and human rights

Sustainable events begin with "people, planet and profit". Awareness, discussion and a commitment not to be complicit in human rights abuses further the progress of sustainable events.

Strategic CSR for Sustainable Events

In 2006, some really smart people from Harvard wrote an article called Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility. The idea it had was that CSR (corporate social responsibility), when linked to core business objectives, brought shared value to both the corporation and to society at large. The meetings and events industry is starting to embrace the whole idea of CSR, but it struggling with how to make it relevant, and, in some cases, how to make it pay.

"Selling" CSR is the wrong way to look at it, although some organizations might make the mistake of thinking that telling people about, and not actually implementing it, it is enough. Those are possibly the same organizations who confuse marketing/communications with the implementation of strategy, or worse, with strategy itself. The pay-off comes when an organization looks at its strategy and at its unique position, and marries these with its CSR strategy. Then the pay-off becomes noticeable in operational efficiency, in better customer attraction and retention, and in the creation of goodwill in the community.

For example, look at FedEx. It was experiencing problems in many developing areas of the world, problems that were impacting its profitability, such as congestion in major cities, safety of its drivers, and loss of competitiveness. It then created a partnership with the National Network for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Mexico, the purpose being to develop sustainable transportation projects designed to improve mobility and safety. It also helps to cut down on smog and other pollution, and so has an environmental, social and economic impact. This is an example of strategic CSR in action -- it benefits the business AND the community.

Meetings and events are major communications vehicles for organizations, and are thus perfectly placed to implement strategic CSR initiatives. As meeting professionals, start the process by:

1. What is the mission of your organization/client?
2. What unique service does it offer?
3. What are the points of intersection between the organization and the community?
4. What specific actions can you take at your event where your unique skills meet the needs of the community and make both more sustainable?

One of the best examples of this intersection of events and the community I found when trolling the web is that of the American Mortgage Bankers Association. They created events where they partnered with Habitat for Humanity, since the mission for both organizations revolved around affordable housing.

Sustainable events are bigger than just making your meeting "green". They are powerful tools to visibly implement CSR strategy and make both your organization and the community more sustainable.

Volcanic Wake-Up Call

Last month, an un-spellable and unpronounceable volcano erupted in Iceland, closing down airspace over Europe and stranding travellers globally. I know this not only because the world-wide media attention, but because I, too, was stranded (although I might add that there are FAR worse places to be stranded than in London, England). This threw a big old monkey wrench into business travel, too, including meetings and events.

While we won't know for a while what the total impact of this event had on meetings/events, I propose the meetings industry take this as a wake-up call, not because I think the volcano will continue to erupt (it might), but because I can think of other situations that would have a similar, if less spectacularly photogenic, impact on travel. And travel is, as one industry colleague says, the Achilles Heel of the meetings industry. Everything depends on travel, including not only getting the delegates/attendees to the site, but also getting things to the delegates...like food, trinkets and speakers, to name only three. (For more on this topic, I recently wrote an article on mobility in the industry: On the Move )

"Peak oil" is a term that isn't all that familiar to the meetings industry. Yet. Fiona Pelham of Sustainable Events Ltd and I did a session at an industry conference last year, based on the Transition Town model, that introduced this concept and potential impact that less oil -- or, in the short term, more expensive oil -- would have on the industry. The current business model for meetings/events is based on cheap oil. Everyone remembers what happened two years ago when oil peaked around $150/barrel; travel diminished as fewer people could afford to travel, and several airlines folded because the cost of fuel is a major cost item, currently number two after labour costs. However, according to IATA, in 2007, for the first time ever, fuel costs superseded labour as the number one operating cost. It doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see that expensive oil would have a far more long-lasting impact on the meetings industry than a volcanic eruption. This is a business sustainability issue.

The volcanic eruption in Iceland is a wake-up call for the industry to do some business forecasting that includes situations of (permanently?) reduced travel. This is important for these reasons:

1. Continuity of business
2. Risk management
3. Assessment of alternatives while not in crisis situation
4. Strategic direction taking into account global drivers
5. Sustainability of business
6. Relevance to customer base

So, Eyjafjallajokull! (That's Icelandic for "wake-up call").

In Pursuit of Elegant Meetings

OK, folks, I am not talking ball gowns here. By "elegance" I mean something that is simple, powerful, and effective...and, of course, sustainable. I was inspired by a short article written by Matthew May for the MITSloan Management Review, entitled Elegance by Design: The Art of Less. He expands on this in his book In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing, which is on my reading list.

May argues that "the goal of elegance is to maximize effect with minimum means". Now, we all know what doing more with less usually means -- longer hours, less pay, fewer resources, and we can probably all agree that the dominant thought we have when we hear this is one bordering on despair. This isn't May's argument, though. Instead, he presents three ideas to do more with less: symmetry, seduction, and subtraction. Here are my ideas on how to apply these three ideas to sustainable meetings.

Symmetry ("simple rules create effective order"): May argues that symmetry derives its power from the core values of an organization. Instead of acres of rules and regulations, a core value of "sustainability" would mean that meeting manager could implement this however they thought worked best ("think global, act local" might be the best summary of this idea). An example of this kind of symmetry is "reverse logistics" applied to meetings, that is, finding an end use for a material before its purchase or creation. A great example of this that I use in my presentations is that of the WorldSkills competition when it was in my hometown of Calgary last year. This event, the "Olympics of trades", focuses on 44 trades in 6 major skill areas, and what they did to make this sustainable was brilliant and easily replicated: they found an end-use for the products being showcased. For example, the cabinetry competition created cabinets which were then donated to Habitat for Humanity. The food from the cooking competition was donated to a local homeless organization. The graphic arts competition designed a poster then used by a charity. Here we have symmetry, simplicity and social impact created by following the principle of "sustainability".


Subtraction ("restraint and removal creates value"): It is so easy to do what we have always done, and this is often evident at meetings. Annual conferences, especially, are guilty of perpetuating this cycle of sameness --- contact favourite supplier, order registration bag, stuff bag, you get the idea. Asking ourselves "what don't we need"? is especially useful when trying to reduce our environmental impact and improve our economic well-being. Both are essential elements of sustainable meetings, and both help the pursuit of elegance.

Seduction ("limiting information to create intrigue"): Here's where I must deviate from Mr. May by offering a different definition for "seduction": "Share with stakeholders". No intrigue here. A recent survey by McKinsey entitled How Companies Manage Sustainability indicates that building and managing corporate reputations through sustainability was a key driver. Meetings are primary communications vehicles and can effectively showcase sustainability in action. So seduce. And here is one seduction where you should kiss and tell.

Skill Set

I recently did some "digital housekeeping" (a.k.a. deleting the avalanche of unread emails that collects almost overnight in one's inbox) and found some interesting stuff amid the dregs of e-waste. One of the interesting gems was a paper by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals called The Sustainability Professional: 2010 Competency Survey Report. Key findings of the report included that the top challenges of sustainability professionals were:

1. Establishing the value of sustainability


2. Dealing with issues related to climate change


3. Building support among stakeholders


4. Financing sustainability activities

Not really anything different, then, between sustainability professionals and sustainable meeting/event professionals in terms of key challenges. We are part of the brotherhood -- or sisterhood, as anyone in the events industry knows that about 80% of us are women. The top-ranking hard skills needed by sustainability professionals were listed as:

1. Strategic Planning
2. Systems thinking
3. Project management
   

Now, sustainable meetings/events professionals have number three down, no problem...but what about items 1 and 2? How good are many of us, really, when it comes to strategic thinking and systems thinking? How many of you are --right now -- scratching your head and wondering what exactly is meant by "systems thinking"? This might be an opportunity for improvement.

The top soft skills were:

1. Communication with stakeholder
2. Problem solving
3. Inspiring and motivating others

One thing is certain; we are good communicators. But do we communicate with the right people to ensure that our events are living proof of sustainability, and that they create sustainable transformation in our attendees, our organization, and our communities? Do our events help to inspire others to create sustainable change? And are we as adept as we could be at feeding solutions forward to be better at problem solving in the future?

The report also mentioned a white paper produced by the International Institute for Sustainable Development. They listed the tools, skills and beliefs for sustainability professionals. Using this as inspiration, I created my own list for sustainable event professionals:

Tools:

1. APEX/ASTM Green Meetings Standards (measurement, logistics)
2. ISO 20121 sustainability in event management (management)
3. Global Reporting Initiative event sector supplement (reporting)
4. Personal networks
5. Social media (like Facebook or Twitter)
6. Green Meeting Industry Council
7. Country-specific standards, like Canada's Z2010

Hard Skills:

1. Project management (building on a core skill)
2. Operational excellence
3. Knowledge management
4. Network management
5. Supply chain management
6. Financial analysis/budgeting
7. Technology savvy

Soft Skills/Belief Systems

1. Inspiring and motivating others
2. Ethics
3. Respect for environment and community
4. Influencing strategy
5. Understanding the value of face-to-face
6. Knowing meetings transform human relationships and communities

Sustainable event professionals have an opportunity to create transformational change in our communities. Let's make it happen.