What if we wrote a sustainability report and nobody read it?

 ‘What if they gave a war and nobody came’? Many people may not know is that this phrase, best remembered as an anti-war anthem, is a snippet from a poem (Carl Sandburg or Bertolt Brecht depending on who you talk to) which starts What if they gave a war and nobody came? Why, then, the [...]

Sustainable Events: On strength & Connectedness

Organisations=Organisms Within any organisation, individual department-based process are interrelated and interdependent. Random example: The person working reception at a hotel, if they are to be productive and enthusiastic, relies on the successful observation of effective processes in the restaurant.  Poor systems will result in poor service and, eventually, problems for anybody involved in guest service. [...]

On soap and other waste: are we doing it wrong?

In nature, and in a sustainable society, waste from one process is food for another (this and lots of other great stuff from William McDonough). Clean the World, and their effort to capture wasted soaps from hotels across the United States, might well be a brilliant example of this principle in action.  Yet the recent [...]

Sustainable Events: a novel idea

Authors understand that readers don’t want to know about the mechanics of a books’ construction.  They don’t go to pains to explain the manufacture of the paper that made the printing of the pages possible.  Instead, they focus only on creating the best story with a goal of delivering a meaningful experience.  Is there a [...]

Sustainable Event Reporting: Like eating your vegetables?

Parents differ on their approach to getting kids to eat vegetables, often falling into 2 camps: ‘eat it or else’ and ‘only take what you want”.  Which method produces the healthier eater?   There’s a parallel, here, to recent thinking on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reporting.  In her just published article, Elaine Cohen recaps the recent [...]

Engaging Suppliers in sustainable business

Can an organization bring positive change to the world through supplier engagement? Any number of compelling examples exist. Wal-Mart, once vilified as a leech on local economies is now celebrated for effectively changing everything from supplier packaging to supplier commitment to green business practices.  To support their own mission to reduce the impacts of meetings, [...]

Collaboration equals transformation: The GMIC as change agent

We’re reporting live from the Sustainable Meetings Conference, the annual event of the Green Meetings Industry Council in Portland, Oregon where leaders from across the meetings and events industry are applying game theory to engage participants in learning intended to transform the industry.. Key messages shared  include: Collaboration (between suppliers, planners, destination management organizations and [...]

The Power of Action: Giving thanks, sharing findings

Thank you! The Power of Action community service event  mentioned in our earlier post exceeded every possible goal we imagined.  The enthusiastic engagement and generosity of our team, partners and participants brought the following exciting results: 171 people, including 125 kids, participated in a 4 hour long session to create 19 different figures of (mostly) [...]

Green and Sustainable events: can 2011 be a ‘corner turner’?

The many ’2010, a year in review’ lists (random example here) prompt consideration of what meeting industry trends might indicate, if anything, for 2011.  2010 saw many high water marks in the pursuit of greater sustainable event performance which, in list form, might look like this: 10.  The app.  Rapid uptake of smart phones and [...]

The Power of Action

In our offices, November means the fast approach of the much anticipated MCI International Business Meeting.  Part education summit, part celebration, the IBM has become the turntable to which the MCI culture dances.  Moving each year to a different exciting destination, the IBM represents the most positive aspects of the company culture in a vibrant [...]

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