Each year, MCI offices vie for the MCI Leadership in CSR trophy (made by hand of recycled glass, of course) presented each year during the annual business meeting.

The award represents not only a great deal of hard work and inspiration from the winning office but also provides a forum to advance still further our commitment to better business and better communities.

To meet minimum criteria, each applicant must provide not only evidence of office participation in monthly measurements of energy use and staff travel, but must also provide information about how they support a culture of sustainability within the office and in support of the local community.

This year, 2011, the MCI Leadership in CSR award panel of judges were faced with the daunting challenge of reviewing the largest number of award submissions to date, each of them meeting the criteria outlined in the award application. After objective and careful review of all the applications, one office stood out as clear winner: MCI Berlin, and the CSR team led by Matthias Kuehne!

We salute all the applicants for the inspiration and positive example they provide and we give a happy round of much deserved applause to Team Berlin.

Congratulations!

We draw attention to the collaboration underway in Denmark. In the lead up to the European Union presidency which will rotate to Denmark in January, 2012, the team that brought you the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol comes Sustainable Events Denmark, a nationwide effort to elevate sustainability as a standard practice throughout the Danish meetings industry as a way to showcase Danish leadership, innovation and design.

Andreas Clausen Boor, Head of Logistics for Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, has been both the spark and, as the client representative, the patron of the initiative. Hear him explain it in his own terms in this great video.

Check out the new industry resource, the Sustainable Events Denmark portal, and share your suggestions, impressions and testimonials: here

The idea was simple enough.  Rather than deliver the minimum effort to be compliant with the UN Global Compact Communications on Progress requirement, we’d take additional steps to conduct measurements of the known sustainability impacts of our business.  We would, we mused, create a report which complied with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) criteria for transparent communication of our company’s business performance.

What started as a simple concept proved, in actuality, to be a long and challenging process of data mining and fact chasing across 45 offices, 22 countries and hundreds of people. We simply, did not have any processes installed to allow us to conduct accurate measurement of our social and environmental impacts.

Now that its done, the difficulties we experienced, had the unexpected result of creating elevated engagement from our team and a valuable revamp of – and renewed commitment to – our sustainable business strategy.  The process of evaluating our business strategy along with the operational impacts of our business was an opportunity to gain active participation from people within the organization who didn’t previously see their direct connection to sustainable business practices.

This infusion of new ideas and new energy from a broad cross section of our company also meant that the process of completing the report required a greater investment of time.  But we wouldn’t trade that experience to have done it any faster.  It was this very process of completing forms and asking questions and following up with different offices, which delivered the greatest insights, helping us to identify barriers to success and build a stronger culture of sustainability. But dont´just take my word for it: here is a video of our CEO Sebastien Tondeur, communicating the report to our staff last week:

Like many things the first time is always a challenge. We have already started to prepare our 2011 report and we are now improving and creating new and more integrated processes that will allow us to collect data simply and easily. The next report will be much better and less stressful to produce.

Pioneering Work

Although this is our second report, it is our first to be GRI checked. We believe that we are the first international meetings and events agency to complete a sustainability report which meets GRI criteria for transparent communication of business performance. It also uses a draft of the new GRI Event Organisers Sector Supplement which we have been involved in creating.

While we are very proud of that, we understand that the real value of reporting isn’t in the PR of showing that we’re compliant with GRI standards or even by providing a helpful example for others in the industry, the real value is the process itself which step by step, is helping us make a better company.

You can read our report here  and we very much welcome your suggestions, criticism and ideas to improve this disclosure.

• 171 people, including 125 kids, participated in a 4 hour long session to create 19 different figures of (mostly) waste materials

• 108 graduation certificates were awarded to students graduating Young Guru Academy’s Read Think Share program
• And, *drum roll* 6467 €uros were raised in support of the development of the 111th Read Think Share creative learning library in Turkey, this one in Istanbul

These small points can’t begin to tell the story, though.  We invite you to have a look at the fun videos and photos from the event.

What did we learn?

The integration of community action projects has become an important aspect of creating sustainable meetings and events. Without a ‘how to’ guide, many planners are left frustrated with the effort required to include a community action project.  Here are a few takeaways from our experience:

Purpose: Planners should give meaningful thought to their reason and intention for including a community action project.  It can be helpful to remember this: “It’s not about you”.   Start with a purpose to consider the needs of the people receiving your support.  That said, any project should be aligned with the central mission and values of the organization.

Selection: Non Government Organizations (NGOs) or charities are not event suppliers.  It’s possible the community partner is not (a) in need of the help you can provide or (b) able to respond to the needs of planners.  In this article, we’ve provided some thoughts of Do’s and Don’ts of working with NGOs.

Engagement: Increase participation through promotion in the weeks leading up to the meeting. Conference teasers, social media sites and individual emails can build a sense of excitement and increase the number of attendees. Reach out not only to potential participants but also the members of your network, including your supply chain.  MCI received school supplies and, from Parthen, we received real money needed to support the fund raising goal. Importantly, don’t forget to involve members of the community itself.  It’s important they have a stake in the organization and action.

Follow Up: Maintain contact with the NGO to stay apprised of their actions and provide updates to your stakeholders about the impact of their support.

What are some of the best ideas you’ve seen in the organization of meetings and events?  Please share your thoughts and examples!

Play 4 Africa/Shoes for Africa

In 2009, MCI brought the IBM to Vienna, Austria.  In an effort to include a ‘giving back’ element, we collaborated with Kiwi Shoes 4 Africa and also the Play 4 Africa social giving campaigns.  MCI teams from around the world brought with them over 850 pairs of shoes which were distributed throughout Africa as part of the Kiwi campaign.  We also passed the hat and asked for cash contributions from the team.  The cash raised was matched by MCI founder and President Roger Tondeur and was donated to the Play 4 Africa campaign.  The donation was enough to purchase 40 full football kits for residents of a UN refugee camp in Africa.

Building Community

Encouraged by the enthusiastic response from our team, we sought to create an even more exciting project for IBM 2010, Istanbul, Turkey.  We learned from the Vienna experience that community giving campaigns need clear strategy to avoid pitfalls common to such actions.  A framework of principles and guidelines are needed to select a campaign which aligns with our unique culture and brand.  Also, better planning can result in better partnerships and the creation of a campaign whose results match the intended, desired outcome.  That’s not always the case with giving campaigns. For example, we learned that organizations must be careful in giving products to vulnerable communities as this can negatively affect local business.  This earlier post helps review the Do’s and Don’ts of community giving campaigns.

Working with the MCI Executive Team, we created guidelines to inform MCI Community Action Projects.  Any project we undertake must Build Community, Promote Education, and Inspire Fun.

We call our initiative the Power of Action.

Partnering with the Young Guru Academy, MCI, and MCI partners including the Istanbul CVB, we will raise funds to build a children’s library whose curriculum is specifically designed to inspire creative thinking.  The Read Think Share program has already built 110 such libraries to benefit disadvantaged youth throughout Turkey and we aim to build number 111. Here’s Ali from The Young Guru Academy sharing a bit about Read Think Share

To add an element of fun, our MCI team have invited the 100 graduating students of the Read Think Share program to join us in a spirited afternoon where we’ll construct sculptures of iconic landmarks using ‘waste’ materials. After the completion of the IBM event, we’ll select a representative from an MCI office to participate in the classroom along side University students to teach the kids selected for the Read Think Share program.  It’s a great opportunity to build our commitment to social responsibility  from within.

Check out the presentation explaining our 2010 project MCI Power of Action.

We’re excited about this collaboration and for the opportunity to make a difference for the community of Istanbul.  Stay tuned for updates and result of the effort.

By participating at the summit Roger and I are coming to network with other members, seek opportunities for collaboration and to learn from other organizations best practices. As Roger said to me today, “I know sustainability is important, but we have to get much more knowledgeable about the subject and how we integrate it into MCIs future”

It’s great to see that real progress is being made globally, and that the movement toward a more sustainable economy and business context is clearly gaining momentum. Its even more rewarding to see that by integrating sustainability into our business strategy, MCI has developed the skills and content knowledge that can help organizations such as the Global Compact strategically improve in the deliver of their messaging, and their ability to engage and inspire their members to go the next level in developing value for their businesses.

You can follow the UNGC Summit on Live Webcast: http://www.un.org/webcast/globalcompact/leaderssummit2010/

In the video you can see me explain CSR – the MCI way. I talk about Key CSR accomplishments in 2009 and the MCI CSR vision and strategy. You can then see the presentation of the 2009 MCI Leadership in CSR award that was presented to MCI Sweden.

To understand why i am a bit choked up and emotional when I start the keynote, I recommend that you first listen to Charlotte Gough reading the Lost Generation Poem

For my CSR update session, we decided to start the plenary with something a little different.. Have a look at the video and listen to Charlotte Gough from the MCI UK office reading the memorable “lost generation” poem from Jonathan Reed.

This poem sums up and reflects the attitude, vision and aspirations of what we are trying to achieve with the MCI CSR program. Not surprisingly she received a standing ovation, which was well deserved. Charley your a star!

Applications were submitted and subsequently forwarded for judging.  Points were allocated in 5 different categories:

(Apologies.  This file is temporarily unavailable.  Please notify us if you would like to have access to this presentation//michael)

It highlights the strategy, actions and results of what has been achieved in the first few years of the MCI sustainability journey. There are 2 parts.

1. MCI Corporate Social Responsibility Report
2. MCI Communication on Progress on implementing the United Nations Global Compact principles

Preparing such a report is a daunting task. Collecting the data, creating an engaging format,  editing all of that – it seemed unending and sometimes exasperating. Our goal was to make it objective, driven by the “materiality” of the data (geeky – reporting word), data based and full of individual stories. The result is a nice looking document but it’s admittedly light on measurement data.

Key Learnings from this exercise include:

• Create a measurement strategy and start to collect data a year or more before you need to report on it. In this report we failed to produce an annual carbon footprint of MCI. However it has helped us to drive the implementation of the Green Globe Index – which will provide us that information next year
• You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Eg: It’s almost impossible to set realistic reduction targets if you do not have an idea of your footprint.
• Reporting really makes you review and improve on your strategy. It focuses you to break it down into manageable chunks (ie the plan), set clear objectives and structure how you achieve the goals
• Use GRI to help structure your measureables and reporting. Again we started late and its not shown in this report – but it was fully reviewed and is integrated into the 2010 report strategy.
• Reporting is a superb engagement tool. By asking junior and senior MCI talent to feedback on the report we increased the level of engagement and dialog to the complete MCI CSR strategy. Ask your staff to write a quote for the report.
• Use a good designer who has a lot of patience… With 1000 changes to format, text, style etc you need someone with the patience of Buddha.

Now that its published, we need to share it.  The whole point is to have this report serve as the beginning of a dialogue with our stakeholders, without whom we could not improve.  Please take a few moments to read through this and let us know your thoughts.  It’s but another step in the long journey to a more sustainable MCI.