Inspiration Hub

Less than a decade ago, corporate social responsibility activities were unheard of during conferences and events. Today, a majority of event organizers are including them in their program. The most popular form of social responsibility for meetings is a community or legacy project. Community projects fall into the “Feel Good, Look Good” category of CSR where the projects contribute to a sustainable cause and provide promotional benefits to the sponsoring organization. In addition, they provide the personal experiences participants are now craving during conferences.

Whether you’re trying to attract younger guests or simply just want to “do your part,” designing sustainable events is worthy a challenge for any organization.

As our society evolves into a more environmentally conscious mindset (including the increasing popularity of Earth Day), it only makes sense that our industry would follow suit.  If our goal is to create experiences that stick with attendees, aligning with the same philanthropic principles is a no-brainer.

I’m only one person, so what difference will this make?” is, unfortunately, something we hear a lot when discussing the world’s environmental challenges. Similarly, when organising events many planners will echo similar sentiments with claims that “one event isn’t going to make a difference” or that “it’s not worth the effort”. After all, what’s one more plastic bottle or one more tree cut?

With Earth Day just around the corner, consider this: 75% of millennials are willing to pay more for eco-friendly offerings. And your event is no exception. 

Savvy organizers know that positioning an event as “eco-friendly” is not just the right thing to do. It’s a smart way to align your brand with your audience’s values and protect your bottom line.

We now know the landscape of sustainable events is constantly shifting, improving, and growing. Our experience has taught us some green meeting practices are simply better at addressing negative impacts or creating benefit than others.

These 10 practical, easy-to-implement suggestions from U.K.-based not-for-profit Positive Impact  can help your organization reduce the carbon footprint of its events and inspire attendees to take the message to their organizations. Positive Impact, launched in 2005, provides sustainability education for the events industry.

As the holiday season ends, we thought it would be fun AND helpful to do a countdown with the 12 Days of Sustainability. Starting on December 25th we posted to our Facebook and Twitter accounts a useful sustainable event tip you could use during the holidays and year round! In case you missed them, here is the full list: Give a plant as a gift that will keep on giving all throughout the year!

A radical shift in global consumer attitude is underway – the rise of the conscious consumer. Today’s events must evolve with them. How can you innovate your events with purpose to build brand love and loyalty for your clients?

People no longer want just products or services – they want authentic experiences with a deeper purpose. Experiences that reflect our values.

The best, most competitive brands in our world today increasingly gravitate toward greater social purpose, sustainability and a net positive impact. They want us to get outdoors instead of shop Black Friday. Or celebrate our imperfect bodies as our real beauty.

This list of team-building activities will come in handy for your corporate events, including ones for remote and virtual teams.

A canceled event offers a real-life example of how donating food to those in need is easier than many planners and venue managers may think. 

This is a case study from Dawn Baldwin, Director of Sales, Halifax Convention Centre. More information about Event Manager Blog’s case studies.

Looking to make your event as green as possible? Here are 5 steps to make an event more environmentally sustainable.

CSR events are all the rage these days, and for good reason: planners have realized that attendees often enjoy giving back to the community through events, making the events themselves more meaningful.

More than ever, employees and customers want to work for and with a company with a strong social conscience. Developing a social conscience for your company not only impacts the greater good of society but it has a positive effect on employee morale and customer loyalty.

Sustainable event efforts are nice and all, but how do you get them working for you, instead of feeling like they’re just a lot of extra work? Especially if you’re a big event marketing department with diverse activities that span different cities?

Too often in marketing, we talk in terms of "getting:" getting customers to buy, getting people to click, getting people to convert, getting more followers on Twitter, getting bigger market share, etc.

Social affair? Or social enterprise? Events excel at the former, but what is the latter? And what benefits might social enterprise present to your event? What is Social Enterprise? Ever sat back and wondered: how can I use my event powers for good?