This week, at the uber-successful Elite Meetings Alliance, a private group of the nation’s top planners and select hoteliers gathered at the gorgeous new Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes. I was invited to speak to them about green meetings. With the goal in mind of helping the leaders of this industry to understand how sustainability is a holistic business strategy and not just a checklist of good things to do for the planet, I presented the topic, “Beyond Water Bottles: The Business of Green Meetings”.

While we did have a lot of fun dancing to songs such as “Getting Jiggy With It” and giving out incredibly cool gift bags from our friends at Fairware Promotions as prizes, the message of shifting our thinking to sustainability and creating measurable business results for our greening efforts was the primary focus. Most attendees commented that it was one of the best sessions they’d ever attended and that it helped them realize that we need to rethink what we’ve been told about doing green events (yes, I’m still glowing with pride as well as gratitude for their participation and willingness to listen!).

Here is the presentation:

Some of the high points of ecoluxury at Terranea included:

• The use of falconeers with hawks on the property as natural predators to keep the seagulls from scavenging. While the hawks don’t actually harm the gulls, there mere presence is enough to keep the gulls at bay. It’s a natural system that enhances the beauty and experience for guests at the resort – they don’t have to deal with unruly seagulls eating unnatural food and there are no unsightly deterrents or unhealthy poisons being used.
• Terranea crushed, quarried and reused over 100,000 tons of existing rock on the property. This gives an incredibly subtle beauty to the property and really supports the effect of the buildings blending into the hillside.

One final thought – if you didn’t attend my session, do *you* know the difference between green and sustainable? Please share your thoughts below!

Within the events world, we all know we’re facing the greatest challenges of our industry to date. There is no need to reiterate the “shrinking budgets, environmental concerns, blah blah blah” reasons for a decline in the volume of face to face meetings. So, for Marriott to roll out a new “GoThere” (warning: link takes forever to load, grumble grumble) virtual meeting solution in collaboration with AT&T, it’s ingenious, right? Well, yes and no.

First, What Will Work

1. Reduced costs. At $500/hour for the room usage, even a three hour meeting could save thousands in hard costs for high-level executives who don’t need car service, business-class airfare or hotel (a three hour cross-country meeting could potentially require an overnight stay). I wouldn’t say there was a significant amount of savings in lost productivity as most executives are working via mobile tools during travel.
2. Access to cool technology. Costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per room, Cisco Telepresence is not something most people can utilize. This could be an opportunity for small businesses and independents to experience the system.
3. Beautiful quality. Make no mistake, the technology is gorgeous. Close to flawless. Easy to use. Nuff said.
4. Environmental impact. Obviously the reduced travel equates to reduction in an environmental footprint. Calculations can be made to estimate the reduced impact.
5. International organizations could reap massive benefits. Planned locations include Shanghai, London, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and eight US cities.

The Challenges

Marriott has their work cut out for them. Why?

1. You have to book multiple rooms on multiple ends to hold the meetings. That’s double the cost…and unless you have quite a few people participating in each meeting, it could be difficult to recoup the expenditure. Plus, realistically, what are the chances that your desired party happens to be in one of the planned 13 cities? That, too, could be tricky.
2. You have to travel to get to the meeting room. This still means time away from the office. Coupled with #1, if you have to travel a fair distance to get to one of the rooms, this could equate to an even higher expense!
3. Maybe the name “GO There” wasn’t the wisest choice? Just a reminder that it still requires leaving the office, unlike many in-office web conferencing suites offering decent quality and the same interactivity. I have personally experienced several video conferencing technologies using large-screen monitors and didn’t feel I was lacking much in communication abilities.
4. Decreasing market share. With the acquisition of LifeSize Communications by Logitech (yes, the mouse company), we will potentially see far more affordable options popping up in offices around the world…with little to no sacrifice in quality. (FYI, this is a company to watch, wow!) Polycom and Juniper’s new collaboration is another potential threat.
5. They will need to do extensive consumer education in order to show the best use of their technology in place of using widely available, semi-affordable collaborative tools. Assembling a long list of case studies and demonstrations will be mandatory to sell the value. I can think of many reasons to use the rooms, but I don’t see anything listed in any of the verbiage on their site.
6. Environmental calculations could be difficult. Trying to gain an estimate of the actual reduction in footprint will require manual calculations by…the client? Without automated calculators, this could be a lost metric for organizations needing the data.

Within the list of challenges, I believe there are opportunities to find new markets and new ways to use the technology. It’s going to be a tough road, but obviously Marriott didn’t make this move without serious forethought. And with giants AT&T and Cisco backing them, it’s probably not as massive of a drop of cash anyways. All things being equal, it’s exciting to see Marriott working to innovate and adapt in making videoconferencing a tool available to the public.

As meeting professionals (supplier or planner), where are the opportunities for you? Can you adapt your job duties and expertise to become an expert on this new type of meeting?

In what appears to be a precursor to future LEED standards for Hotels, the US Green Building Council has released the “Green Venue Selection Guide: Integrating LEED into Travel and Event Management.”

The guide is intended to serve as a checklist for those properties that are not currently LEED certified. USGBC suggests the user package the checklist with their Request for Proposal. They do clarify that it should be obvious this is a product of the USGBC. One could surmise that the USGBC is wise in distributing this document to properties with the intent that hoteliers will recognize the increased demand from planners and organizations who would like to hold their events in certified green properties. Nice move USGBC!

You can download the document here. You can also see their presentation enticing hospitality professionals here.

Trash. No longer just for the dump.

As I watched my five year old son play with his most cherished toy in the world (yes, a trash truck, I know), it occurred to me that throwing any and all waste into one single receptacle represents an outdated, outmoded and, frankly, old way of thinking. As you can see, the reality to my son and his entire generation is that the contents of our bins are not just waste. There is composting, greens, recycling (he prefers to separate his materials) and then only what’s left over or can’t be reused goes to the dump. So, how can we, as the sage leaders we’re supposed to be, continue to take all of the rubbish from our events straight to the landfill?

Now, as an Audio Visual producer and sometime speaker…I’m kind of low on the totem pole when it comes to input on event management. We do participate in the creative planning process and often share handy tips for various operational challenges, but we’re generally not involved in the overall operational goals. Especially for something like waste management. So, imagine my surprise the other day when Paul Salinger, the mastermind behind the Green Meeting Industry Council’s Million Ton Trash Challenge, asked me if I could use my influence to sway the organizers of one of our upcoming events to participate in the Trash Challenge. Why! It never occurred to me that I should be rallying the troops for ALL of our events. It was a lot less of an aha moment and much more of a big “duh”!

So now, Pulse Staging vows to assume the role of trash troubadours. We will serenade our event managers to please share their trash data with the GMIC so that our industry might meet the goal of diverting one million tons of trash from landfills. We will broach the subject from the initial point of contact…offering suggestions and ways to avoid even creating the waste in the first place (which can also eliminate some of the hassle and expense associated with its management).

What’s more, I also raise my voice in a rallying cry to all of the other suppliers who might feel like us. I’m sure there are many more of you out there who hadn’t considered it was appropriate for you to “weigh in” on the weighty trash situation. Singers, photographers, graphic artists, registration companies, don’t be afraid to think beyond the impact of just your service and encourage and assist your event organizers to join the GMIC Trash Challenge.

And I leave you with a final trashy thought that’s always vexed me. Why must the city’s regular trash receptacle be larger than the blue recycling? I’v always wondered, could this have a psychological effect on our wasteful habits?

At a time when many organizations are seeking means of verifying their policies of social and environmental responsibility, 3rd Party certification is the hottest trend around. As reported before, just months ago the Council for Responsible Sporting began offering an outstanding certification process for sporting events. Now, meeting and event organizers have one more option to establish credibility for their greening efforts.

North American based EcoLogo has just released the newest version of their ecolabel for events. Classified under section CCD-095: Events, the new standards pertain to the three categories of 1)Waste, 2)Materials and 3)Energy, Carbon & Transport.  While the standards might have missed a few opportunities to improve the event’s “green factor” – such as suggesting use of alternative energy or fuels for shipping – ultimately the criteria establish a manageable and respectable baseline.  It is a clear declaration to all stakeholders that the organizers have complied with minimum guidelines and are serious about their commitment to sustainability.

With roots in both Canada and the United States, EcoLogo was founded 20 years ago by TerraChoice Marketing. You might be familiar with TerraChoice as the genius firm responsible for the creation of “The Six Sins of Greenwashing.” A unique and highly appealing feature that accompanies the EcoLogo labeling process is free strategic counsel, market research and environmental marketing consultation by the experts at TerraChoice.

Of course we won’t be particleboard panelists! We’ll be the attractive, healhty alternative that I’m raving about: ChloroFill.  Okay, so that’s entirely off the subject, but an interesting, green building materials sidetrack all the same.

Back on the main track, the San Diego chapter of Meeting Planners International will be holding an educational program on 11/18, “Understanding & Embracing Corporate Social Responsibility.” The program is catered to the hospitality and toursim industry but will be beneficial for all industries. We are honored to have Elizabeth Henderson, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Meeting Professionals International, lead the discussion. Three panelists from the areas of green meetings and CSR will participate.

For more details and to register, please visit the San Diego MPI website. Thanks for your support and we hope to see you there!

We admit it…we’re suckers. We just can’t stay away from “a good cause”. Latest on that list includes our support for several organizations in the Sustainable Business category.

Midori Connolly will be serving as Co-Chair of the Sponsorship Committee for the Green Meeting Industry Council’s annual Greening the Hospitality Conference. She will be seeking organizations interested in accessing meeting professionals who plan green meetings (hint hint). Additionally, Midori has also volunteered to serve on the Membership Committee, with the hope of starting a San Diego chapter of GMIC.

Michael Karp generously donated his time and expertise to the US Green Building Council’s most recent GreenMeet. The information presented was so invaluable that he felt he might actually have been the beneficiary of the in-kind donation! Pulse Staging is proud to be affiliated with such an esteemable organization.

Finally, Pulse Staging is participating in the creation of the EPA’s new A/V guidelines for Green Meetings and Events through ASTM International.