GoGreen – Not just a catch phrase but an industry imperative
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By David Gouthro |
This article is excerpted from a recent interview which David Gouthro, CSP, conducted with two CAPS colleagues, Cheryl Cran, CSP, and Stephen Hammond, CSP.
David When I look at the fairly recent buzz about the greening of the meeting industry, I would like to start with one question…why now? Why should meeting planners and speakers even be concerned about being green when it comes to holding their meetings and conferences?
Cheryl What I’m noticing in the engagements I’m getting now is that many clients are requesting “no handouts” because they’re having what they would call a “green conference.” They’re encouraging their attendees to not use plastic water bottles, to bring a re-useable water container, or to use a glass from the hotel to take advantage of the water cooler in the room. And they are asking for a PDF file of the handouts in advance so they can put them on the website or their internal intranet (rather than having stacks of paper at the conference). Many of my clients are going paperless or trying to go paperless in their conferences.
David I’ve found that in the washrooms as well, and it creates a bit of a problem. Cheryl, who is it that’s making the request – the end client or the meeting planner?
Cheryl It actually is starting with the client, and one large client I’m thinking of is the government. I’m seeing most Canadian government clients across the board saying they want their conferences to be green. Stephen, I don’t know if you’re finding the same thing, but, especially in the last year, it has really become evident to me.
Stephen Well, in answer to the question “Why should we care about this?” everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to be green. I’m afraid I’m a bit skeptical as to how green people really want to be versus simply wanting to be seen or perceived to be green. But the fact we are having this conversation is a good thing. Who knows what impact it is going to have on the next generation and the generation after that? The changes we (meaning each and every one of us) have not made and the changes we’ve brought about are already having a measurable negative impact on the planet. Therefore, it is going to have a negative impact on people’s lives in the future, too. The reason the meeting / speaking industry must get on board is because we (as speakers) are looked to as leaders. To pronounce that greening and sustainability are important is a good start, but nowhere near sufficient. Talk is cheap. We should be leading by example, to demonstrate that we are part of creating a very necessary solution.
David Stephen, please say more about the difference between being green and appearing to be green. How you can tell whether one is doing it because it is a deep-seated belief versus managing the optics for marketing/image purposes?
Stephen Well, it is only recently that the price of gas has suddenly become a bigger issue for people than the environment. Fortunately, environmental issues have already gained stronger focus and prominence for a large portion of the population. Scientists have been talking about it for decades; they have been saying, “Folks, this is a really bad thing we’re doing to our planet and we must change.” So I see many companies asking their PR department, especially in large organizations that are huge polluters, to make them look green. I don’t want to demonize anyone in particular because Canada is a producer of many necessary energy products. I don’t want us to be shutting down those industries; however, within those industries there are things that can be done to make their pollutants less toxic, or to make sure there are offsets on some of the other things that they are doing. There are many organizations that want to be seen as green, but there are fewer who are actually saying, “Okay, we are going to do something about it.” That’s a tough thing to do, because it usually includes sacrifice – and how many times do we willingly choose to sacrifice?
Cheryl Stephen, I agree that there’s appearing green and there’s truly being green. I believe that simply trying to appear green is transparent to most people and is not acceptable anymore. People are asking questions about what organizations are actually doing to be green. The Consumer Electronics Association in the U.S. is one organization that is attempting to act in an environmentally responsible way. Think about the environmental impact caused by the disposal of Blackberries, cell phones and computers that we’re tossing out after one or two years of use. At their conferences, they’re looking at recycling their carpeting, batteries, bottles, bulbs, cans, gadgets and electronics. I know the recycling facility in my community now accepts recycled computers. The momentum is building rapidly.
David So, let me go to a more tactical question. Let’s assume members of the speaking industry have a moral obligation to encourage green meetings. How do you approach the subject with a client who hasn’t specifically requested it?
Cheryl I’m pro-actively doing that now because frankly, in this interview I can say this, and if you want to print it, David, it’s up to you, but it’s actually to my advantage to be green. I don’t want to worry about 1,000 handouts, you know. If I can send my client the documents so they can PDF them and put them on their website, it’s more efficient for me as well. It also increases the likelihood that clients will come to my website – so there are marketing advantages to be paperless with what we do.
David Okay, there are distinct advantages for the speaker. Now, what about the rest of the industry, for the meeting planners and folks like that? A client has come to them indicating they want a meeting with some fabulous speakers (like the three of us!) and they don’t care about the cost (a dream come true for a meeting planner!). How does the meeting planner enter into the conversation with the client to recommend having a green meeting, and how far should they be pushing?
Stephen Well…I think they should be, and in fact are pushing in a big way. Everyone is thinking about (or is at least more aware of) green issues. It is in everyone’s best interests to actually be doing something. No one wants to be seen as doing a bad thing when they are actually taking some initiative, so it is probably not going to be too tough. It could be that people are throwing up their hands and thinking, “Okay, we don’t have bottled water, we don’t have handouts – what more can I do?” It could be as simple as providing clients with a list of the things they can do—provide them with a bunch of options and let them decide. For example, how many companies or meeting planners are going to bother to compost their organic matter? There are some organizations that are already doing that. Some people might go, “Yuck, who wants to do that?” and yet, we know the food at coffee breaks is leaning towards healthier snacks. So if you’ve got orange peels, banana peels and apple cores, it’s not difficult to actually point out that this is compostable matter and provide opportunities for appropriate disposal. In other words, give people lots of options and they can decide how far they want to go.
Cheryl I want to go back to David’s question, which was how meeting planners can convince their client that going green is an advantage. What I would like to suggest to the meeting planner is, if you are a consultative sales person (which any successful meeting planner must be), suggest to your clients, “Look, I can save you money by being a good steward of the environment” – or something like that!
David Let’s think about some other possibilities. In the meeting business, its pretty much about a bunch of people showing up in one place, getting there by whatever means necessary. Have either of you heard of any ways the meeting industry is shifting so that people can actually have the meeting without having to travel, without having to be at some place and deal with these sorts of things?
Cheryl I think we’re going to see more and more people using carbon offsets for air travel, often out of guilt. However, for meeting planners, I see them arranging for more bulk transfers on behalf of their clients. In that way, rather than having people come in individual taxies, there will be shuttling of people back and forth to hotels. That will save money and reduce the carbon being produced at the same time, simultaneously benefiting the client and the environment.
David Cheryl and Stephen, I’d like to thank you very much for engaging in this conversation. Green is here to stay. It is not just another fad. If we in the speaking industry want to be here to stay, too, we need to step up and stand out as leaders in helping our clients do what is right (short and long term) for themselves, their families and the environment. This is just a portion of what we explored. Hopefully it will get people thinking and engaged.
David Gouthro, CSP, is a professional speaker and consultant who appears monthly on Shaw’s Studio 4 with Fanny Kiefer along with Cheryl Cran, CSP, and Stephen Hammond, CSP. www.theconsultingedge.com