Sustainability in the event management sector

Many facilities managers will be familiar with British Standards and International Standards, and the approach of plan, do, check, act and review as a way of implementing and monitoring progress. However for many event managers the framework provided by British Standards may be very unfamiliar. BSI British Standards is the UK’s national standards organisation, recognised globally for its independence, integrity and innovation in the production of standards and information products that promote and share best practice. BSI has been instrumental in the creation, development and promotion of many recognisable standards such as BS EN ISO14001 for environmental management, 9001 for quality management and now 8901 for events management.

When developing the 8901 standard, the technical committee consulted with many stakeholders to ensure that key sustainability issues where included. The chair for the BSI working group is Fiona Pelham, MD of Organise This, and founder of not for profit organisation Positive Impact. Fiona Pelham has extensive experience of organising, planning and running events in a way that is environmentally responsible and community involved. In 2007 Fiona established Sustainable Events Ltd to help event manager’s work through the new standard via an online tool. Positive Impact provides workshops and awareness days for anyone involved in the planning and running of events, wanting to incorporate social, ethical and environmental criteria.

In recognition of the pioneering sustainability work that Organise This has achieved, they have been awarded with the Manchester City Council Gold Environmental award, and in 2008 Sustainable Events was recognised by the North West Business and Environment Awards.

Why would the event management sector want to engage on sustainability? How can BSI 8901 help event managers and planners work towards more sustainable events? Fiona Pelham suggests: “Many decisions are taken during the planning of an event by both planners, venues and suppliers, which have economic, environmental and social impacts. Consideration of, and measuring and mitigating these negative impacts, is best practice in relation to the sustainability of the event.”

Organise This were one of a number of companies asked to trial the new standard and they worked with Manchester International Festival in June 2007. Organise This, went on to achieve the first industry event to gain certification to the standard, working with Meeting Professionals International European Conference in April 2008.

The BSI 8901 standard can be explained using three phases: planning, implementation and review.

Phase 1: Includes appointing a Sustainability Champion, identifying sustainability issues specific to your event, creating a sustainable development policy for the event which includes event objectives, and engagement and identification of key stakeholders.

Phase 2: Includes supply chain management, roles and resources to deliver on the sustainability objectives, and operational controls which can lead to improved sustainability.

Phase 3: Focuses on reviewing compliance and performance of the event in relation to achieving the specific sustainability objectives.

Users can claim self certification or achieve third party certification after being independently assessed or audited by a certifier.

Case Study of BSI8901 implementation: European Meetings and Events Conference

Meeting Professional International (MPI) is a dynamic global community of over 23,000 meeting and event professionals. The conference took place in April 2008, with 750 delegates attending. This conference had a lead focus on sustainability, and MPI worked towards the new 8901 standard with the help of Organise This and using the online tool from Sustainable Events Ltd. MPI recognised that the conference had both negative and positive effects on the environment, economy and local community. The sustainability project was funded through the MPI Foundation and sponsorship by the Rezidor Hotel Group.

Phase 1
The MPI conference sustainability objectives included:

• Raise awareness and provide education on sustainability within the UK meetings and events industry.

• Create a benchmark and measure the level of sustainability achieved at the conference.

• Achieve BSI8901 sustainable event management system.

MPI’s stakeholder engagement included; emails, conference calls, phone calls and site visits. Although every stakeholder was individually made aware of the sustainability objectives the most effective method of communication and education was a series of educational workshops. Stakeholders who attended the Positive Impact workshop demonstrated a clearer understanding of how to incorporate sustainability into their ways of working than those contacted by other means. Positive Impact provided education on issues including waste, energy, transport, food, certification and community involvement. By providing this education in conjunction with MPI UK chapter, the organisation left a legacy of suppliers educated in the area of sustainable development.

Phase 2
Implementing BS8901 at the conference required management level commitment from MPI President and CEO Bruce MacMillan, “MPI is on a journey to sustainability. We want to share our story with others in order to learn from everyone. The opportunity to work in a way that was certified under BSI 8901 was a natural fit with our community objectives.”

Phase 2 for the MPI conference included the collection of measurements by the onsite team of volunteers from the conference, who received training on how to measure sustainability key performance indicators. MPI used the online tool created by Sustainable Events Ltd to monitor their measurements as follows:

Sustainability Measurement from www.eventsustainability.com

Item measurement

The BSI standard does not specify which numeric measurements to record as each event, venue and supply chain will be different, and specific issues will need specific measurements for example on site electricity usage or outdoor gas usage.

For this case study, the Phase 2 assessment took place on the event site through a series of interviews between the certifier and event stakeholders.

Phase 3
Measuring sustainability for the MPI conference aimed to encourage stakeholders to begin monitoring and minimising their impacts both today and in the future. Phase 3 also includes demonstrating how the lessons learned will be taken into account and implemented effectively within the company, creating new targets for continual improvements in their way of working sustainability.

Lessons learned by MPI and the 8901 process

Implementing 8901 at an event reflects an entirely new way of thinking about sustainability for the event management sector. It is a great opportunity for the UK event industry to adopt the standard as it moves towards international status as an ISO. Britain has the opportunity to lead the world in running sustainable events.

The MPI conference left a legacy in that is was the first event to go through the standard and record and monitor its sustainability key performance indicators. The education of stakeholders via Positive Impact workshops, provided real engagement on the sustainability agenda. The onsite team of volunteers showed real enthusiasm for monitoring the sustainability metrics. The success of implementing 8901 has resulted in ongoing discussions with MPI to plan future events in compliance to the standard as a management system, and not just a one off.

Author: Becky Toal, MD of Crowberry Consulting Ltd
Contact: 01524 510 281 or mobile 07957622124 email: btoal@crowberryconsulting.com.

Related websites for further information:
www.organisethis.co.uk
www.bsigroup.com/bs8901
www.postiveimpactevents.co.uk
www.eventsustainability.com