Meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Once a dreary part of an employee’s life, has today blossomed into one of the most integral contributors to an enterprise’s business growth. More meetings attract more revenue. The importance of meetings has increased, and with it, the process of organizing meetings itself has undergone a radical change.
Meeting Managers have become integral employees of large companies. From phone calls and letters to emails and spreadsheets, and now to utilizing Meeting Automation Platforms, they use a multitude of tools to reduce manual effort, save time, eliminate errors, and increase productivity.
Although manual meeting management systems result in mistakes that can be avoided later on, one aspect of meetings that most haven’t addressed yet is the question of sustainability. Not with respect to the meeting agenda but with respect to the environment.
In our previous blog, we had touched upon the possibilities through which meetings at events can contribute to pollution and indulge in practices that are not very earth-friendly. In this one, we will provide an overview of how meeting managers can turn their regular meetings at events into green meetings.
There have been baby steps taken in the right direction such as providing biodegradable cutlery for serving food. However, considering the current perilous state of the environment it is imperative for meetings at events to be as eco-friendly as possible.
As the success of a meeting rests on the shoulders of the Meeting Managers, they will have to organize meetings in an environment-friendly manner. Given below are just some of the steps that managers can take in order to make their meetings greener and cleaner.
The process starts right from the get-go and green meetings start right from the meeting inception.
- Sustainability practices must be implemented from the conception stage. The event and meeting management teams can brainstorm for ideas to ensure that the meeting is organized in a manner that is as eco-friendly as possible.
- Meeting Managers generally coordinate with other stakeholders such as vendors, caterers, suppliers and so on. It is imperative to ensure that all activities involving these groups are also done in a holistic and organic manner so as to prevent wastage. For example, instead of letting leftover food go waste, donating them to a local shelter will be better.
- Activities that contribute to pollution are mainly those that are travel-related, therefore, taking steps such as emphasizing on public transport, carpooling, walking and biking can be adopted. This will also aid in reducing greenhouse emissions. Although most meetings may not require such logistics as it will be a part of the event on the whole, wherever required, such measures can be implemented.
- While choosing a venue, partnering with those that have been known to indulge in sustainability practices and are environment-friendly. Although most meetings are known to take place indoors, there are those that can be conducted outdoors as well. This applies to caterers as well. Thanks to the surge in eco-consciousness, such vendors will be relatively easy to find and employ.
- Another step that meeting managers can take is to rely largely on online conversations, communications, and platforms, thereby reducing the necessity for print-outs, brochures, and pamphlets.
- Meeting Managers should also note that once a meeting is done, steps to recycle, donate or discard necessary items/products should be taken.
Sustainability practices are gaining a lot of traction today thanks to increasing awareness regarding the impact of human activities on the environment. Meetings are an integral part of events because it drives revenue and enables discussions that can help close sales. However, it is also important to ensure that they are completely sustainable and eco-friendly. Given above are certain basic, yet necessary steps that meeting managers need to ensure.
However, we understand that there are a lot more steps that can be taken to convert regular meetings to green meetings.
