Sustainable meeting management

In particular, trends in the event industry and future challenges that event planners will have to face in the upcoming year were explored by us. Be it technology transformation, increase of attendee engagement, budget limitations or the integration of sustainability practices into the meeting planning – a wide array of opportunities and challenges is waiting for the event planners in 2024. The essential role of sustainability and how digital solutions can facilitate efforts were explicitly highlighted in this respect. Little by little, we have incorporated the significance of both aspects, stating that they shouldn’t be seen only as trends anymore but as a necessity in our society. At this point we have further presented the contribution that event planners can make to the meeting management industry towards raising environmental awareness and contributing to the issue themselves. Merely implementing virtual solutions into meeting planning benefits significantly to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. 

Sustainability policies and strategic implementation

Following that track, we referred to the sustainability policy framework and its area of activities as well as factors which, when implemented into the strategies of event planning, will contribute to increased profits and benefits. When it comes to the event industry, sustainability policy does not just concern a particular company’s  day-to-day operations, but the entire business. In this regard, we have drawn attention to the environmental sphere, covering energy consumption, water consumption and waste management, social sphere comprising human rights, inclusion and diversity as well as government sphere including value chain, communication and profitability. 

To round out the issue, we outlined a 4-step strategy on how to implement sustainable operations into the field of meeting planning to explicate how the sustainability policy can support in strategic meeting management. For this purpose, we have also presented a special matrix containing operational characteristics of event planning contrasting them with sustainability impact areas between in-person and digital events. Our major premise within this context was to portray that the confluence of strategic meeting management, a robust sustainability strategy, and the integration of digital event platforms represents a synergistic approach that catalyzes the increase in sustainability performance, maximizes return on investment, and enhances overall event effectiveness within the meeting planning. 

Continue reading about our further performance during the Event Tech Live in London on how digital platforms can support sustainable meeting management in the upcoming article.  

Want to explore the entire session now? Find the full recording here.