My thoughts on the Sustainable Events Summit 2011
I want to say a big thank you once again to all of the delegates who joined us at this year’s Sustainable Events Summmit. We are now in the process of collating delegate feedback, and so far I’m pleased to say it’s been overwhelmingly positive – with 87% of delegates saying they felt the Summit would help make their events more sustainable, and 93% saying they would attend again next year.
Of course there are always things we can tweak and improvee, and I thought as Chair I would give you my personal take on some of the elements of the day.
Speakers
I thought the speakers this year were excellent and seemed to really capture the attention of the audience. It was interesting that delegates seemed to respond to Tristram and Wayne just as positively as the other speakers, which suggests that keynotes don’t always have to be exclusively about sustainable events to be relevant to the audience.
It was also a real boost to have Nick de Bois MP with us – and I know that he was impressed with the level of passion and debate through the day. Hopefully the start of some real lobbying from our industry to parliament.
Round tables
A bit more of a mixed bag. Feedback was generally positive, and the message seemed to be that this format would work again in the future. However some delegates felt that a more “instructional” environment might have been preferable to the interactive nature of the tables. We could potentially look at running two round table sessions next time, or having a clearer split on each table between interested delegates and “experts.”
Venue
Our thanks once again to the Barbican Centre who proved excellent hosts for the whole day. We’re looking forward to working with them again in the future as a venue and also as part of the Green Meeting Industry Council.
Next time
Guy Bigwwod was fantastic in his call for more leaders to emerge as part of the Summit. While it’s always a morale boost to meet other people who are interested in sustainability, the focus has to be on increasing our reach rather than preaching to the converted. We need your feedback in order to be able to make this happen. Some suggestions we’re already looking at include more regional events and more online activity to supplement the Summit. If you have thoughts on how we can collaborate to push the sustainable agenda in 2011 and 2012, then get in touch.
Andrew Williams, June 2011
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