The green meetings movement has seen lots of action lately, with announcements of new waves of domestic and international standards. To bring us up-to-date on the latest achievements and put the sustainable meetings effort into perspective, Synch-Up brings you an exclusive interview with Sue Tinnish.
Sue is a leader in the green meetings movement, president of Seal, Inc. and a well-known consultant in the meetings industry. In 2009, Sue served as the interim APEX director. She currently works on behalf of the industry with CIC and ISO and also serves as an assistant professor at Kendall College.
GetSynchronicity: What is your official title within the green meetings movement?
Sue Tinnish: My name is Sue Tinnish, and I function as the standards liaison for the Convention Industry Council. I have two responsibilities. One is that I chair a committee through a standards-setting organization called ASPM, and I chair a sustainability committee called D60.O2, and it’s a committee focused on sustainability in the hospitality industry.
GS: For someone who is unfamiliar with Green Meetings, what would be a simple explanation of how they differ versus a standard, non-green meeting?
ST: “Green meetings” usually refer to meetings that are environmentally responsible, and it’s one part of creating sustainable events, and surprisingly, the meeting industry is a big waste producer. It’s the second largest industry besides construction in terms of creation of waste. So, it’s about using resources, especially ‘greening’, using environmental resources, in a more responsible way.
GS: Regarding green meetings, when did the initiatives start getting created to start moving towards environmentally friendly events?
ST: There have been people who have been involved in greening meetings for a decade. My involvement really goes back about two, two and a half years, and that’s when APEX, (Accepted Practices Exchange) started creating voluntary standards around green meetings and events. APEX has a variety of standards in other arenas, like RFP, site selection, and so they started to turn their attention to the greening of meetings and events.
GS: Let’s talk about the voluntary standards. What are the key points to know about the standards?
ST: These are standards that are set by a very wide consensus process, so we’ve had thousands of people involved in creating these standards, and the APEX tagline is “Industry Created, Industry Approved”, and as many people are confused about what you want to do in terms of greening your event, they offer a voluntary way to do that. They really focus on core elements of meetings and events.
It really represents, I think, for the first time this need to have a partnership between planners and suppliers in order to make events more environmentally sustainable. It’s a cooperative effort. There’s a standard of levels, so you can start out with a baseline level, then continue down the path of setting something that’s more environmentally responsible.
GS: There are going to be benefits to greening a meeting besides the environmental impact. Can you give an idea of some of the other benefits?
ST: I would say that there are some benefits. You’re potentially engaging your attendees in a new way, and as we start to involve younger and younger generations in our meetings and events, they have a much higher eco-awareness in general than baby boomers. They want to work for companies that are environmentally responsible, and sustainability is an important value to them. The second reason, and this isn’t always true across every greening practice, but there are potentially ways to save money by greening your meeting.
The assumption is that it’s going to cost more, and there are some practices that are not revenue-neutral, but there are others that are revenue-neutral, or that they represent cost savings. And then the third reason, we just can’t continue down the path that we’re on! It’s just not sustainable long-term. We have to concern ourselves with the planet that we’re leaving behind.
GS: What about some of the efforts that are happening domestically versus internationally. What efforts are happening abroad?
ST: Well, the international effort is being lead by the International Standards Organization (ISO), and ISO has specific efforts in place right now with the aim to create another voluntary standard, one that would be used for the 2012 Olympics in London. This standard is very different than the US standard. The standard is focused on creating a management system that would allow an organization to manage the process of creating a more sustainable events.
The APEX standards are very focused on greening a specific meeting or event, much more prescriptive and normative. The ISO standards are about changing the culture of an organization, and deal with things like goals, objectives, reporting; they tell you how to create a structure where you can create more sustainable events. It’s all about creating a system.
Be sure to check back next week for the second part to our interview, where we discuss the evolution of ISO standards, and delve further into what the 2012 Olympics may have in store. Have any questions for Sue? Send an email to [email protected], or reply to us on Twitter @GetSynch!