Back to our two-part interview with Sue Tinnish, president of Seal Inc., and a member of the American delegation to the International Standards Organization conference on sustainable meetings and live events. This week, Sue explains the mechanics of ISO and shares some ideas to help us all get involved.
GetSynchronicity: Let’s take ISO. How does it reach some of its decisions about what they will advise? How does an organization reach these voluntary standards?
Sue Tinnish: Well, the structure is, we have a project committee that different countries belong to, and in ISO, every country has one vote. Each country involved in the process has what’s called a technical advisory group and (it’s through them) that we disseminate the ISO standards throughout the industry.
This is brand new information. I just got back from the ISO meeting in April, you aren’t even reading about this yet. This is the first meeting that the United States has attended. There was only one meeting prior to that. This is really a brand new effort. So, how are we going to do it? I think it’s partially because we look to engage a large variety of stakeholders.
Another thing…I should mention about the ISO standards, one of the differences between ISO and APEX, is the ISO standards are usually targeted at a huge variety of events…things like the 2010 Olympics, or music festivals, or country fair…You can understand that they can’t be very prescriptive…you have to do X, Y, and Z. Whereas APEX standards apply a little more to meetings and business events.
We’re getting a wide variety of people involved and if any of your readers are interested in learning more about the ISO process, or becoming involved in the technical advisory group (TAG), we’re really just in the process of organizing membership, so we welcome additional people that want to joint this TAG and have a stake in what’s being done.
GS: Let’s take one particular aspect. Can you give an example of ISO within sustainability right now?
ST: Sure. The standard is actually started on a British standard, it was called BSI 8901. It went through two versions, which is very common in standards, especially in standards related to sustainability. I feel like that’s an important point; when we put these standards out there, I can guarantee you they’re not 100% perfect. But for gosh’s sake, they’re going to be a better than what we have today, which is, really, nothing. So, there’ll be revisions, as the market continues to evolve, as products continue to change, as infrastructure changes, we can change the standards. They’re not the same kind of standards as you might have with electrical plugs, they’re not going to change. But these standards are going to evolve. Again, they’re better than what we’re operating under now.
I think it’s too premature for me to quote anything in the standards, but really, all the people giving their input into the ISO standards are people involved in the ISO TAG. It’s not that we’re not trying to be transparent, it’s that we need more expert opinions before we’re ready to release them to general comment to the industry at large. We’re at the stage where technical advisory groups are giving their input, and that will be put out for public comment before it becomes a standard.
GS: I think what I like the most about this is that it is really a collaborative process, that it is being done with such a measured approach.
ST: Right! And in the standard, oh, what’s an example… Say, it focuses on making sure that your staff is fully trained and able to execute the goals and objectives that you’ve set for the specific event that’s within the scope of the management system. There will be information about involving senior management in reviewing the outcome from the event.
GS: Are there other keen points that you’d like to get across, anything particularly interesting or unusual about how the process works?
ST: No, but I have some interesting stats that might help. Let’s take a meeting of three days, and three hundred people. It produces the waste of 33 small cars. It uses enough water to fill 2.5 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and the greenhouse gases would be enough to fill 100,700,000 basketballs with pollution.
GS: That’s mind boggling.
ST: That helps put it in context of why it’s so important that we do something. There’s a lot of big numbers, and a lot to be done.
GS: So what’s something that our readers can do for their next meeting? Three things that they could do immediately to start making a difference.
ST: I would say, one, start creating some environmental awareness by yourself and within your organization. Secondarily, to the extent you can, try to reduce, reuse, and recycle any of your materials. You can do real simple things like turning off projectors between sessions. And I would say also, make a commitment. The APEX standards are in development now, we expect them to be out in the summer, so make a commitment to follow their efforts and as you create more awareness within your organization and within your staff, be ready to start incorporating those.
Are you interested in getting involved with the American TAG for ISO? Curious about Sue’s efforts to bring us sustainable live events? Email us at [email protected], or reply to us on Twitter at @GetSynch!