Steps to a Sustainable Event

What are the steps to becoming a “sustainable event?” And what does it actually mean? 

FICP – the association for financial and insurance conference professionals – has applied for certification from the Events Industry Council, and events director Ellie Hurley shared what she’s learned so far.

The effort has been years in the making. Hurley’s first stop was the EIC website, which has a wealth of free information, including webinars, how-to-guides and white papers. From there, she decided to take EIC’s Sustainable Event Professional certification a year and half ago.

“One of the big things I took out of that was, ‘Don’t be overwhelmed, just take a step forward,’” said Hurley during a fireside chat at the 2024 Annual Conference at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. “Then one or two things turned into ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to get the Annual Conference certified?’” 

The hotel had two tools already in place that helped: a food waste solution called Lean Path, which allows hotels to measure waste and avoid food overproduction; and Power Knot biodigesters, machines that, in a 24-hour period, can break down 5,000 pounds of food waste.

One of the challenges for Hurley was that attendees are used to certain standards, and it was important to educate them on why there would be changes. One of the most visible changes was ‘Meatless Monday’ – a requirement that two out of three meals on a single day do not include meat.

But the plant-based chorizo at Monday’s breakfast appeared to be a hit. “I don’t think there was anyone who walked into breakfast this morning who was disappointed that there wasn’t a big tray of bacon,” said Meredith Buggelli, Annual Conference chair and corporate vice president of corporate events at New York Life Insurance Company, who is head of her company’s sustainability task force.

The F&B team also relied on local sourcing, serving locally grown apples and pears instead of citrus from Florida. Though there is not much fruit available in Colorado during the winter, persimmons and figs are in season.  

“A lot of this was about the attendee experience – what we thought we could get away with,” said Hurley. “For example: almond milk, which is not good for the environment. We still chose to have it because a lot of people really like it.”

From Recyclable Room Cards to Carbon Offsets

In addition to F&B, guest rooms were equipped with aluminum cans of water instead of plastic bottles. The tables featured saplings instead of cut flowers for the centerpieces. 

Pitchers of water were set on the tables (no tiny bottles), sugar for coffee was served in bowls (no paper packets), and FICP supplied recyclable paper room cards for the attendees. They chose environmentally responsible amenity vendors, such as Joycoast sunglasses, which plants 10 trees for each pair sold.

Hurley took the first step this year toward measuring the carbon footprint of the event, including the FICP staff’s travel. “We will have those measurements next year to see the progress we are making. Maybe next year, we will do carbon offsetting for attendees. There’s so much you can do.”

The certification requires that planners not only take these steps, but work with their partners on reporting. 

It’s a broad effort. “It’s a lot more than being green,” said Hurley. “It also has to do with things like diversity and gender equality, for example, and those are a lot of the things we were already doing. We already do CSR at the conference, we always do a silent auction that benefits a charity and we always look for diversity in our speakers.”

She was also inspired by her keynote speaker Megan Henshall, partnership strategy and engagement lead at Google, to include elements for neurodiverse attendees, such as a quiet room. 

They also added warnings to the conference program when sessions included loud noise or flashing lights, which can be challenging for neurodiverse attendees, and offered sensory support kits.

“My number one tip for people considering doing this is to talk to your hotel partner up front. Talk to your AV partner,” she said. “Your partners might be excited, but it also might be a learning journey for them too. That’s definitely what it’s been for us.”