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CSR Measurement Session
By Amanda Gourgue, CMP, LEED AP, Meeting Revolution
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far! I want to take you back to the moment you walked out of the MPISCC May monthly meeting, CSR Measurement session. What were you thinking? Can you remember what you thought? Were you thinking that it was a great presentation and you want to be “greener” but not sure where to start? Were you thinking that this would be good information to keep on file for some time in the future? Or were you thinking that you were happy that you went but your company is already an expert on CSR?
So this article is going to talk about what’s next after that session. How many of you went back to your offices and started to work on your goals and objectives? If you did, you the right thing! For those of you who got back to your offices and continued with your normal day, I want you to take a couple of minutes to work on some objectives for your next event. What is one CSR-related area you want to measure for your next meeting? Use SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). How will you measure your results? What specific benchmarks will you use? How will you collect the information? What will you do with the information? What can you do to help you achieve your goals? I always find it useful to start a spreadsheet to help keep organized. What did you decide to do for your next meeting? No water bottles? Use 20% local and organic food? Use 50% local staffing? Create a no idling policy? Now that you have created one goal, I want you to share it with a co-worker. Get their feedback. Do they think it is realistic?
Another important question to ask is “Does that goal tie back into your company’s core values?” Here are a couple of examples:
• You work for a tech company that is really into recycling. The company is very clear on their web site that everything they create can be recycled at the end of the product’s life. Two measurement goals for the meeting is that the meeting will only use 100% recycled paper products and all the paper products will be recycled after the event. This would include items such as: signage, napkins, on-site programs, marketing materials, registration, and exhibit prospectus. You would make sure all your vendors participate with this goal. Vendors would be the hotel, exhibit company, transportation company, caterer, etc. You will measure this by pounds and dollar amounts. You will collect this information with weekly reports from your vendors and your event staff. Then you will put it together in a spreadsheet and show how much of the paper products were diverted from the landfill. This information will be shared with the company and attendees after the conference.
• You are planning an event for a client who is really into fair trade and human rights. Two measurement goals for your meeting would be to use 100% Fair Trade products and to only use vendors with a human rights policy. Once again you would want to communicate this goal to all your vendors. This time it should be easy to get your vendors to agree with this since a goal of yours is to only use vendors who have a human rights policy. Measuring should also be easy for these two goals because either you did use Fair Trade products or you didn’t. Most likely you will end up with a percentage as your results. If you didn’t hit 100%, then figure out what percentage you did use. Same with your vendors. You can ask to see their human rights policy. Your result will also be a percentage. Once you have those numbers, communicate them to your company and your attendees.
• You are a sales manager for a hotel. You just booked a pharmaceutical meeting and you want to help the planner create a green meeting. So you ask the planner how the hotel can assist in the green meeting goals. The planner is so excited the hotel has offered to help tackle this task. The planner then explains one of the company core values is to improve health and well-being at every stage of life. You do a little research and realize one of the drugs this pharmaceutical company sells is for breast cancer. So you pitch the idea of partnering with a local non-profit breast cancer association for a social component to the meeting. The planner loves the idea but is concerned by the lack of time built into the meeting schedule. You come up with the idea of creating a human pink rribbon in the front of the hotel. The goal would be to raise money for breast cancer and it would get a lot of press. Communication goes out to the hotel and pharmaceutical employees about this fundraiser. The day of the fundraiser all the attendees and hotel employees wear pink and a huge human ribbon was created in the front of the hotel. The press is there to cover it and a picture was taken from the roof of the hotel. In the end, the planner was able to measure the people it took to create that pink ribbon and the money it raised.
So get creative with your goals. No one ever said you couldn't combine fun and numbers! I hope this helps reignite some excitement for measuring. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Laurel, Midori or me when it comes to creating goals and objectives. It was a pleasure speaking to you all in May and I hope to work with you all again soon!
Amanda Gourgue, CMP, LEED AP - amanda@startameetingrevolution.com
Laurel Coote, CMM - lcoote@pick-my-brain.com
Midori Connolly - midori@pulsestaging.com
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CSR and the Meetings Industry -
What’s the Connection?
By Laurel Coote, CMM, Meetings That Give Back
I'm a firm believer that meetings are integral to business and that the value derived from bringing individuals together for personal interaction, training, education or celebration is more necessary than ever. As meeting professionals we have the opportunity to create the environments in which business is transacted and important information is shared. We also have the power to create awareness and to drive others to powerful action. This has been seen within our own industry as we have rallied our forces nationwide in support of meetings, travel and hospitality. If we don’t recognize ourselves as leaders and trend setters, we certainly should, for it is through our planning and examples that companies dare to take on new initiatives and practices that have an impact on the world. One of these initiatives is Corporate Social Responsibility -- CSR.
Following the movement toward a healthier, greener world, CSR began to present itself as companies started to contemplate the ways in which their business practices were affecting their communities, their customers, and the world. As those conversations took hold, there was a trickle-down effect through the organization to the individual. Employees were being called upon to assess their practices and to come up with ways in which they could alter them to make a more positive impact. Naturally, in my opinion, this need for assessment has landed in the world of the meeting professional, for it is we who extend our companies to the greater world through our events. But what is CSR and what does it mean? Thanks to the MPI Foundation and the CSR Task Force, MPI chapters now have access to Platinum Series programming that will educate members on CSR, how to measure it and how to implement it in a strategic way. First, let me begin with a definition from the MPI CSR Task Force:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby organizations consider the long-term interests of the communities in which they operate and take responsibility for the impact of their actions on employees, customers, stakeholders, the community and the environment.
So, you may wonder, what does this have to do with meetings? Today’s customers are more and more savvy. They pay attention to what companies are doing, and not doing, particularly as it relates to our environment and economy. We’ve all seen the results of media coverage that touts misuse of resources and places a negative spin on the value of meetings as a business tool. Prospective employees seek employers who have defined commitments to social responsibility as a part of their selection process. Investors and other stakeholders measure a company’s worth by how they manage themselves as a corporate citizen, and nowhere does this show up more than in the place where companies extend themselves to the world—through events, meetings, conferences and tradeshows. Add a tough economy to the mix and companies begin to look for ways in which they can add value and contribution. Certainly, putting a strategic, corporate-wide plan into place is a major project and takes many resources, but beginning at the grassroots level through meetings and events is doable with some knowledge
and tools.
Where to Begin:
How CSR plays out for an organization or individual varies greatly from company to company. You can begin by focusing on the Triple Bottom Line of people, planet and profit. This is also often referred to as social, environmental and economic sustainability. For some it begins with green efforts such as recycling, eliminating use of plastic and styrofoam products or re-purposing used materials such as markers, paper and scissors for donation following a program. For others, it’s defining on the front end the kinds of products to be purchased and used for an event such as organic foods, locally grown produce, local labor, or energy efficient/green products. Our carbon footprint* can be reduced by flying on non-stop flights, holding regionally held meetings or by using hybrid or nitrogen vehicles for transportation. We can even come full circle by engaging our attendees in the planting of trees and flowers to beautify the environment and increase the output of oxygen.
MPI has put such practices into place at its annual conferences and has begun to collect and share data that support CSR as a necessary element when planning an event. Never more than now have we had the power in our industry to choose venues and services that can support CSR initiatives. Doing so allows us to enhance the product we deliver and to decrease the amount of energy and waste we produce. Never before has it been as acceptable and favorable to think about how to make a difference in the lives of others through our work—extending the time, talent and resources of our attendees and companies to those in need.
This is a perfect time to engage in a conversation about Corporate Social Responsibility and to begin to share ideas and best practices in our industry. Join your chapter’s CSR Task Force, participate in the Platinum Series presentations on CSR, or just share with one another the successes you’ve had. One step at a time, we can make a measurable difference in our world.
*Carbon Footprint: A measure of the impact human activities have on the environment due to the release of greenhouse gases as measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Laurel Coote, CMM is a MPISCC Past President and founder of Meetings That Give Back, an event planning company that brings companies and communities together through strategic service projects. She is also a member of the MPI CSR Taskforce and an MPI Platinum Series Speaker on CSR. You can reach her at (310) 771-0660 or at laurel@meetingsthatgiveback.com
To learn more about CSR, click here. |
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