5 Things We Learned When Hosting a Sustainable Event

Creating an impactful event is no small feat. It’s a complex task that requires meticulous planning, coordination, and execution. 

Recently, however, there’s been an increased awareness of the importance of sustainability in the meetings industry. Incorporating aspects of environmental, social and economic sustainability into events has become a key consideration for planners.

Early in 2023, Destination Canada’s Business Events team hosted Innovate Canada in Waterloo, Ontario. This exclusive event gave clients from across the world a chance to see first-hand Canada’s innovation and leadership in the Advanced Manufacturing sector. This was also Destination Canada’s first carbon-neutral event, and there was an emphasis on hosting their clients as responsibly as possible. 

In the aftermath of their successful event, their team shared the following lessons so that planners could benefit from them.

 1. Start with sustainability. When embarking on the journey of hosting a sustainable event, it’s essential to make it a central focus of your planning from the very beginning. By including sustainability considerations as a standing agenda item when planning all meetings, it remains at the forefront of everyone's minds. This approach ensures that sustainable practices are ingrained in every aspect of the event, from choosing the venues to designing the menus. 

Making sustainability a priority from the start means that it becomes a natural part of the planning process and, by consistently discussing it in each meeting, you create an environment that fosters creativity and innovation in finding sustainable solutions. 

Your team can brainstorm ideas, share best practices, and explore new approaches that align with your sustainability goals.

2. Break it down in manageable pieces. If this is your first attempt at creating a sustainable event, it can feel a little overwhelming, especially when you’re approaching it as one giant task. 

To make it more manageable, map out the entire event and break it down into bite-size components. Then, tackle the sustainability of each piece individually. For example, you can split your event into areas like food and beverage, decor, transportation, waste management, etc. 

By addressing these elements separately, you can focus on finding sustainable solutions tailored to each aspect of the event. This approach allows for a more comprehensive and effective implementation of sustainable practices. For example, when considering food and beverage, explore options like locally sourced ingredients, vegetarian menus, and finding ways to minimize food waste. 

When it comes to decor, choose eco-friendly materials, reusable or recyclable items, and consider the overall environmental impact of the decorations. 

Rather than trying to deal with everything at once, this approach allows you to incrementally improve the sustainability of your event until your goals are being met.

3. Harness the power of communication. Communication is a vital tool when it comes to hosting a sustainable event. Engage with all stakeholders involved, including hotels, suppliers, and vendors. Let them know about your sustainability goals, initiatives, and strategies. They may have valuable insights and suggestions that you hadn't considered. 

By making everyone part of the process, you create a collaborative environment that can lead to innovative thinking. Additionally, effective communication ensures that everyone is on the same page and working towards this common goal.

Throughout the planning process, maintain open lines of communication with your stakeholders to explore sustainable alternatives for various services and resources. They may have access to eco-friendly products or offer suggestions for reducing energy consumption or waste generation. 

Collaborating with them not only helps in finding solutions but also strengthens relationships and encourages a collective commitment to sustainability.

4. Engage your attendees. To make a significant impact, it’s essential to engage and educate event attendees about the sustainability efforts being made. Highlight the sustainable practices you have implemented and explain their importance. For example, if you’re having vegetarian meals, it can be beneficial to address this and explain why.

This transparency helps attendees understand the purpose behind these initiatives and fosters a sense of shared responsibility. 

Encourage attendees to participate actively by adopting sustainable behaviors during the event, like steering clear of single-use plastic products. By involving attendees, you create a community that shares your commitment to sustainability and amplifies its impact at, and beyond, the event.

Consider incorporating interactive displays, informative signage, or presentations that highlight the sustainable features of the event. 

Offer opportunities for attendees to provide feedback and suggestions for future improvements. By involving them in the planning process, you empower them to make sustainable choices. 

5. Ensure transparency about areas for improvement. Honesty and transparency are essential when hosting a sustainable event. When the event is over and you’re reviewing how things went, take a moment to celebrate your successes and share these accomplishments with delegates, partners, and stakeholders.

It’s equally important – if not more so – to identify areas for improvement. Acknowledge the challenges faced, lessons learned, and areas where sustainability goals were not fully met. By being transparent about the shortcomings, you create a culture of continuous improvement.

Falling short in certain areas is a natural part of a sustainability journey, and your transparency creates opportunities for collaboration and innovation in finding solutions for future events.

For example, at Innovate Canada, the Destination Canada team were unable to procure buses that were powered by electricity rather than traditional fuel, simply because vehicles of their required size were not available. 

While the team offset the emissions to ensure that they stayed on track with their goals, even exploring the opportunity will have started a dialogue internally amongst their suppliers. 

By highlighting this area for improvement, Destination Canada’s team are furthering the conversation and showing suppliers that there is interest in such vehicles, and this may lead to a positive change. 

Consider Canada if you want to host sustainable events 

Hosting a sustainable event requires a holistic approach that touches every stage of planning and execution. 

By implementing and sharing the lessons learned from hosting these events, it’s possible to have a positive impact on the world and inspire others to follow suit. 

So, if you’re looking to host sustainable events, give Canada a chance. The country is a leader in this arena and, last year, Destination Canada launched their Canadian Business Events Sustainability Plan, a testament to their commitment to sustainability.

This first-of-its-kind national initiative brings together 16 Canadian partners, from coast to coast to coast, to embark on the Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Index annual benchmarking process. 

The ultimate goal of the Plan is to help global clients create business events with sustainability at their core. This will be achieved by coaching, training and educating these Canadian partners on how to build on their existing sustainability programs, and support the implementation of new initiatives across the business events space. 

To learn more about hosting sustainable events in Canada, visit the Destination Canada website. 

Alternatively, reach out to their team directly and get in touch with Virginie De Visscher, Acting Executive Director, Business Events, Destination Canada:
[email protected]
+1 204-802-0920