Sustainability is becoming an increasingly urgent necessity across all industries. In the events space, the Net Zero Carbon Pledge initiative – driven by the Joint Meetings Industry Council and backed and developed by 400 businesses – is creating a road map to help the global events community become net zero carbon by 2050. It’s a huge task and can feel daunting.
Help is on hand
Fortunately, the Event Greening Forum (EGF) is here to help you, right here and right now. We’re a non-profit organisation with the sole purpose of promoting sustainable practices throughout the value chain of the business events industry in South Africa – from venues to organisers, suppliers and service providers. This includes sharing resources and educational opportunities.
One such opportunity is our upcoming Green Venue Workshop. This free-to-attend session will unpack the significant value that choosing to host events at ‘green’ venues offers, with many practical insights into things such as:
- How to select sustainable venues and service providers
- What to check for when planning a sustainable event
- How to communicate sustainability to your clients
- Certifying your event as sustainable (or green)
- How to recognise greenwashing
- Avoiding the greenwash traps as a professional
Who it is for
It’s aimed at event organisers and venues, but the learning outcomes will also benefit suppliers and services providers wanting to better understand the dynamics at play and where they can fit in and add value.
“Our Green Venue Workshop is a must-attend for anyone who is thinking about how they can improve the sustainability of their operations as an event industry business.”
It is a hybrid event. As such the session will be held in-person at the CTICC 2, in the Daisy meeting room, and will also be live streamed to an online audience. If you cannot make it at the scheduled time – from 09:00 to 11:00 on Thursday 10 November – but are still interested in the content, please sign up for the virtual attendance option. A link to the recording of the event will be sent to you afterwards (as will be done for all who attend, whether in-person or online, so it can be referred to at a later stage).
Meet the speakers
The speakers include green venue representatives David Antony Pollock from Hotel Verde, Cape Town Airport, and Chris van Zyl from the Vineyard Hotel, as well as exhibition organizer David Ashdown who is CEO of VUKA Group. The panel discussion will be facilitated by Grace Stead, a sustainability practitioner with a wealth of expertise in the event greening space (think: the FIFA 2010 WC, COP17, Meetings Africa and Rocking the Daisies). Grace also co-founded the EGF and is the founder and director of Steadfast Greening.
Morwesi Ramonyai, the EGF Chair, says, “In the eventing landscape, venues can provide the infrastructure for more responsible resource use. But unless organisers understand how this can benefit them, their events and their clients, we as a sector risk failing to take advantage of a huge opportunity to help us reach our Net Zero Carbon goals. For this reason, our Green Venue Workshop is a must-attend for anyone who is thinking about how they can improve the sustainability of their operations as an event industry business.
“We are also excited to be able to offer this session both online and in-person at no fee. Digital attendance is an invaluable way to share our resources in a manner that is low-cost, low-carbon and time-efficient. We can’t wait to see you there, be it in-person or on-screen.”
Heartfelt thanks go out to the CTICC for sponsoring our venue, The Solutions Company for sponsoring the AV and livestreaming of the event, and EXBO for sponsoring their eco-friendly lanyard badged – which you can find out more about here.
For more details and to reserve your free seat, CLICK HERE.
