Responsible events
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Responsible events James Kennell Director, Economic Development Resource Centre Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, Events and Tourism University of Greenwich @jameskennell www.jameskennell.com
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Presentation on Responsible Events. Responsibility is a relatively new way of thinking about sustainability. This presentation was originally given in picture-only format at the Event Horizons conference in Falmouth, Cornwall, on 7th February 2014
Transcript of Responsible events
Responsible eventsJames KennellDirector, Economic Development Resource CentreSenior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, Events and TourismUniversity of [email protected]
Sustainability may be the least successful public policy agenda of the last 50 years
The aim of this presentation is to explore new ways of thinking about the problems that ‘sustainability’ wanted to address
What can events do?
Bruntland Report (1987) Local Agenda 21 (1992) Kyoto (1997 – USA ratified 2011) Copenhagen conference (2009)
Treaties, policies, statements – they haven’t delivered
On almost every measure, global development has become less sustainable
CO2 levels continue to rise Global warming is a fact, not a concern The 85 richest people in the world own
more than the poorest 3.5bn – you could fit them all on a London bus.
The Crystal Palace Sustainability in events came before sustainability
policies
Driven by technology, efficiency and customers
The Crystal Palace was built in Hyde Park, London, for the 1851 Great Exhibition
The design responded to local environmental concerns and its distinctive arch was built to enclose endangered elm trees
Built from cast iron and plate glass – the very latest modern technology
Self-heating – because of all the glass. Flooring designed with gaps to allow
convection within the space – free air conditioning
Only natural lighting needed
The largest exhibition venue ever seen No internal structural walls 14,000 exhibitors 990,000 sq. ft 6 million visitors (1/3 UK population) A sustainable mega-event?
London 2012 Developed with BS8901 – The new
British Standard for sustainable events Wind turbines could not be turned on
during the games No public recycling bins on site Were there problems with the type of
plastic cups being used?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qcs0YguFlM
Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The first event to gain IS20121 Admirable sustainability efforts, but… Each of the 150,000 attendees
responsible for 8.5t CO2 emissions - = 1 Mexican’s average yearly emissions
Policies, protocols and standards don’t deliver sustainable events
Event standards apply to processes and intentions – they are great for marketing, but they don’t evaluate post-event impacts
The events industry has a history of innovation in sustainability
Despite this – sustainability is big business!
93% of CEOs say sustainability is critical to their future success (UNGC Accenture report)
The green economy will be worth $5.7tn by 2015
The events industry is still the second most wasteful service industry, after food retail
Green events are a growth area
50% of industry professionals confirmed that they give precedence to green suppliers (MPI)
75% say it is important or very important when choosing a new supplier (MCI)
80% say CSR will become an increasingly important purchasing criteria (MPI)
But what is driving this? Customers!
What do customers want from events? What do YOUNG customers want?
We need to harness the power and energy of the events market as an engine of responsible growth
Responsible Events
After Krippendorf (1987)
Responsible events Proposals for developing responsible events
should be ‘infectious’ Codes and advice should not ‘degenerate into
rules for regimentation and manipulation. They must make the experience of freedom possible.’
Every event customer ‘builds up or destroys human values’ through their event experience
‘Orders and prohibitions will not do the job – because it is not a bad conscience that we need to make progress but positive experience, not the feeling of compulsion but that of responsibility’
Aspects of responsibility
(Goodwin 2011)
Aspects of responsibility Accountability
The liability to be called to account for actions and omissions
Capability or capacity The individual or organisation has the
capability to act Capability assumes capacity
Dialogue Individuals and organisations are expected to
respond, to make a difference
Sustainable Events Responsible Events
Sustainable development
Government Regulation
Industry responsibility
Shared responsibilit
y
Consumer power
Behaviour change
Conclusions The Sustainability agenda has not given us a more
sustainable future
Sustainable events management principles have not given us a sustainable events industry
Taking responsibility for events means harnessing all that is good about events – the interaction between consumers, audiences, managers and marketers for the benefit of everyone
The positive impacts of events can only be developed through enhancing the event experience
