| dc.description.abstract | Sustainable Event Management is the act of managing events with respect to reducing their
negative impacts on the environment. This negative impact could be direct pollution to the site of the event or indirect pollution to the entire world. To be able to manage events sustainably and avoid event-related pollution, all stakeholders such as Events Organizations, clients, suppliers, venues, etc. must be convinced to adopt sustainable change. The stakeholders need to see a financial benefit to make the switch.
Sustainable Events’ stakeholders can gain that benefit in two forms. First, sustainable events
offer many opportunities for cutting costs by encouraging locally produced products and the
conservation of utilities. Second, they provide the opportunity to improve an organization’s
reputation by supporting a good cause and publicizing this involvement with a large number of
prospective clients, customers, and media. The opportunities for changing the event industry to a sustainable industry are summarized in five aspects: Energy, transportation, water, purchases,
and waste.
Reducing the impact of energy use on the environment focuses on reducing and eliminating
greenhouse gases. Selecting certified sustainable venues and using energy saving techniques and technologies could accomplish the reduction of greenhouse gases. Sustainable transportation practices have the same purpose of reducing greenhouse gases resulting from freights’, participants’, and guests’ transportation.
Water is also a critical resource used during events that could negatively impact the
environment through waste and pollution. Conserving water by using advanced techniques and
technologies and filtering and eliminating grey water contribute to minimizing the amount of
polluted water.
The last two important aspects of sustainable events are purchases and waste. Minimizing the
number of purchases needed for the event and maximizing the use of recycled and reusable
materials are sustainable goals. Also, planning to eliminate wastes ahead of the executing of
events and encouraging recycling and separating recyclable materials at events reduce the
damage.
In this study, a survey was conducted to investigate current sustainable event practices and to
determine the barriers that prevent event organizations from being sustainable. The study shows that most of the participants have few approaches to sustainability. The major barriers are the cost of sustainable practices and tools, the time required to maintain the sustainability of the organization, and the lack of competition between vendors that drive costs up. | |
