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

1. Responsible
events
James Kennell
Director, Economic
Development Resource Centre
Senior Lecturer, Department of
Marketing, Events and Tourism
University of Greenwich
@jameskennell
www.jameskennell.com

3.  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?

5.  Bruntland
Report (1987)
 Local Agenda 21 (1992)
 Kyoto (1997 – USA ratified 2011)
 Copenhagen conference (2009)
 Treaties,
policies, statements – they
haven’t delivered

7.  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.

9. 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

11.  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

12.  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?

14. 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?

16. 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

17.  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 postevent impacts
 The events industry has a history of
innovation in sustainability

19. 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

20. The events
industry is still the
second most
wasteful service
industry, after
food retail

21. 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)

23. But what is driving this? Customers!
What do customers want from events?
What do YOUNG customers want?

25.  We
need to harness the power and
energy of the events market as an engine
of responsible growth

27. Responsible Events
Infectious
Responsibilit
y
Free
Experience
After Krippendorf (1987)

28. 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’

29. Aspects of responsibility
Dialogue
Capacity
Accountability
(Goodwin 2011)

30. Aspects of responsibility

Accountability


Capability or capacity



The liability to be called to account for actions
and omissions
The individual or organisation has the capability
to act
Capability assumes capacity
Dialogue

Individuals and organisations are expected to
respond, to make a difference

31. Sustainable Events
Sustainable
development
Industry
responsibility
Government
Regulation
Responsible Events
Consumer
power
Shared
responsibility
Behaviour
change

33. 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