A global conference setting the course for a sustainable future

Designing a high-impact gathering with low impact on the planet

We set about designing a compelling three-day conference with the client's CEO and senior team that balanced the delivery of business objectives with providing a great opportunity for in-person connection.  The triple-ply green thread that ran through our meticulous planning and execution was the sustainability objectives our client had set us:

• To offset all carbon emissions generated through colleague travel to the conference using appropriate schemes
• To minimise the use of single-use plastics throughout the conference and maximise the use of recycled materials
• And to prioritise locally sourced food and beverages in the catering.

A venue with enviably green credentials

As many participants had never visited the UK, a vibrant city centre experience was called for. We selected the venue – part of a Green Tourism award-winning chain with a strong sustainability policy – for its proximity to the client’s head office. This would reduce travel while providing the capacity, facilities, accommodation and exclusive meeting spaces our client needed.

The venue’s policy is that no products go to landfill: general waste is turned into refuse-derived fuel, waste oil is converted into renewable energy, and other materials are reused or recycled.

But while the hotel had strong sustainability credentials, we went a step beyond, as Project Director Sarah Holland explains. “Due to the legacy of COVID guidelines, remote controls, pens and bathrobes were wrapped in plastic, and the water supplied in mini bars came in recycled plastic bottles. So we specified that these items should be removed and reserved for future guests. The hotel offered an opt-out from housekeeping via a card in each room, but we ensured all delegates were proactively asked on check-in whether they wanted to decline turndown in the interests of sustainability.”

Making sustainable options feel like the natural choice

Participants were asked to take trains where practical and fly economy class where air travel was unavoidable (i.e. for colleagues in North America and the Asia Pacific region), since business class passengers typically generate a carbon footprint around twice that of their economy counterparts for the same journey. Car-sharing was also strongly encouraged for UK colleagues. All travel-related CO₂e emissions were captured for offsetting purposes.

We curated a selection of walking tours for each day, with options including a building of historic importance, a local brewery, an unusual museum, and a skyline tour of the city.  The only trip involving transport was an excursion to a local monument, with emissions from the coach also offset.

For onsite catering, we provided plentiful plant-based menu options with a lower environmental impact that the whole group could enjoy and emphasised white meat over red, which comes with a smaller climate footprint. For evening dining, we hand-picked independent restaurants within walking distance of the venue, to support locally sourced food producers and provide a great boost to the city’s hospitality sector.

Sustainable ways to deliver a branded experience

We created a bespoke concept and visual identity for the conference, and a branded website to seamlessly deliver pre-event delegate communications, which included sustainability messaging to nudge behavioural change.

To reduce single-use print media, a giant LED screen provided a versatile backdrop for the plenary sessions; this, together with the modular staging, was hired and both kit and crew were locally sourced. Digital whiteboards replaced flipcharts, and digital signage was deployed around the venue instead of pull-up banners. We also created a lunchtime ‘pop-up’ to increase employee awareness and engagement around the company’s recently formalised sustainability strategy.

TTA Project Assistant, Dan Forward, identified a local company that produced reusable bamboo name tags with magnetic backing that would eliminate the need for plastic lanyards and wallets. To provide a lasting memento of this celebratory conference, he also created a welcome pack – sourcing recycled cotton tote bags to hold branded merchandise including stainless steel and cork water bottles, recycled cardboard pens, recycled paper note pads, and plantable pencils containing seeds to propagate a green mindset as well as wildflowers. And rather than waste potable water and energy on washing drinking glasses, we invited participants to refill their bottles at any time from the water stations.

Managing the unanticipated

Despite the best-laid plans, not everything was within our control, but we responded tactually to some unforeseeable setbacks.

Some colleagues in Asia were prevented from travelling as their city was in lockdown, so the content was localised to reproduce a dedicated event for them the following week.

For anyone else who was unable to join in person, we live-streamed the conference and made session recordings available on demand.

When a train strike was called just hours before the conference, we encouraged delegates to car-share where possible, and scrambled coaches to provide a park-and-ride facility from the company’s head office into the city centre for the remaining participants – and offset the emissions, of course.