The widespread pandemic affects every aspect of our lives and habits and has turned our ways of running events and activities upside down. Nevertheless, we may still organise our events in a well-balanced hybrid mode, and certainly, the day will come when we resume our conventional face-to-face meetups. What should be taken into consideration when we plan for these activities then?
The Green PolyU Awards – Green Office programme brought forward a webinar on sustainable event management, calling for attention to the various sustainable practices to plan campus activities. The University’s departmental Green Officers were given the opportunity to gather online and examine what can be done to achieve this.
The invited speaker started the webinar by reminding everyone about the key environmental items to measure and manage during event management and introduced to them the international standard ISO 20121, a world-recognized management system standard that helps organisations improve the sustainability of their events and services. It sets the framework and offers advice to event planners and organisers on making their events more socially responsible and more capable of reducing carbon footprint. Many of the world’s largest events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games adhere strictly or have obtained the relevant certification of ISO 20121. We can also learn from what’s being advocated in this standard, and consider implementing its suggested event management processes in our campus activities to bring our events to a higher level.
With examples and case studies from other reputable corporations, the speaker elaborated on the various benefits of applying sustainable events. He also shared many practical and useful best practices for running green events on the PolyU campus.
Driving sustainable development requires a collaborative effort from every member of the PolyU community. Campus event organisers, for sure, have a vital role to play. It’s more than reducing carbon footprint. It is about our contribution to set a sustainable standard for our events and make them successful, cost-saving, and motivating. It is about offering our attendees a unique experience and spreading the messages on loving our world and resources.
