Seize the innovation

Today I had the pleasure to participate in a so called Signal Session on Sustainable events. The introduction to the topic was given by Guy Bigwood, who has been part of several greening processes of the tourism industry. It was facinating to realize that he was repeating the same stories that have been discussed already for a long time in different connections, especially in relation to sustainable development in the cities. There was nothing new and also his tips were just pinpointing that we should move from words into action. The video conference had gathered participants from 5 different locations in Finland and the after discussions showcased that within the industry in Finland, we all approach the topic from very different perspectives and it will take a while before we can truly be competitive in the sustainable event sector. It is evident that the Solutions conference will bring its share to the development.

All this discussion made me realize, that the efforts done on one field, that is in relation to integrated management systems, could easily be transferred to the event manager field. Local authorities, in some cases, are actually forerunners when we are talking about integrated approach on sustainability and this should also be highlighted for the business sector. With minimal resources, vital transformations have been carried out in cities in order to facilitate the entire market to become greener. The opportunities that exist demand you to seize the moment for innovations to appear!

Networking and the exchange of good and worse practices are beneficial in this respect. The visionary skills and communication capabilities are needed like air nowadays. We all have to face the challenge of safeguarding the value and this is not an easy task. Over hundred participants have already now registered for the Solutions conference - hopefully you are one of them, as that is the place to be when we talk on showcasing how things could be done in the event sector!