Fingerprints on the Future
Global View
By Elizabeth Henderson, CMM, CMP
WORLD EDUCATION CONGRESS (WEC) ATTENDEES IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEAVE THEIR FINGERPRINTS ON THE FUTURE OF THE CITY itself by participating in the MPI community service project on July 11. The mayor’s Million Tree Challenge seeks to plant 1 million trees in Salt Lake by 2017. This 10-year project began in 2007 aiming to improve the city’s green infrastructure, and the city recognizes that, like libraries and museums, parks and trees add to the quality of life for citizens.
MPI’s commitment to sustainable meetings means that we take into account the economic, social and environmental impacts of our events. The Million Tree Challenge helps to address the future environment and the community of Salt Lake City in a sustainable way. MPI also recognizes that, like Salt Lake City, providing the opportunity to give back adds to the quality of membership in our global association.
The CSR subcommittee of the Salt Lake Host Committee identified the Million Tree Challenge as a project that would resonate within its community, and which was accessible to most MPI members should they want to participate. The project itself was open to WEC attendees who wanted to be involved in an event that included networking and gave back to the community through actions.
Attendees participated in a variety of activities, including tree planting, watering, fertilizing and other park maintenance.
Participating in this type of event confers additional benefits to meeting professionals—it allows them to discover ways that they can introduce similar elements into their own events, either for clients or for their own organizations. As more organizations build sustainability into their operations, using meetings and events as a visible expression of the power of an organization’s mission and vision in action is an opportunity that builds value, brand and goodwill.
The site of the project was Sugar House Park, which until 1947 was the site of the Utah State Prison. Its transformation into green space allows us, half a century later, to participate in its social and environmental evolution and gives us the opportunity to leave a legacy of our meeting in this community. Meetings do, indeed, change the world. One+
ELIZABETH HENDERSON, CMM, CMP, is MPI’s director of corporate social responsibility. She can be reached at ehenderson@mpiweb.org.