Opportunity to Participate in CSR ROI Study
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 1/20/2010 12:24:11 PM
The Hands-On Network, the largest volunteer network in the USA, is working with Coca-Cola, KPMG and The Home Depot to create the ROI and Impact Measurement Study. This survey will attempt to measure the ROI of volunteering on sales, recruitment, skill development, brand and social value creation.
Companies of all sizes are encouraged to participate. Those already signed up include Deloitte, Eli Lilly, FedEx, KPMG, Pfizer, Starbucks, SAP, Timberland and UPS.
For the press release, click here.
Montreal Chapter in Support of Haiti
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 1/15/2010 12:35:40 PM
The MPI Montreal chapter will match donations of all other Canadian chapters dollar for dollar up to $5,000, which will then be presented to the Red Cross to use for the victims of the earthquake. The deadline to donate is January 31st, so please put this information on your websites in newsletters if you are not planning on doing something at your chapter.
http://www.mpimontreal.com/en/events/calendar/register.php?id=116
For more information, please contact Daniel Fortin:
Daniel Fortin
DNL Logistique
514-994-7892
dnllogistique@ymail.com
Donate Miles/Points for Haiti
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 1/15/2010 11:19:50 AM
This industry has a lot of frequent fliers and those who have a lot of hotel program points. Here is your chance to help make a difference by donating miles to the Haitian relief effort. USA today has a re-cap of donation programs being offered by major airlines and hotels, including Hilton, Marriott and Starwood as well as American Airlines and Delta. Here are resources to make it easy for you:
Please help.
The Economist on the future of tradeshows
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 1/14/2010 1:36:22 PM
Today in The Economist I found a story on the future of tradeshows. Under the title "The Shows Go On", they predict that tradeshows should bounce back from the downturn...partly because face-to-face meetings drive business results. Read the story here.
USGBC Issues Green Venue Selection Guide
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 1/14/2010 1:31:00 PM
The US Green Building Council, creator of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard for the built environment, has issued a Green Venue Selection guide specifically for use by travel and event professionals. It includes a questionaire that event professionals can use when assessing venues.
They have given us permission to post this guide here.
ECOS Project Success in Calgary Chapter
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 12/23/2009 4:49:10 AM
Join me in celebrating the success of the Calgary Chapter ECOS Project! Over three days, a remarkable partnership between AVW-TELAV, the Calgary Chapter of MPI, and the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank resulted in the collection of 32,020 pounds of food worth approximately $64,000, which will feed about 1000 people this holiday season.
This successful partnership was born through discussions of what each of the partners was able to bring to the table. During the holidays, AVW-TELAV is somewhat slower than normal, and therefore has large trucks with excess capacity and drivers. The local MPI chapter has volunteers available, and the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank has a desperate need to help collect as much food as possible from the city at Christmas. Demand for Food Bank Services increased 70% this year due to the economic recession.
The ECOS Project (Events for Communities of Sustainability was created by MPI through the support of the MPI Foundation Canada and AVW -TELAV, and is being piloted with the Canadian chapters of MPI. The other seven Canadian chapters are also implementing ECOS projects locally. The intent of the project is to support the provision of food, water, shelter and education in our communities, without which the meetings and events industry would not exist as we know it, but which many in our communities do not have easy access to.
This is a great example of how our industry can leverage its resources to connect to and sustain our global communities.
www.mpiweb.org/ECOS
Live from COP15
Posted by Guy Bigwood on 12/16/2009 2:14:29 AM
As the official PCO and sustainability consultants for the climate conference read stories and experiences from the greening of cop15. www.lessconversationmoreaction.com
The level of event sustainability in cop15 is highly advanced, influential and significant. For me its a tipping point for sustainability in the event industry. www.sustainability.cop15.dk
ECOS Project Gains Momentum
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 12/15/2009 12:34:19 PM
MPI Chapters in Canada are participating in the pilot project of The ECOS Project. The project was created with the assistance of the MPI Foundation Canada and the partnership of AVW-TELAV. The intent is to create a coordinated effort to help transform our communities in one of more of four main areas, all essential to the meetings industry, but which people in our communities may have trouble accessing: food, water, shelter and education.
Here are some specifics:
- British Columbia: Is working with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. They will distribute boxes to all chapter members to collect food on January 4th; on January 21st, TELAV will pick it up, deliver it to the Food Bank, where a team of MPI and TELAV volunteers will then sort it.
- Greater Calgary: Is working with the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank. On December 16, 17 and 18, teams of six TELAV trucks paired with MPI volunteers will go throughout the city to Food Bank collection points to pick up food. This is a full day, from 8:30 - 4:30 each day, with training provided by the Food Bank. Living in Calgary, I know that the Food Bank is desperate for donations this year, and this will be a significant contribution to their efforts this year. I will be a volunteer all day tomorrow, so I will let you know how it goes!
- Toronto: The Toronto Board of Directors is reviewing the three proposals put in front of them by the chapter ECOS/CSR committee. The three options were: 1. Second Harvest; 2. Daily Food Bank; 3. Food Share; the recommendation, after using the ECOS criteria score sheet (see the Toolkit at http://www.mpiweb.org/cms/mpiweb/community/www.mpiweb.org/ECOS), was to go with the Daily Harvest (received a 7.2 score as compared to a 6.6 score for Second Harvest). The Board will approve by next week for implementation in January and February 2010.
- Montreal: Is partnering with Sun Youth to provide food and other needed essentials. The first part of this project tool place last week, when TELAV picked up Christmas baskets from the community. The chapter will gather on December 18th to help sort donations to create more baskets. This has struck an emotional chord with the chapter, and because of the great number of volunteers and support, they have decided to run this project every two months for the rest of the year (into 2010). GREAT IDEA ALERT: They are also encouraging members to get involved individually with Sun Youth, and are creating an award for the Sun Youth/MPI Volunteer of the Year to be given at their annual awards event.
- Atlantic Canada: Created a project to help the local shelters. This involves collecting soaps, shampoos, towels, sheets and other things common in our industry that are needed in the community. Collection will take place from members as well as member properties, who may have things on hand that need to be shifted from inventory but which are still in good shape. Collection will take place between January - March, with the MPI event on March 5th (which has a CSR educational focus) being the collection point. Students in the community have been invited to help pack. GREAT IDEA ALERT: To eliminate packaging, things like towels and face cloths will be used to wrap.
The power of a unified project will become evident at the reporting stage, when we will be able to indicate how many people these projects reached, and other transformative effects on our communities.
How Event Organizers Made the COP 15 More Sustainable
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 12/10/2009 12:35:35 PM
Hosting THE climate change conference of the decade probably put some stress on meeting organizers to ensure that the event was environmentally sustainable from every angle. Here is where you can find out what they did so you can "R&D" (Rob and Duplicate!): http://en.cop15.dk/about+cop15/going+to+cop15/sustainability
You will notice that organizers took many of the steps that MPI has taken with its past events. You can read case studies of past MPI events:
International Human Rights Day
Posted by Elizabeth Valestuk Henderson on 12/10/2009 11:55:40 AM
December 10th -- today -- is the United Nations International Human Rights Day. Human rights is one of the four areas of the UN Global Compact, but an area that many businesses find difficult to address, especially since most human rights legislation is targeted at nation states, not enterprises. The Compact asked signatories to do two things:
- Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
- Businesses should make sure that they are not complicit in Human Rights abuses.
Human rights revolve around areas such as:
- Discrimination based on colour, race, sex or sexual orientation, nationality, social origin, heritage, disabiity or marital status
- Forced or under-age labour (for example, sweatshops or slave labour)
- Fair and equal remuneration (equal pay for equal work)
- Hours of work
- Freedom of association (labour unions, right to strike)
- The environment and human rights (right to clean water, for example)
- Anti-corrpution in the workplace (for example, bribes)
Are there any human rights issues in the meetings and events industry that you, as industry practitioners, have recognized or have had to deal with?
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