Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 20)

MN Exclusive Research Not Everyone Is Going Green By William Ng T Meetings Destined For Success Puerto Vallarta’s most beautiful hotel is now even better! The all-inclusive, all-suite Barceló La Jolla de Mismaloya Hotel has completed an expansive renovation to its guest suites, public spaces, a new spa facility and its famous beach. With 318 one and two bedroom guest suites, 10,000 square feet of meeting space, legendary service and endless sunshine, it’s the perfect destination for your next meeting. And for a limited time it’s the perfect price! Book your meeting or incentive program now and enjoy special savings for 2008 group bookings. Per person group rates beginning at $150 per person/double occupancy. CALL: 1-888-676-7960 to book your next group at any Barceló Resort The Barceló La Jolla de Mismaloya Hotel is an all-inclusive luxury resort located on Mismaloya Bay in Puerto Vallarta. All-inclusive resort guests enjoy suite accommodations, unlimited dining & house cocktails at the resort’s five restaurants & lounges, sports activities on the beach & at the swimming pools, health club access and live entertainment. Also available – spa services and golf nearby. For more information and reservations: 1-800-BARCELO or www.barcelo.com 20 MeetingNews January 28, 2008 he shift to green practices in the meetings industry has undoubtedly been occurring over the past year. But a recent straw poll on meetingnews.com shows the trend is still ﬁnding its running legs. MeetingNews’ online poll of about 50 planners found that more than a quarter of them do not plan to implement green tactics or strategies into their meetings this year.Anecdotes from planners point to a lack of industry standards and misconceptions as barriers. Some said their ﬁrms just have not expressed interest. “I’m not getting doors knocked down for green events,” said Lori Hill, president of Burtonsville, MDbased Lori Hill Event Productions. “People [think] it costs a lot more money and is too difﬁcult.” Planners like Beth Cooper-Zobott, director of conference services for apartment-rental ﬁrm Equity Residential, in Chicago, are trying to extract real information from myths about green meetings. “Is there a resource that breaks it all down into [numbers]?” she asked. While the United Kingdom has creatMN ed a 34-page national speciﬁcation for Exclusive Research green meetings, called BS 8901, Amy Spatrisano, a principal of Portland, ORbased Meeting Strategies Worldwide and wellknown green meetings expert, said there is no U.S. standard (though the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Meetings Initiative offers information). But Spatrisano said the Convention Industry Council’s APEX initiative is working on sustainability. The Green Meeting Industry Council (where Spatrisano is a director) and other industry groups are pushing directives, too. In more grassroots efforts, both Spatrisano and Hill have offered green meetings advice on MN’s blog at meetingnews.com/gurus. Spatrisano and her Meeting Strategies Worldwide partner, Nancy Wilson, have co-authored a 100-page book, Simple Steps to Green Meetings and Events. A seminar series based on their book was launched last month; dates and locations (and green tools) can be found at www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com. “Lack of knowledge and lead time is stopping people,” said Spatrisano. “There’s still a learning curve. Planners should do parts at a time.” r Contact William Ng at william.ng@nielsen.com www.meetingnews.com http://www.mimegasite.com/mimegasite/research/index.jsp http://www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com/gurus http://www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com http://www.barcelo.com http://www.barcelo.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - January 28, 2008

Meeting News - January 28, 2008 Contents What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com Technology MN Webcast Report Successful Meetings University Advertisers Index Live from the Forum

Meeting News - January 28, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.