Meeting News - September 8, 2008 - (Page 48)

Destination Insider: Las Vegas Edited by Rayna Katz rayna.katz@nielsen.com Behind Poker Face, Harrah’s Plays It Green Gaming resort giant introduces unified environmental program for all properties Harrah’s Entertainment has raised the green bar in Las Vegas with what is being considered the city’s first carbon-offset program for meetings and conventions, introduced this summer. Specific conventions in town have offered carbon offsets—including the McAfee annual sales kickoff held at the MGM Grand earlier this year— but Harrah’s is apparently the first resort operator to offer carbon offsets and green meeting programs across its entire portfolio of 50-plus properties. “Planners have been asking about and expecting an organization-wide green meetings initiative from us,” said Gwen Migita, director of corporate social responsibility for Harrah’s. “We’ve had green programs in place for corporate functions for about the last five years, but it’s all been on a property-by-property basis,” she explained. “With 1.5 million sf of meeting space and 40,000 guest rooms, we needed a strategic program.” Harrah’s green kick-off was the World Series of Poker. The company bought carbon offsets for all of its own energy use and waste during the sixand-a-half-week event at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino. Harrah’s also let participants and spectators counter their own greenhouse gas emissions by buying personal carbon offsets. The entire program was coordinated through NativeEnergy, which manages a farmer-owned wind power program and other renewable energy projects around the country. “An overwhelming percentage of players and guests were interested,” Migita said. “The typical offset for travel and other energy use was about 2 metric tons of carbon dioxide per person.” Harrah’s now offers NativeEnergy carbon offsets for all corporate and other events at all properties. Planners and sponsors can calculate and buy offsets for the entire event from NativeEnergy or point attendees to www.nativeenergy.com to buy individual offsets. Individual guests, such as meeting attendees, can also buy NativeEnergy carbon offsets to counter their global warming impact. A new sustainability logo from www. harrahs.com will link directly to NativeEnergy after a website design is completed this fall, Migita said. Planners and meeting sponsors also will be able to link to NativeEnergy from their own event websites. The carbon offset program follows Harrah’s first company-wide set of green meeting standards. Sustainability experts at Harrah’s properties in Las Vegas; Tunica, MS; Lake Tahoe; Atlantic City; and other destinations hammered out differences in individual environmental criteria to create corporate standards for all events. Typical changes made by constituent properties include reductions in lighting and HVAC during move-in and move-out periods, sales and marketing materials printed on recycled paper, donation or composting for leftover food, recycling bins throughout meeting areas, pushing vendors and partners for more environmentally responsible practices, and no- or reduced-disposable policies for condiments, water bottles, and other types of packaging. Harrah’s also has been retrofitting energy conservation systems throughout the company to reduce energy use and emissions. Migita said that 75 major conservation projects had saved about $10 million in energy use through the end of 2007. “That’s the emissions equivalent of 81,000 flights from Los Angeles to New York that we didn’t dump into the air,” she said. “Green is as good for business as it is for the environment.” —Fred Gebhart www.meetingnews.com World Series of Poker does carbon offsets. Will Mobile Gaming Distract Attendees? Las Vegas is testing what could manifest into a new competitor to your next event: attendees gaming inside the meeting. The Venetian is testing a mobile gaming device called eDeck. About the size of a PDA, eDeck lets casino patrons play blackjack, poker, roulette, and other familiar games while they wander the public areas of the Venetian— including ballrooms, meeting rooms, and the entire Sands Expo Center. Almost the only place that will be off-limits to eDeck is hotel rooms. Users set up an account and log in on an eDeck 48 MeetingNews September 8, 2008 Photo: AP/Photo/ Isaac Brekken offered by the casino resort. At press time, there was no word on whether meeting planners could have the devices turned off in some, or all, meetCantor Gaming’s eDeck ing spaces. could wreak havoc. —FG http://www.nativeenergy.com http://harrahs.com http://harrahs.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - September 8, 2008

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