Environmental awareness is on the rise

There’s an increasing attention for the sustainable side of entrepreneurship. Environmental consciousness seems to be bigger and more widespread than ever. For example, research from Capterra (Dutch text) shows that 99% of the Dutch are at least partially aware about sustainability. Internationally, research from Mastercard has shown that 54% of the consumers worldwide want to decrease their own carbon footprint. 62% thinks companies have the responsibility to be eco-friendly, now more than ever.

These developments of course have their consequences for the event business. The need for sustainability works on three levels: the companies that want (help) to organize an event; the conference centres and other facilitators; and of course the visitors themselves. It’s good to see the importance of a healthy environment is being more widely supported than ever before, on all these levels. Of course, organizing a sustainable event takes time and effort, but it’s also a great way to show your company’s social commitment. It’s easy to be cynical about the latter, but even in that case, it’s hard to deny the positive effects of these efforts.

Don’t let the environmental impact become a breaking point

In the end, your event needs visitors, no matter how much effort you’ve put in to organize it. The impact on the environment can be a reason not to visit an event (or to attend it digitally). This can be a real breaking point, especially for international meetings. This means you’ll have to choose a location that can easily be reached by public transport, even from abroad.

If taking the plane is still necessary after all, you can compensate this a bit by taking other measures. Aside from the impact by travelling, the volume of waste is one of the less charming sides of the event industry. Actively reducing waste is a big contribution to containing the ecological impact of the event. Furthermore, in case almost all of your visitors went there by train, also dealing with that mountain of waste is a real win-win situation, of course.

You can outsource sustainability

Most companies are used to outsourcing certain operations. At the same time, services have become much more extensive. A good conference centre doesn’t just facilitate your location. Nowadays, it’s also your partner for a wide scale of services that help you to create an unforgettable experience.

Sustainability can be seen as a part of that total package. An environmental conscious event location for example invests in a well-insulated building, but also thinks about how to improve the cooperation with their suppliers. After all, sustainability is teamwork. On the one hand, this means you don’t have to worry about these issues. On the other hand, you can show your visitors you made an environmental conscious choice. Again: it’s easy to be cynical about that, but there’s definitely a positive effect.

The Beurs van Berlage is a conference centre that really values top-notch service and sustainability. Would you like to know more about our green measures? Then download the free infographic Five-star quality and sustainable.

Willemijn de Vet explains why the Beurs van Berlage believes in sustainability: “We mainly organise multi-day, international conferences. The flights and trash of these events alone result in a large carbon footprint. Pre-covid, we already looked into ways to improve our sustainability – where did we stand as far as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) went? Several taskforces were set up and our employees were actively engaged in the subject, which resulted in many ideas and plans. These initiatives ground to a halt when covid broke out, but we picked it up afterwards. As it turned out, small sustainability projects already existed throughout the entire organisation. They were just never written down.” These separate initiatives had to be centralised. After all, sustainability is teamwork.

Green Globe certificate

To further shape our sustainability policy, the Beurs looked into sustainability certification. This led us to the Green Globe Standard, international certification for the travel and tourism industry. “That trajectory provided us a framework to evaluate and improve with. For instance, we were asked how we handled our trash, and what kind of electricity we used. It resulted in a list of things we did right and aspects to improve upon. In many areas we were already heading into the right direction. Many people believe you can’t take certain initiatives when you have an historic building, such as installing double-paned windows or solar panels. But there are still a lot of green options left. Ultimately, it’s already sustainable to use a century-old building and giving it the right to exist.” Eventually the Beurs was successfully certified, making it the first Dutch conference centre with a Green Globe certificate.

Greener each day

This trajectory also led to the continuously improved CSR policy. “We pondered which aspects of sustainability should be part of our DNA, to form the foundation of our green policy. One of the main pillars: we are not just throwing out everything non-sustainable. For instance, some parts of the building still don’t have LED lights, and we only replace them with sustainable lights when they’re broken. Furthermore, taking green initiatives often means working closely with Monument Conservation. We cannot just add double-paned windows since it changes the outlook of the building. But we can work together to choose a sustainable window that looks the same.”

Smart air circulation

The Beurs actively invests in innovations, such as ventilation. As summer passed, a lot of warmth stayed inside the building – couldn’t that be used for cold winter days? De Vet: “We set up pumps that keep hot air inside throughout winter. When it’s too cold in one room and hot in another, the system will fix that. The same thing happens in summer, only with cold air. Now we don’t need air conditioning and we consume less gas in winter. At the same time the system circulates fresh air – we don’t pump around ‘used’ oxygen. This has been a huge investment, especially for a historic building, but fortunately it was possible.”

Improving sustainability with suppliers and customers

You can’t be sustainable alone. The Beurs is depending on many partners and suppliers, such as our catering service. “Currently, we achieved a seventy percent garbage reduction in our kitchens, but there is still a lot of residual waste. For that reason, we actively ask our suppliers to reconsider their packaging materials. Could fish be delivered without the plastic wrapping? Could the coffee cups be made of renewable paper? Our partners responded positively to this, and all signed our sustainable selling policy. They agreed to inform us about environment-friendly alternatives, to align with our green objectives. Additionally, we advise our customers on how to organise sustainable events. Are there any green alternatives for the plastic name plates they’re requesting, for example? The Green Globe certificate was just the beginning – now we’re taking it to the next level.”

Would you like to know more about sustainability at the Beurs van Berlage? Download our infographic! 

Amsterdam Conference Centre Beurs van Berlage and Faircom Media have formalised their partnership. Jeroen Veenstra, General Director Faircom Media, and Marcel Schonenberg, Managing Director Beurs van Berlage, signed their new cooperation agreement earlier this week. This partnerships with Faircom Media ensures the Beurs van Berlage that event branding of future events in the Amsterdam Conference Centre will be offered at a highest possible standard.

Sustainable solutions
Together with Faircom Media, the Beurs van Berlage will continue to invest not only in the highest standard of event branding, but also in the most sustainable solutions for branding, stand construction and signage in the monumental building in the historic heart of Amsterdam in the coming years.

In August this year, the Beurs van Berlage received the Green Globe Certificate, as the first Dutch conference and events centre, recognising their efforts in making events more sustainable. “We were looking for a new partner that could offer sustainable solutions in the field of stand construction and event branding. That is exactly what we have found in Faircom Media,” says Director of Operations Marc de Winter. The sustainable solutions that Faircom Media offers include the recycling of the various materials used for stands and printed media, the use of sustainable materials in the construction of stands and, last but not least, smart solutions to minimise transport movements.

Exceeding expectations
The Beurs – designed by H.P. Berlage – was opened as a stock exchange and trade centre of the Netherlands in 1903. It has a long history of trade, craftsmanship and mercantilism. In recent years, the monument has developed into a unique, inspiring, first-class conference location. The mission of the Amsterdam Conference Centre is to offer all visitors a unique, high-level experience and to exceed the expectations of its customers and guests. Above all, the Beurs van Berlage wants to think in terms of sustainable solutions in order to make events unforgettable.

“Together we join forces to guarantee the best quality for our clients. We will combine our knowledge of the market and the Beurs van Berlage’s strength in hospitality to be able to meet and exceed our clients’ wishes – in the most sustainable way,” concludes Jeroen Veenstra.

Personal encounters are of great importance to people. We are therefore meeting each other more and more. However, there are still important measures that we must adhere to, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. This means that the organisation of all meetings must be professionalised to guarantee the safety of visitors. The event industry in the Netherlands has fully responded to this, and they are committed to organising events with the same luxurious appearance as before. How do they do this? You will read it in this blog!

Food and Drink
As far as catering is concerned, there are a lot of options to facilitate this in a safe way. The hospitality industry has shown to be very innovative in recent times. An example of this are the many pick-up and delivery options that have been set up. Even star restaurants joined in, and showed that it is also possible at a high level to offer your guests a unique experience in this way.

Such a set-up can also be applied during events. Many event venues have indicated to offer meals and snacks covered in personal boxes. Drinks are also offered in disposables. In addition, plenty of concepts are being developed to ensure that (gala) dinners take place safely. Are you curious about the possibilities that an event location offers? Please feel free to request this information from the relevant organisation.

Routing & Space
In addition to a safe solution for catering, it is of course also important to allow participants of the event to keep sufficient distance during the breaks. The surface of the event location is therefore crucial for the number of participants that can participate in your event.

Communication & Branding
Communication with individual visitors will also be extremely important in the coming period. They will be informed about the least busy routes to the event location, which entrance to take at what time, where to have lunch, which rooms to avoid if it gets too crowded, and how to safely get from one session to the next. Some locations even offer the possibility to participate virtually in a session by means of an app, if the room is too full at that moment.

In addition to individual communication to visitors, there is of course also sufficient (digital) signage available at event locations. You can almost always have these screens designed in your own corporate style, so that your brand and logo are visible everywhere during the entire event. There are also more and more possibilities to combine a live event with a virtual component. This also allows international visitors to participate in the event. In this online environment it is also possible to have your own house style reflected.

Finally
In the coming period, several technical developments will be shared in the field of events. Are you curious about the possibilities that these technological developments entail? Then take a look at this webpage of the Beurs van Berlage. They are currently working on an online environment that also offers the unique ambiance and appearance of the monumental Beurs van Berlage to participants who cannot be present in Amsterdam themselves.