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! 

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.

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.

It was a strange experience. What no one ever thought possible actually happened: overnight, the world of events and conferences came to a complete standstill. Suddenly the Beurs van Berlage, just as many other event venues, was confronted with an empty agenda. “All the same, at the start we were still quite busy”, Evelien van Kessel. “Primarily with rescheduling events. This involved many complex activities: you have to reassure organisers, create space in the already full agenda, examine whether the current form of the event will still be suitable a year from now, and discussing with hotels about the already booked rooms for multi-day conferences.”

Checking what is still possible: restart with small events

It quickly became evident for the Beurs that the solution was not to sit around and wait for the pandemic to pass by. The requirements from the market had to be seriously listened to and new products and services had to be developed. Special attention was given to what was possible, despite all the restrictions and uncertainties. This resulted in a restart with small-scale events, such as concerts and diploma presentations. Rooms were also made available for shareholder's meetings and examinations, and the Beurs was even fitted out as a polling station for the national election. “This was an excellent way to help other sectors that had a lack of space. It was also a relief for our own personnel, because doing nothing is not part of our DNA.”

The next step: entering the Beurs virtually

However, the Beurs did even more, for example by responding to the increasing demand for hybrid and virtual events. Together with partners Faber Audiovisuals, Univate and Plugged Live Shows, a platform was quickly developed that provided organisers with the opportunity to expand their physical event with a virtual experience, or even make it completely digital.

You can enter and participate in the digital Beurs with the ‘Beurs van Berlage Virtual Live Events Platform’. The doorman personally welcomes you, after which you can enter the Beurs foyer. You can hear the buzz from the other participants in the background, just as at a live conference. Evelien is very enthusiastic about this, because in this way it is still possible to experience the ambiance of this monumental building and the personal hospitality. “With an online conference you are often provided with a link. If you click on this link, you normally enter a Zoom environment. But the Beurs is more than this, it is a location that you choose because of its rich history and character. With the platform the experience, even if digitally, is that you are actually in the Beurs van Berlage. The carousel in the platform enables visitors to communicate with other conference visitors, and even ask questions live to the speakers.”

In order to raise hybrid and virtual events to a mature level, the Beurs designed a completely new state-of-the-art event studio: Studio Berlage. Studio Berlage is not just a green screen where a speaker is projected against a different background, but a real stage in one of the historic rooms of the Beurs. Use is made of a LED base surrounded by a virtual world. This enables a lively remote interaction between the audience, the presenters and/or several keynote speakers.

In addition, the Administration Room was converted into a smaller studio, Studio 1903, that is fully equipped to support organisers of smaller online webinars, seminars and other small-scale virtual events.

Online will remain due to its significant added value

The Beurs van Berlage believes that hybrid events will continue, because the online component adds tremendous value. An important benefit is that organisers can now increase their reach. “Normally speaking there is room in the Beurs van Berlage for a maximum of 1300 conference participants. By adding an online component, you can increase the number of participants almost indefinitely. But you can also attract an entirely different target group, because online also works as an on-demand model. People who are only interested in a specific part of the conference only watch that item. Furthermore, watching remotely is very interesting for people who do not want, are not able or are not permitted to travel. You can choose to watch sessions at a later time. You can achieve better results from your event with online additions. Because of the possibility to split a video recording into smaller sections, you can choose to offer them again at a later time. This can be done via a digital channel, for example by means of a subscription, but also during another event.”

Live events will return in full force

But regardless of the value of all the online options, Evelien still believes in the power of live events. “A spontaneous conversation on the floor is very different than communicating via a screen. It is obviously a completely different feeling to visit an event in an international hotspot with charm; a magnificent building, the place to be in the warm heart of Amsterdam, where special things happen.”  

She is convinced that live events will return in their full glory. In her opinion, this will certainly be accompanied by new challenges when it also involves an online component. People watching via a screen are often easily distracted, so that it is more difficult to hold their attention. Conversely: as easy as it is to attend an event from your living room, it requires extra effort to attract people to an on-site visit.

“If you want to be successful with a hybrid event, than you have to actually offer two separate programmes. Those programmes will need to provide a greater differentiating factor than previously. Live conferences are all about an inclusive programme for the entire day, including a good lunch, clean toilets, clear signposting and hospitable personnel. The online component is far more about matters such as the ability of the speakers, the session topics and the content.”

Working together to make a success of your event

The Beurs van Berlage wants to assist organisers of conferences and other events, on how they can best grip their live and online participants. “We have every facility available to completely organise and host an unforgettable conference from A to Z, live, hybrid or completely virtual. Our employees are very experienced and, together with our partners, can relieve an organiser of many tasks. Consider, for instance, the preparatory stage, the registration, the organisation of hotels during the event, the event itself with everything it entails, but also the aftercare. We have everything available to make every event a great success.”

The entire situation during the past eighteen months has certainly led to a great deal of creativity at the Beurs van Berlage. It is clear that the organisation is resilient and can quickly adapt to change. “We never gave up. The crisis has taught us that you always have to have a plan B. An event can then always take place, even if something unexpected occurs. We can always support our customers in some way. Together, we will make a success of your event and ensure that we achieve your ultimate objective: that visitors have an unforgettable experience,” Evelien van Kessel concludes.

Would you like to organise a (hybrid) conference or event in the Beurs van Berlage? Read more here or please contact us.