The next greenmeetings & events conference will take place from February 26 to 27, 2013 at the darmstadtium in Darmstadt, following a decision by the advisory committee in its meeting on September 27, 2011.
Initiators and organisers of the conference on the organisation of sustainable events are the GCB German Convention Bureau and the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC).
GCB managing director Matthias Schultze says :”This year’s greenmeetings and events conference demonstrated that the industry is now engaging with the issue. At the 2013 conference we will continue with the successful blueprint and develop the subject of green meetings far beyond the strictly environmental aspect. For instance, we also plan to include themes such as CSR, employee comfort and compliance in the debate, strengthening Germany’s position as a meetings host in this respect too.”
“The conference venue has also been chosen with a view to delivering a practical illustration of sustainable meetings in Germany. After all, the darmstadtium marries energy-efficient construction with outstandingly creative architecture and a sustainable overall concept. It illustrates perfectly that green meetings, as well as being economically viable, can also be attractive,” says EVVC president Joachim König of the rationale behind the choice of venue. Opened in 2008, through its extensive use of geothermal, biomass and solar energy the darmstadtium scientific and conference centre meets virtually all its energy requirements using renewable energies. At the end of 2010 the centre was awarded the Green Globe seal of environmental approval. It is owned by the Technische Universität Darmstadt and the Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt (city of science and research).
Lars Wöhler, managing director of the darmstadtium, is delighted at winning the bid: “We see our sustainability management as an important element in national and international competition. The greenmeetings & events conference affords us a good opportunity to demonstrate our considerable sustainable meetings competence.” At the last greenmeetings & events conference on March 1 and 2, 2011 in the Congress Centrum Mainz around 400 participants from all segments of the events industry discussed the importance of sustainability for their sector. The virtual accompanying event to the conference that the organisers conducted two weeks later online reached another roughly 200 registered participants.
Practical support for staging Green Meetings is offered by the GCB German Convention Bureau on its website www.gcb.de. Visitors there will find an overview of existing certification and examples of best practice at hotels and conference centres, among other things.
