MEETOVATION: No more boring meetings, please!

The termination of endless one-way communication and traditional meeting room layout is near. Aim for a better ROMI - Return on Meeting Investment - and be green, too. Denmark has the solution: Meetovation!

Do you recognize the old-fashioned inactive meeting concept - the one where you doze off and slide down till your head meets the back of your chair - and you wonder, 'did I snore?' Every year, the meeting industry is spending millions of hours, and dollars, on meetings. And too often, the results are dubious, in large part because of constant one-way communication from the speaker…

This is exactly what the Danish meeting industry and VisitDenmark - The Official Tourism Organization of Denmark - intend to change, by kicking off the development of a new series of innovative meeting concepts. "Meetovation", they call it. Currently, 142 key personnel from 65 hotels, cultural landmarks, conference organizers etc. all over the country are participating in intensive seminars, building the knowledge and inspiration to develop the "Meetovation" concepts.

VisitDenmark anticipates creating a range of new concepts that will revolutionize the operational structure and strategic planning of future meetings. The goal is to transform the traditional meeting into a creative forum, in which the participants are actively involved, and sharing the knowledge they need to more effectively obtain the objectives of the meeting - which again should lead to a better bottom line and ROI.

Key elements for all new "Meetovation" concepts are:
- The participants will be involved far more than today
- The ambiance will be used creatively, to physically support the purpose of the meeting.
- The CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), environmental aspects will be interwoven into the structure of the meeting
- The result and the ROI of the meetings will be measurable and documented (ROMI)
- The local and/or regional unique characteristics add meaningful value to the meeting.
- The "Meetovation" concepts will be ready to be marketed internationally mid 2008.

For further information, contact:
Mr. Lars Blicher-Hansen, Manager - Special Projects at VisitDenmark, Tel: +45 3288 9920,
Email: lbh@visitdenmark.com.
 

Scandic Hotels phases out bottled water

Scandinavian Hotel chain Scandic Hotels has added another milestone to its environmental work by choosing to phase out bottled water. The hotel provider has put an end to selling bottled water in its restaurants and during conferences, and calculates that this move will cut its fossil carbon dioxide emissions by 160 tonnes per year. Scandic currently sells around 1.2 million litres of water, equating to 3.6 million 33cl bottles, every year.

Last autumn, Scandic Hotels decided to reduce fossil carbon dioxide emissions from its direct activities to zero by 2025, with an interim target of halving emissions by 2011. Bottled water is being phased out as part of the next area, which in part is on shipments to the hotels.

Instead of bottled water, Scandic will now be offering its guests chilled and filtered water, both still and carbonated, from taps. The taps will ensure that valuable minerals and salts are retained while unwanted chemicals are removed. Scandic’s guests will still be able to have their water bottled – but filling the bottle at the hotel avoids unnecessary shipments of water impacting on the environment.

For more on Scandic Hotel’s CSR policies, contact:
Jan Peter Bergkvist, VP Sustainable Business, Scandic, Tel: +46 709 73 59 63. www.scandic-hotels.com

Brøchner Hotels takes its share of environmental responsibility

Danish hotel chain Brøchner Hotels is taking a lead in the global climate issue by attempting to become the world's first CO2-neutral hotel chain.

The hotel chain, which includes Hotel Kong Arthur****, Hotel Fox***, Ibsens Hotel*** and Hotel Danmark*** in Copenhagen - will be CO2-neutral as early as end of this year and could be of great interest to British meeting professionals seeking to organise “sustainable meetings abroad”!

On the basis of their heat- and electricity consumption for 2007, the Danish hotel chain has calculated its collective CO2 emissions and subsequently purchased carbon credits corresponding to this consumption level and the plan is to commit to buying carbon credits equivalent to their collective emissions every year from this point forward. Another intiative is offering guests special "CO2 accommodations," whereby a room's traditional bottle of champagne is exchanged with a carbon credit of one tonne of CO2, which is subsequently delisted.

The ambitious initiative from Brøchner Hotels also involves an initiative to create a website offering other hotels around the world the opportunity to support the concept of being CO2-neutral and, thus, to share the responsibility for climate change. To become part of the network hotels must be able to document their CO2 neutrality either by installing wind turbines on their lots, mounting solar cells on their roofs, or purchasing carbon credits or credits corresponding to their collective energy- and heat consumption. See also www.CO2neutral-hotels.com

As part of their drive to take a leading position within the “sustainability” issue, Brøchner Hotels is also focusing on reducing its energy consumption, and has established a series of environmental requirements for the hotel's suppliers and has chosen to purchase all of their electricity from the new power company Modstroem, Denmark's first independent- and environmentally friendly power company. The hotel chain has also joined forces with the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy's on their “one-tonne-less” campaign (www.kemin.dk) – and its climate initiatives are part of a five-point plan which can be found on http://www.brochner-hotels.dk

For further information please contact:
Mrs. Kirsten Brøchner-Mortensen, CEO Brøchner Hotels, Tel.: +45 3395 7700, Email: kb@brochner-hotels.dk

SAS introduces carbon offset program for international meetings

If not the first, then as one of the first airlines in the world, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) launches a Carbon offset program for International Congresses & Events – as part of the SAS Official

Airline product. As within the hotel business, SAS’ new programme enables meeting professionals around the world to include carbon offset for air travel in their aim for creating carbon neutral events. At the event the organizer can then visualize and publicize the total carbon emission and offset paid for the specific event.

To make this possible Scandinavian Airlines work in partnership with The Carbon Neutral Company (TCNC), a supplier of CO2 reduction projects and sustainable development activities for a wide range of prominent customers around the globe.

SAS and TCNC offer the Organizer to include carbon offset as part of the online registration for the event, enabling the individual delegate to pay offset when registering for the conference. It will also be possible to use the existing SAS/TCNC website for paying the carbon offset connected to a specific event, by using the designated event code. For both options the Event organizer or the conference delegate will receive a certificate from TCNC on the Carbon Neutral Travel. The Organizer can choose if the offset should be mandatory or voluntary. The offset could even be sponsored. The program is for all attendees travelling to the event.

Facts about SAS and the carbon offset initiative
- In March 2007 SAS was one of the first airlines to offer the voluntary carbon offset to individual passengers.
- Since then the Carbon offset has also been offered to SAS’s Corporate agreements and now also for the Official Airline agreements for International meetings.
- The programme is also available for events in Scandinavia where SAS is the lead airline for a Star Alliance Conventions Plus agreement.

www.sasgroup.net and www.flysas.co.uk

For more on SAS new initiative, contact:
Mrs. Sus Nygaard, Manager Conventions & Events - SAS Incoming Sales & Promotion, Tel: +45 3232 2151,
Email: sus.nygaard@sas.dk.