Does Event Sustainability Still Matter? Use Data to Make the Case…
We’ve heard the dismayed frustration from many event marketers - clients and stakeholders recently downplaying the need for event sustainability. There are many potential factors…government misdirection, cost concerns, apathy.
And yet, many event professionals understand how wasteful events can be, and genuinely care about reducing environmental impact.
The Experiential Marketing Measurement Coalition (EMMC) has released a playbook for evaluating event sustainability, with two key metrics we suggest all events use: CO2e per participant and landfill waste per participant.
But measuring impact alone isn’t necessarily going to change minds about the importance of event sustainability. We’d suggest combining these critical data points with other inputs to make the case:
Attendee preferences. Event marketers have access to ask questions of event attendees. We’d suggest asking them to rate the importance of event sustainability when it comes to decisions to attend, event satisfaction, perceptions of your brand, meeting their expectations and so on, and using the resulting data to inform the prioritization of sustainability in event plans.
If your event has sponsors or partners, also ask them about the importance of environmental sustainability when it comes to choosing whether or not to invest in your event.
Cost correlations. Ideally, being environmentally sustainable isn’t a budget buster - but budgeting data is needed to prove this out. Evaluate the cost of sustainable choices and seek out opportunities to reduce impact AND cost.
Connect environmental impact data with attendee preferences and costs impacts for a comprehensive analysis of event sustainability - and use the assessment to guide client and/or stakeholder conversations.