Sustainability is no longer something that live events can ignore, and companies are stepping up to play a role in helping reduce the carbon footprint of events.
Lindsay Arell, founder and principal of Honeycomb Strategies — a woman owned sustainability consulting firm specializing in the events, venue, and the hospitality industry — will be digging into this topic at XLIVExLDI on the panel Sustainability: Are You Ready For Net Zero?
With over 20 years of experience, Arell has enjoyed working with numerous venues and some of the largest and most sustainable venues, conferences, and events in the industry, including: City of Denver Arts and Venues, The Philadelphia Eagles and Lincoln Financial Field, Vancouver Convention Center, Natural Products Expo West and East, Sustainable Brands, and many others.
Check out an exclusive XLIVE Q&A with Arell below, and don’t miss her panel on November 18th!
XLIVE: How have views around sustainability within the events and hospitality industries shifted over the past couple years? Is the interest stronger than it was pre-pandemic?
Lindsay Arell: We have definitely seen an increase in interest and awareness around sustainability in the hospitality industry. In addition to more requests and interest, the conversation around sustainability in events has become more sophisticated. Our clients are looking for support far beyond recycling, to more holistic programs that look to address DEI, the local community, their carbon impact, and utilizing technology to support their goals.
XL: In many cases, eco-friendly options can be more expensive upfront — how do you approach sustainability conversations with clients while also keeping business objectives in mind?
LA: While there are initiatives that may be more expensive, many are actually cost savers. Our approach is to focus on efficiencies in the overall system. For example, many events print and handout daily newsletters to all the event attendees and at the hotels. These magazines cost money to print, ship to the show, hand out — money to eventually throw away at the end of the event. However, significant cost savings can be achieved by reducing the amount printed and having them available in key areas or as integrated content into the mobile app. Another example is eliminating plastic water bottles, and instead offering water refill stations. This can also be a sponsorship opportunity, turning the initiative into a revenue generator!
XL: What do you think are the biggest obstacles still standing in the way of more widespread sustainability initiatives in the events industry (especially in the US)?
LA: I think the biggest challenge is the inconsistency in the industry around measuring impacts and reporting. When working with a client, our first step is to ALWAYS get a baseline. This allows us to provide recommendations around real opportunities and challenges, while also recognizing where a client is excelling. However, the information from venues and suppliers can be inconsistent, inaccurate, or not available at all. It would be great to establish a basic understanding of what and how to measure these impacts.
XL: What is a project that you’ve recently worked on that you’re most proud of?
LA: One of the areas I am most proud of is the work we are doing with ASM Global and Savor. As a company, ASM has made a strong commitment to sustainable practices through the ASM Global ACTS program. Over the course of the past six months, we have been working together to identify these goals so they are actionable and impactful. We have also developed a system for tracking these key performance indicators at all the venues across the globe. This will allow ASM to report out to their stakeholders with creditability and transparency.
XL: What are some of your aspirations for what venues/event operations could look like in the next few years from a sustainability perspective?
LA: I would love to see conversations around sustainability happening at the very beginning of the planning phase. Begin with sustainability as a main pillar of the decision making and design process, instead of being added as an afterthought.