Roundtable
people are very passionate
about sustainability. People
are looking at things in a
different way because of the
low amounts of travel and
the other good news for the
environment.”
Seaman explained that
consumers want events that
are sustainable. He added: “It
is a must have now. We have
got to stop looking at this as
a race to the bottom, this is
a commercial opportunity
and buyers are willing to
spend more for a sustainable
solution and organisers need
to take note of that. If you
raise the water level, then
everyone floats higher.”
Tabitha Neill, operations
manager at EventShaper,
added: “There is a lot of
worry around how Covid-19
could affect sustainability
and we are going to have to
pay a lot of attention to what
those areas are and make
sure that in those areas we
are able to meet we are doing
them well.”
Who is responsible for
regulating sustainability?
Miriam Sigler, director at
Ways and Means, explains:
“This is one of the big
sticking points. It’s easy
to say it is the contractor’s
problem, the venue’s
problem, the organiser’s
problem and it is one of the
hot potatoes that someone
will happily through
to someone else. It is a
collective responsibility. I
was quite enthused following
an ESSA update that one
of the five working groups
coming out of government
was how to recover the
economy in a green and
sustainable way, and I think
Matthew Lambert
Covid-19 is allowing us the
throw out the rulebook and
start again.”
Stead added: “It is all of our
responsibility and if we do
nothing the government will
tax us further down the road.
We have to think about what
the government is going to
do if we do nothing.”
Seaman explained that
this is the organisers
responsibility. He added:
“This is squarely the
organisers responsibility.
The moment we stop
beating suppliers up on
price then suppliers are
not going to choose a more
sustainable option as it is
more expensive for a supplier
to be sustainable but it is
beneficial for an organiser to
Miriam Sigler
deliver a sustainable event
because we know that buyers
are more willing to pay more
for a sustainable product.
For my events consumers
are willing to pay 30 per cent
more for a more sustainable
product. The organiser has
to see the commercial value
in it and feed it down the
supply chain.”
Sigler argues that it is
harder for smaller organisers
to implement robust
sustainability measures. She
added: “I work with a lot of
smaller organisers who I
cannot get to pay an extra
5p per square meter and are
still stuck on prices from
1980. We have to be able to
present cheaper or equal
value options to make it
Tabitha Neill
worthwhile.”
Stead believes that a
change in attitude is needed.
He added: “I think there is a
price point that is acceptable
and I think that many
organisers need to take a
look at their proposition
and ask if it is a valuable one
rather than I just make the
show cheaper to get to the
following year. I read but I
accept it as a challenge.”
Judith Wilson, event
director at Eventit, believes
that events can influence
change across other
industries. She added: “The
people that are coming into
shows are from all sorts of
different industries and we
can influence them with
products and sustainable
practices to take back to
their own industries.”
Matthew Lambert, owner
of Maelstrom explains that
it is a tough struggle to
convince clients to choose
the right path. He added:
“Trying to get some of our
smaller clients to do stuff is
really difficult and it does
take a lot of time. The first
year we were looking at a
carbon neutral show but
because we were a smaller
operation you don’t have
26 — August