Brace yourselves: Event Camp Vancouver is not a ‘green’ event. But we are working hard to ensure sustainability is a prominent theme of Event Camp. How?
First, by making sure it’s an experience designed by you, for you, planned in a way that is sensitive to our common desire to want to do better, in all facets of our life including our professions.
Secondly, we are proud of the setting for our event. The city of Vancouver happens to be one of the most livable cities on the planet, challenging itself to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. We are home to world-leading environmental advocacy groups like the David Suzuki Foundation and Greenpeace. The Vancouver Convention Centre is the first in the globe to be LEED® certified Platinum. Our host hotel, the Westin Bayshore, provides environmentally responsible guest rooms and meeting services, including an event impact report card that we look forward to sharing after Event Camp.
We care about sustainability here. A lot. Ask each of our event collaborators and they will tell you sustainability is about who they are. It’s a personal value, a daily business mantra, a non-negotiable expectation. But don’t take our word for it. Look around you while you’re here. Listen. Learn. Take photos! Share what collaborators and attendees have to offer about sustainability through the Get Your Green On Game and Gallery.
The Vancouver host committee is proud to be setting a stage for conversations that include sustainability not only for our in-person attendees, but those who will be joining us as carbon-sensitive virtual attendees. In fact, we estimate for every 100 participants who join us virtually we expand our reach and avoid 38 metric tons of emissions! We think it is a pretty noble decision to attend online, and because of that virtual attendees should make sure to also check out our Game. You can play along with in-person attendees and we have special points and prizes just for you.
We don’t assume to meet a particular green event standard here at Event Camp. We also acknowledge we’re not perfect and want to use this event to learn and continue to improve. We trust you’ll let us know how we’re doing.
We’ve experienced that sustainability can seem more burden than benefit sometimes. So we want to get back to basics at Event Camp Vancouver. Remind ourselves sustainability is about being diligent about planning decisions while also having fun and inspiring attendees. Our goal is to be solutionary. We want to innovate at the nexus of technology and meetings in the service of sustainability – by doing better by each other. We’re excited to have you join us in this adventure!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Getting here, Greener
The host committee for Event Camp has integrated sustainability into many decisions made for this event. Our goal? To enable you to act on your values by choosing how to participate. Sustainability is not a law or a rule. It is your choice and option, so think about how you want to engage while you attend. Virtual participants have a very small footprint, and Vancouver registrants can reduce their impact too.
· Before leaving home unplug appliances, turn off the lights and adjust the thermostat to save energy. Patterson Brands is kindly providing water bottles onsite, so you don’t need to pack one, unless you can’t do without your favourite one.
· If you’re flying pack light, use paperless check-in, choose direct flights and minimize stopovers. Did you know that by packing even one pound less you save carbon? So leave that ‘maybe’ pair of shoes at home if you can.
· Once in Vancouver enjoy the quick and easy Canada Line Skytrain trip downtown. It’s a two zone fare with helpful attendees available at the airport to assist if you have questions. Live like a local and take advantage of Vancouver’s transit system while you’re here. It’s safe, easy-to use, affordable and gets you virtually anywhere.
· We encourage you to be responsible for emissions you can’t avoid by purchasing a carbon offset. You may be able to purchase an offset through your airline directly when you reserve your flight. You can also buy an offset separately. Although we encourage you to choose a provider that suits you, Offsetters is an organization based in Vancouver that will ensure your contribution goes to projects within British Columbia. They also have a simple offset calculator on their web site.
· Once at the Westin Bayshore you can take advantage of their Make a Green Choice program at check-in, which helps save water, energy and reduce pollution.
Get Your Green On Game
When you were a kid, camp was really about having fun and playing games. In keeping with that spirit Event Camp Vancouver is excited to offer a Get Your Green On Game to bust the myth sustainability is as dry as granola and tough as a burlap sack. Part scavenger hunt, part competitive challenge, and part green geekery, Get Your Green On lets you earn points for taking simple green actions during Event Camp. Act, score and win. It’s that simple! We’re challenging attendees to earn high individual scores of course (and yes there are prizes!), but we also want to achieve a goal of 1000 acts of green by all participants – virtual and in-person - before event close. Check out the tab in the Quickmobile event application to start playing and Get Your Green On!
Sustainable Event Campfire Stories
Although most Event Camp attendees are used to dealing with best practice checklists as planners and suppliers of sustainable events, at Event Camp we thought it was more appropriate to share our best practices as campfire sustainability stories. If you’re Getting Your Green On and spot a sustainability story in the making – here in Vancouver or virtually - snap a photo and share it in the Quickmobile Gallery. You can get points for spotting random acts of green!
Westin Make a Green Choice Program
· Don’t think your individual green guest room actions make a difference? Hanging up your towels for one night can conserve 49 gallons of water. That’s 787 cups of water, or 2 cups for one person every day for a whole year. The Westin Bayshore gives you the choice to reduce your footprint by taking part in this unique Starwood program. Ask for it at check-in.
Sustainable Food & Beverage
· Get Your Green On by going on a sustainable food scavenger hunt at Event Camp. Spot a good example of ‘green’ food and beverage? Maybe an attendee refilling their coffee, eating a vegetarian meal or performing a random act of compost? Snap a photo and upload it to the Gallery for game points.
· Our meals at the Vancouver Convention Center are made from scratch and use minimally packaged, regionally purveyed ingredients. That may not sound like a big deal, but in an era when meeting venue food is travelling many miles, arriving processed and pre-packaged that’s an important way to keep food fresh, nutritious, affordable and sustainable. The VCC also uses fairly traded products, including fair trade, shade grown, organic coffee, tea, chocolate, and cocoa.
· During Event Camp take time to check out Vancouver’s great restaurants. To get leads on local sustainable fare check out the Green Table Network , or ask your hotel concierge. You’ll also want to keep an eye out for the Vancouver Aquarium’s Oceanwise program to give you confidence you’re ordering sustainable seafood. Event Camp collaborator Culinary Capers is actually a founding partner of the Oceanwise program!
Room for Thought
· All of the wood products used by Greenscape Décor in the Room for Thought have been reclaimed locally in keeping with their Green Mandate. The troughs used are movie props salvaged from film clients. Everything has been reused and will be used again as it makes its way back into the rental inventory. They are bringing the outside in, without adversely affecting the environment.
