“We are facing unprecedented times”, has been the mantra of the past months and year(s). Rightly so, with the events industry grinding to a sudden halt, and only now slowly returning to a new normal. This new normal is going to be affected by more waves of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions, alongside impacts of changing climate patterns and the worst global recession since World War II (World Bank, 2020). With many industries struggling for survival, building capacity for ongoing resilience is crucial. For associations, events, and meetings, fostering industry-wide resilience will have to pivot around the creation of a strong value proposition and strong values.

The Regenerative Approach

Recovery without forethought about the long-term impacts is short-sighted at best, and detrimental to global environmental and social well-being at worst. For this reason, we need to take a regenerative approach. An approach that does not repair the old, and patch what's already broken, but reimagines the new. Its goals are to rebuild a regenerative and resilient tourism and events economy that works for everyone; to create an industry that generates jobs and spreads prosperity inclusively and fairly; a resilient, vibrant, and flourishing industry, that grows in harmony with, and not against, nature and its boundaries. Ultimately, we need to create an industry that regenerates cities, people, and the world around us.

Next Steps

As we educate, inspire, certify and unite people through associations, we need to advocate for a regenerative recovery. Associations can be the voice of our respective industries at this critical time, and as we start meeting again, we need to build and facilitate relationships with our host destinations, and ask ourselves how our events can deliver positive local impacts. This could be by initiating and supporting events that raising awareness on social or environmental issues, creating collaborations that help solve these issues beyond an event’s duration, or generating new long-term employment. An example of this is INTECOL in New Zealand, which will raise awareness of "our understanding of wetland biodiversity and ecosystem management and broadened the awareness of the ‘wise use’ of natural resources for sustainable development” (Meet4Impact).

Specifically, we have identified seven areas for product and service development for associations from our research, and an eight action that is central to success:

1. Education: Organize learning and dialogue events, workshops, e-learning and training for members on specific topics related to regeneration and sustainability.
2. Awareness Raising: Create a structured programme to regularly and consistently share sustainability best practices and knowledge amongst members.
3. Collective Action: Engage members in collective action and partnership efforts on industry issues and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
4. Advocacy: Join forces with members to create a common voice and power to advocate for change in the relevant industry. Target key policymakers and the public.
5. Standards: Develop sector-specific standards, tools and certifications on sustainable development issues.
6. Networking: Foster and broker new business partnerships that place sustainability and positive social and environmental impact at their core.
7. Research: Investigate and understand how today’s and tomorrow’s environmental and social trends will affect members and industry, and the role of integrating sustainable and regenerative practices post-Covid.
8. Measure and Report Impact: To communicate success and failure internally and externally, we need to have solid processes and indicators in place to help us understand our impact and ultimately leave behind a regenerative legacy.

Partnership

To make it simpler for concerned individuals and collectives to support sustainability, the Global Destination Sustainability Movement and Conferli joined forces. When an organiser uses Conferli to select a destination for a future (annual) conference or event, s/he can activate the sustainability commitment parameter and see results for destinations with a GDS-Index score. Partnerships like these make it easier for associations to hold more regenerative events and create positive impact for visitors, residents, the environment, and the future of our industry.

As associations and the events industry reinvent to traverse the uncertain paths to new territory, the vision of a regenerative future should be the guiding star, a vision that acknowledges and celebrates the economic benefits we bring while being deeply aware that for true resilience, we must amplify positive impacts on societies and the environment alike.

About the Author:

Noah Joubert is a Sustainability Consultant of the Global Destination Sustainability Movement, a destination level movement that benchmarks and improves the sustainability strategy and performance of destinations, encouraging them to become more sustainable places to visit, meet, and thrive in.

About Conferli:

Conferli is a conference match-making platform for organizers, venues and destinations. Our aim is to level out the playing field in the event industry, enabling events of all shapes and sizes to find bestsuiting destinations - easily and efficiently. We do that by creating access to independent benchmarking data, supported by smart technology and fuelled by our passion for the conference world.
www.conferli.com