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Planner’s Perspective

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Lisa Marie Borchert
Meeting Planner
Member of MPI’s Minnesota Chapter and Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of the International Special Events Society (ISES).


The next MPI-ISES meeting this October will be a green event taking place in Minneapolis, with 250 attendees expected. Borchert is one of the primary planners of the event, which at press time was still in the works.

Have you planned a green meeting in the past?
It is the first meeting.

What was the impetus for this to be a green event?
There seems to be a lot of buzz around the topic right now. Both organizations were planning to do one and decided to collaborate. Based on every industry publication, it’s very timely.

Is it an overwhelming task?
It’s a little hard getting started. What’s good is that it’s educating. I don’t think much is known about what it means, where to start, what the tools are. There is a learning curve. It’s more about starting the conversation. We’re expecting 250. That’s a lot of people to plan a venue for that’s green. I don’t think it’s realistic it will be perfectly green—completely recyclable, sustainable—but we’ll get a few things right. I don’t think it seems overwhelming, I think it sounds exciting. There is a lot more possibility for creativity and collaboration.

What are you doing to make it green?
We’re bringing in a national speaker, an authority on whole topic: Simran Sethi from TreeHugger. She’s been on Oprah. They do a lot around the whole green movement, not just around meetings and events. We’ll do a carbon emissions offset for her flight. There will be a mini trade show and panel of local people afterward, giving people ideas on vendors and tools. A lighting company will talk about LED lighting, we’ll have a booth on promotional products that are recyclable. One of the things we want to look at is how items are packaged. Is there a way to put promotional products out with less packaging? We’re trying to focus on all aspects of the industry.

What are some of the challenges?
We’re in an interesting position. We have to educate ourselves. Our biggest challenge has been trying to find a nontraditional green venue, not a hotel. We’ve tried to go to places that make more sense: a zoo, an arboretum, historic buildings that have been renovated or remodeled.

Is there added cost for the green meeting?
No, not at all. I don’t see why that would be the case. There are some easy things we’re doing here; we’re doing a water station versus bottled or pitcher water, an easy switch that doesn’t cost anything. Maybe a little more for food. We’re asking questions on the food—local, organic, sustainable seafood, how they serve it.

What are you learning?
I never realized the whole carbon offset is a possibility and that you can do it for attendees. I think if we start to ask green questions as planners, I can see it raises awareness as well.

What are your goals in regard to greening the event?
We haven’t talked about how green this meeting should be as a committee. It’s definitely not going to be 80 percent to 100 percent. I would be happy if it’s 40 percent.