and tools designed to deliver the most value and consume the fewest resources. “I feel Schwan’s is moving in the right direction when looking at LEAN projects that tie into CSR realities,” said Hoffard. “Our company is looking at everything from packaging of our products to our home delivery service and is seeking effi ciencies, cost savings and improvements for the future.”
While planning over 120 meetings in 2011 for fi ve to 1,000 people in St. Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington, MN and CA, Hoffard continues to look for ways to eliminate waste and think about the environment. She also pairs charitable activities with teambuilding during meetings and is pleased with what the attendees remember and take away from the meet- ings is the CSR activity. As a company, Schwan’s has participated
in Build-A-Bike Teambuilding
Workshop®, where teams of employees build bikes for a local children’s charity. Schwan’s employees have also relocated and built the local food shelf in Marshall, MN and donated leftover décor and promotional items to local charities. “The attendees have embraced the CSR concept in the meetings and all want what is best for our environment and our chil- dren,” Hoffard said. Adding, “Hopefully everyone is prepared to sustain the con- cept of CSR not only in meetings but in their everyday life.”
Hoffard looks for CSR ideas to inte-
attendees. Promotion, registration and guest satisfaction surveys can each be com- pleted electronically.
• Communicate electronically with all suppli- ers, vendors and speakers. All contracts, banquet orders and schedules can be shared electronically. • Pay attention to services around the lodging loca- tion. Can guests easily walk to the meeting location and other services?
• Choose hotels that offer bulk dispensers for soap and shampoo and low fl ow plumbing fi xtures. • Keep lights low during meetings and turned
off when rooms are not in use. • Ask the hotel catering staff to provide
condiments in bulk containers and beverages for break-out sessions in hydration stations rather than individual containers.
grate into her meeting planning by net- working with her peers, reading stories on the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) website,
www.mpiweb.org and reviewing meeting related articles. She shared, “I enjoy looking at what is happening in the Midwest and capturing ideas I can use to bring value to our meetings and events. I also enjoy reading stories about other companies as a benchmark to our operation internally,” she said. “Many hotels embrace the idea of CSR and share how other companies incorporate green ac- tivities into their meetings,” concluded Hoffard. CSR ideas and meeting practices for your consideration: • Follow the CSR meeting policies in your company. If these do not exist, ask to form a committee to write and implement the policy. Understand that management must be convinced that these policies will generate cost savings and make good business sense.
• Inform all vendors, attendees and speakers of the CSR policy and promote it in pre-meeting communiqués.
• Use electronic media to communicate about the meeting to WWW WWW.MIDWEST IDWESTMEETINGS COM
EETINGS.COM
“Hopefully everyone is prepared to sustain the concept of CSR not only in meetings but in their everyday life.” Cheryl Hoffard, Manager of
Travel/Meetings/Events, Schwanns Corporation
• Provide all attendees with usable company mugs at the start of the meet- ing.
• Ask that recycling and re-use con- tainers be placed in each meeting room. • Use re-usable or live plants as cen- terpieces and decorations. • Recycle name badges. • To avoid waste and cost, allow attendees to indicate during pre-registra- tion which meals they will be having and what size meal they’d like to have. • Offer vegetarian meals. • Donate leftover food to local soup
kitchens.
• Ask the chef to serve farm to table and in season products, requiring less transportation costs and aiding local growers. • Hand out meeting bags made from recyclable materials. • Create experiences and methods to give back. Arrange a teambuilding exercise that benefi ts the local community. • Engage in a clean-up effort, build a playground or plant a community garden.
• Choose speakers who share your company’s vision and values.
• Measure CSR effectiveness and report to company management.
• Report on CSR in the annual report to share- holders. Share testimonials from community leaders in meeting destinations and photographs of employee teambuilding activities.
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