The next greenmeetings and events conference will be held from 26 to 27 February 2013 at the darmstadtium centre in Darmstadt . This was decided by the advisory committee in its meeting of 27 September 2011. The initiators and organisers of the conference for the organisation of sustainable events are the German Convention Bureau (GCB) and the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC).
Matthias Schultze, Managing Director of the GCB, says: "This year's greenmeetings and events conference showed that there is a strong awareness of this issue in the industry. With the 2013 conference we will continue with our successful concept and take the topic of green meetings much further than the ecological aspect. We also want to integrate social issues like CSR, workplace comfort and compliance in the discussion and strengthen Germany 's position as a meetings destination."
"The conference venue will also set a good example for sustainable events in Germany . The darmstadtium centre combines an energy-efficient construction with an outstanding creative architecture and a sustainable overall concept. It serves as a perfect example that green meetings are not only economical but can also be attractive," EVVC President Joachim König explains the choice of venue.
Opened in 2008, darmstadtium science and convention centre makes comprehensive use of geothermal energy, biomass and solar energy so that it can run almost entirely on renewable energy sources. In late 2010 the centre received the Green Globe eco-label. Its shareholders are Darmstadt Technical University and Darmstadt Science City .
Lars Wöhler, darmstadtium's Managing Director, was happy to have won the bid: "Our sustainability management is an important factor for us in national and international competition. The greenmeetings and events conference gives us a good opportunity to demonstrate our high level of expertise in the field of sustainable meetings."
At the last greenmeetings and events conference at Congress Centrum Mainz from 1 to 2 March 2011 around 400 delegates from all fields of the industry discussed the importance of sustainability for the meetings and congress sector. Another 200 registered participants were reached by the virtual tie-in event of the conference, which the organisers staged on the Internet two weeks later.
Germany is one of the most important locations for environmental technologies and has the largest market in this sector world-wide. Its expertise is also one of the distinctive competitive advantages of the German meetings and conventions industry: Many companies in various fields of business have realised that sustainable practices are an image booster and offer sound economic advantages.
The German Convention Bureau (GCB) offers practical support for staging green meetings on its website www.germany-meetings.com. |