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I Am!
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What am I?
The APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Event Standards – ASTM Green Meeting Standards for short. I was under development for more than five years by a dedicated group of meeting professionals spanning the realm of the meeting industry. These professionals created me with the intent to help others in the field understand what practices should be in place to produce a sustainable (er ... green ...) meeting. I was designed to include nine key components of meeting management.
Like any new prototype, I was designed in a "laboratory" setting with defined parameters and continually tweaked along the way. All types of people examined me: planners, suppliers, people from the Environmental Protection Agency and even people from other industries, such as plastics, wood and chemicals. You should have seen the debates about whether I was being designed to be too complex or not rigorous enough. Then they voted on my attributes and after more debate, I was deemed ready for market. Eight of my sections were launched in April 2012, and the ninth and final section was published in April 2013. I’m now a complete package and ready for use.
How do I operate?
I was designed for multiple use. Ideally, I would be used by both planners and suppliers who want to ensure their process and services come together to produce an environmentally sustainable meeting. You see the planner and supplier need each other to perform at the same level in order to meet my minimum expectations like an orchestra and a conductor. It’s okay if a supplier or planner says they comply with my attributes and their counterpart doesn't, but they can’t claim they've mastered me unless both have done their fair share of the process. For example, one of the fundamental functions of me is for both the supplier and planner to have a sustainability policy (here’s a link to help you create one if you don’t have one). If the planner has one, but the supplier doesn't, the planner can’t claim that they have completed that piece of me. You see, I’m a bit like puzzle where all the parts need to fit together to get the whole picture.
It’s tough to be me, since people seem overwhelmed by me, and I sound so complicated and unattainable, but really I’m not. Regretfully, when you purchase me, I’m wrapped in some very tediously written text, pages long when my essence can be boiled down into a Excel spreadsheet. Then I resemble more of checklist and am a bit easier to digest. This isn't to say I’m easy. What would be the fun it that? And anyway, if it was easy, the industry would already have been achieving the goals I represent, and you wouldn't need me. And you do need me, so everyone can have the same frame of reference, event to event, meeting to meeting.
Who’s using me?
I provide a deep satisfaction for meeting professionals who, quietly or publicly, are able to conquer me. Most of them want to share it publicly if they do manage to reach one of my four levels of mastery. One organization that has publicly shared their experience with using me is IMEX America. They told me they were interested in using me because they want to meet my standard of performance. They used a spreadsheet format to lay out all of my parts, gave their internal planning team the planner bits and their vendor partners their supplier bits. I was so excited when I heard they were going to use me!
We had a great time learning about each other. I did have a few parts, mostly how my creators had labeled me, IMEX found a bit confusing, but we sorted it out and they were able to try me for a spin. I know there are others out there who are getting know me and are working with me.
There are also a handful of suppliers out there getting some type of certification that comply with my expectations at Level 1. However, they are unable to make claims that they have mastered me because they need the planner using their product/service to also being in compliance. But soon, there will be those that master my Level 1 compliance. Then the industry will be well on its way to accomplishing what my creators intended all along – that our industry will have integrated environmentally sustainable meeting practices as the standard way of doing business.
Where can you buy me?
Okay, so there are no long lines or frenzied anticipation on how to get one of me. An iPad I’m not! However, you can purchase me a couple of different ways, you could be an ASTM member and get me at a discount as part of your membership www.astm.org, or you can visit the GMIC website or the CIC website.
I’d love for you to buy me, use me, share me, embrace me, be inspired by me, feel accomplished when you master me. Because without you, I’m just a bunch of meaningless text wrapped in an unattractive package called APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Event Standards.
Like any new prototype, I was designed in a "laboratory" setting with defined parameters and continually tweaked along the way. All types of people examined me: planners, suppliers, people from the Environmental Protection Agency and even people from other industries, such as plastics, wood and chemicals. You should have seen the debates about whether I was being designed to be too complex or not rigorous enough. Then they voted on my attributes and after more debate, I was deemed ready for market. Eight of my sections were launched in April 2012, and the ninth and final section was published in April 2013. I’m now a complete package and ready for use.
How do I operate?
I was designed for multiple use. Ideally, I would be used by both planners and suppliers who want to ensure their process and services come together to produce an environmentally sustainable meeting. You see the planner and supplier need each other to perform at the same level in order to meet my minimum expectations like an orchestra and a conductor. It’s okay if a supplier or planner says they comply with my attributes and their counterpart doesn't, but they can’t claim they've mastered me unless both have done their fair share of the process. For example, one of the fundamental functions of me is for both the supplier and planner to have a sustainability policy (here’s a link to help you create one if you don’t have one). If the planner has one, but the supplier doesn't, the planner can’t claim that they have completed that piece of me. You see, I’m a bit like puzzle where all the parts need to fit together to get the whole picture.
It’s tough to be me, since people seem overwhelmed by me, and I sound so complicated and unattainable, but really I’m not. Regretfully, when you purchase me, I’m wrapped in some very tediously written text, pages long when my essence can be boiled down into a Excel spreadsheet. Then I resemble more of checklist and am a bit easier to digest. This isn't to say I’m easy. What would be the fun it that? And anyway, if it was easy, the industry would already have been achieving the goals I represent, and you wouldn't need me. And you do need me, so everyone can have the same frame of reference, event to event, meeting to meeting.
Who’s using me?
I provide a deep satisfaction for meeting professionals who, quietly or publicly, are able to conquer me. Most of them want to share it publicly if they do manage to reach one of my four levels of mastery. One organization that has publicly shared their experience with using me is IMEX America. They told me they were interested in using me because they want to meet my standard of performance. They used a spreadsheet format to lay out all of my parts, gave their internal planning team the planner bits and their vendor partners their supplier bits. I was so excited when I heard they were going to use me!
We had a great time learning about each other. I did have a few parts, mostly how my creators had labeled me, IMEX found a bit confusing, but we sorted it out and they were able to try me for a spin. I know there are others out there who are getting know me and are working with me.
There are also a handful of suppliers out there getting some type of certification that comply with my expectations at Level 1. However, they are unable to make claims that they have mastered me because they need the planner using their product/service to also being in compliance. But soon, there will be those that master my Level 1 compliance. Then the industry will be well on its way to accomplishing what my creators intended all along – that our industry will have integrated environmentally sustainable meeting practices as the standard way of doing business.
Where can you buy me?
Okay, so there are no long lines or frenzied anticipation on how to get one of me. An iPad I’m not! However, you can purchase me a couple of different ways, you could be an ASTM member and get me at a discount as part of your membership www.astm.org, or you can visit the GMIC website or the CIC website.
I’d love for you to buy me, use me, share me, embrace me, be inspired by me, feel accomplished when you master me. Because without you, I’m just a bunch of meaningless text wrapped in an unattractive package called APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Event Standards.
Amy Spatrisano, CMP, Principal, MeetGreen®, Co-Founder of the Green Meeting Industry Council, Chair of the APEX Green Meeting Practice Panel.
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