When you organise the biggest business sustainability festival of the year, that obviously calls for a sustainable location. That is why MVO Netherlands wanted to organise the Dag voor DoenDenkers again at Royal Jaarbeurs. A retrospect with Manager Communication & Public Affairs of MVO Netherlands, Marije Perdon, on the organisation of this green event: 'We were really given the space at Jaarbeurs to programme what we wanted.'
Especially for affiliated partners, CSR Netherlands has organised a recurring networking event for years in a row. Formerly in the form of a New Year reception, it has since evolved into the Day for Doers. A unique festival where partners are inspired by special performances on sustainability, face concrete challenges together and network with each other. Marije: 'The event is mainly about doing. Less talk and more interactive sessions where you can get to work on sustainability yourself.
Sustainable ambitions
Like last year, Jaarbeurs again hosted the green event. A logical choice according to Marije: 'We wanted to host the event at a partner of MVO Nederland anyway, and Jaarbeurs is that. But especially the sustainable character we find essential. Jaarbeurs is very actively involved in sustainability, something that is extremely important to us when organising this event.'
'A sustainable nature of an event venue is essential for us
Event location at the railway station
The location was also important, as MVO Nederland has partners throughout the Netherlands. An event location next to the station and in the middle of the country therefore offered a solution. Marije: 'We really encourage our visitors to come by public transport. For instance, we deliberately don't mention that there are parking spaces. You really don't need to take the car, because Jaarbeurs is at walking distance from the station.'
Smart catering
Sustainable catering must be tasty and make an impact, according to MVO Nederland. Marije: 'That is sometimes quite a challenge, but Jaarbeurs helped us a lot. They came up with great ideas, for example by serving a Knakwortel sandwich. They also used local, organic products as much as possible.
"We saved 70 kilos of glass by not serving soft drinks"
Saving glass
So delicious dishes, but without soda or coke. Because that was another surprising choice by MVO Nederland in the field of sustainable catering. Marije: 'For us, it felt crazy not to serve meat and use organic and local products as much as possible, but to serve soft drinks with I don't know how many lumps of sugar in them. So we opted for mocktails and juices. An additional advantage was saving waste; the mocktails were prepared on site and served in washable glasses. Compared to last year, this saved us about 70 kilos of glass waste!' In terms of drinks, Marije does mention one development point for Jaarbeurs: the coffee is not sustainable. Marije: 'We bought that externally now, but we hope we can buy it directly from Jaarbeurs next year. Because that also means that all other events then serve sustainable coffee!'
Talking performances as conversation starter
Making an impact can be done in several ways. One is by starting the conversation. But how do you do that well at an event? How do you get tongues wagging and people talking about it? MVO Netherlands' trick: adding surprising elements. Think of a VR game by Renewi where you could separate waste and a real assault course that reflected the new economy. The course symbolised the road you have to take if you want to become more sustainable; it's hard, but you really can cross the finish line.
Another way is by booking inspiring performances you don't easily see at other sustainability events. For example, by inviting keynote speaker Milan Meyberg who literally gave a voice to nature with AI. And the closing act of the day did not go unmentioned either. The tragicomic climate musical "Who the f*ck did this?!" got visitors thinking about their own role in the climate crisis. A finger-pointing spectacle with proponents and opponents that ensured visitors had plenty to talk about.
On to the next edition
Marije looks back on a successful event: 'There is a lot of creativity in our team. And that creativity can actually find a place at Jaarbeurs. A lot is possible here, especially when we come up with something new. And every time it's just possible. That makes it a very nice cooperation. At Jaarbeurs, there really is room to programme what we want. Next year we will definitely come back!
Fotografie door Marco de Swart
Number of visitors/participants: 700
Visitors/participants are partners of MVO Nederland
Location used + session rooms: Theatre Hall, Stage Entertainment Lounge, Queen's Club, Royal Bar, Mies Bouwman foyer and the Expo Hall
Purpose of the meeting:bring together and inspire network partners
Satisfaction rating visitors/participants: 8.1 average
Special element to name extra: only 900 grams of residual waste (!)
Account and event manager Corry
Do you have a cool idea for an event or trade fair? We have the space, knowledge and passion for your event. I would be happy to tell you more about all the possibilities at our event location in Utrecht.
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