Royal Jaarbeurs: the friendly, sustainable and innovative host for all of the Netherlands. A place where you meet, inspire, learn and grow. We'd love to tell you what's going on at Royal Jaarbeurs and the way we do things. How? By getting to know our strongest point: our people. Fleur van den Berg is account and event manager conferences and is a member of the 'Jaarbeurs Green Team'. She likes to advise clients and employees on how to organise a sustainable event.
Anyone wanting to organise an event at Supernova convention centre or Media Plaza will soon come into contact with Fleur. Indeed, as account and event manager, she is one of the points of contact for our congress locations. From the moment of the request until the day itself, Fleur helps to make an event as successful as possible. And preferably with a sustainable approach.
A few years ago, Fleur rolled into the 'sustainability side', she says: 'Jaarbeurs has the ambition to become the most sustainable event organiser and facilitator in Europe. And we are taking great steps towards that. Think, among other things, of renewed waste processing, less energy consumption and the use of circular materials. It is good if you introduce sustainable options, but you also have to get the employees on board. That is why the Green Team of employees was set up a few years ago to create more support. I myself was already trying to live more sustainably in my private life at the time. Sustainability has become a passion of mine in recent years. I watch many documentaries about it, have solar panels and no longer eat meat. When the call came up to join the Jaarbeurs Green Team, I was keen to join. I pushed myself forward.'
Meanwhile, Fleur is the go-to person when it comes to sustainable choices at an event. Some options make perfect sense to her. Fleur: 'For example, you will never hear me ask whether you want to serve a meat or vegetarian bitterball. We offer the variant without meat by default. You can also gain a lot of ground in other areas. For instance, by looking closely at your target group. What kind of people are coming to the event? You can adjust the catering to that. Do people tend to prefer salads or sandwiches? By estimating this well, you avoid less waste. Moreover, at Jaarbeurs we have smart waste bins that register what is thrown away. We analyse those results and use them again at the next event by, for example, making less of that dish.'
Fleur is also the point of contact for colleagues who have a question on the subject. Fleur: 'Sometimes, for example, people ask if I know of a good speaker's gift. In the past, people often gave a bunch of flowers or a bottle of wine as thanks. I recommend having a tree planted through Trees for All. You get a certificate from there, so you can also give something tangible. Nice to know, Jaarbeurs itself also has a partnership with Trees for All. For every event that takes place at our venue, we plant a tree.'
Thinking and acting sustainably is not just about making green choices. It also includes topics such as vitality, inclusion and diversity. That is why subgroups were created from the Green Team. Fleur: 'These are really topics for our employees themselves. For instance, we want to offer more for employees in terms of vitality. We investigate whether it is possible to focus on the mental health of employees or by offering coaching sessions. Or by organising an annual sports day. We conduct surveys among our colleagues to see what is needed. This year, we are organising a diversity week for employees for the first time. Together with the Green team, we worked out the whole programme. Colleagues can participate in all kinds of activities and workshops, such as a stand walk along places with queer history in Utrecht, a lecture on generational differences and a tour to experience what it is like to be blind. Colleagues will also cook dishes from their own culture in the Jaarbeurs kitchen, and in the evening we can then enjoy a diversity dinner together.
If you always have the sustainability hat on, you also walk through a congress or trade fair differently, according to Fleur. For example, she says: "I regularly visit sustainability congresses across the country. When I was at another venue recently, I was given a paper flyer about what there was to do. 'Is that really necessary? Surely it can be done digitally?' At our own venues, too, she walks around the room with detailed glasses. Fleur: 'At exhibitions, we work with certain routes. I noticed that precisely the sustainability route was marked with balloons. Oops! That's not the most sustainable way, and so we will do that differently in the future. Or I walk through the building to see how we can make sure we make all the toilets gender-neutral and that they are accessible to everyone. We always look carefully at our own choices. At Jaarbeurs, we are always open to change to do better tomorrow.'
