Medical Device Company: Sustainability

Background & Goals
Approach
Results & Looking Forward
Products Used

Learn more about Sustainability with Cvent

3,300 tons

Annual carbon footprint reduction

$3M+

Annual cost avoidance via green practices

6.4M

Pieces of paper saved

BACKGROUND & GOALS

The value of going green with meetings and events

A global leader in medical services and technology has revolutionized sustainability at their events with a Cvent-supported green meeting policy. With more than 90,000 employees in over 150 countries, they host over 9,500 meetings and events per year.

Like many companies, they sought to minimize the carbon impact of their events program. They've partnered with Cvent for several years to set sustainability goals around meetings and events and track their progress.

“At the time we were still fairly new when it came to capturing and analyzing event data,” explains the company's Lead SMMP Strategist. “But we were able to calculate some savings and carbon footprint reduction, and shared this with our sustainability team." She adds that they winning a global sustainability award created "a lot of interest in what we were doing globally." As a result, they've since expanded their efforts and ultimate success in meeting their sustainability goals.

APPROACH

Partnering with Cvent across a global events program

Cvent’s virtual capabilities were the factor that initially led the company to embark on a sustainability partnership. Part of the company’s approach was simply to convert in-person events to virtual where appropriate. In their most recent financial year, they switched over 1,300 in-person events to virtual – a reduction of over 58 million air miles.

Furthermore, the company uses Cvent’s Registration, Mobile Event App, and Surveys solutions to minimize the need for printed materials with onsite events. Their efforts lend an average cost avoidance of $9.40 per attendee. Surveys are distributed to attendees digitally post-event both to collect feedback and ask how they got to the event if they attended in-person, providing a more detailed view of an event’s overall environmental impact.

Woman attending a virtual corporate event in an office with a computer and people on the screen.

With travel forming the bulk of event-related carbon emissions, the company also assembled a decision tree on travel to put opportunities for travel mitigation front of mind for their planners, implementing a consensus on situations where travel is absolutely necessary.

Use of online registration and event apps are included items in the company’s green meetings checklist, which event planners are encouraged and incentivized to complete after the close of an event. It includes a variety of sustainable practices, such as:

Ensuring the venue is “green certified” (i.e., LEED, Green Globe, Green Seal)
Use of ground transportation company who automatically downsizes based on need
Use of online registration and digital communications
Use of attendee-facing event mobile app
Held an offsite activity or dinner which required no additional transportation (walking distance)
Use of local, seasonal organic and/or sustainable food options

“We’ve succeeded by making sustainability as simple as possible. We’ve made it easy to complete the green meetings checklist, and planners are automatically notified to do so after their event. It’s part of the process: daily, common practice broken down into actionable steps."

Charlotte Seif checking in to an event using the Cvent On-Arrival tablet.

Implementing successful sustainability practices

Planners self-assess on which practices were followed, and their results are factored into the company’s overall sustainability calculations. More than 2,200 green practices were reported in the past financial year, lending over $690,000 in cost avoidance.

Furthermore, the company incentivizes planners with ‘Recognize Points’ to encourage green practices at events. By completing the self-assessment form within three weeks of an event’s close, planners earn one point and they earn an additional point for every 10 green practices reported – all of which can be exchanged for various rewards.

Onsite, they make use of Cvent’s OnArrival Premium to collect electronic signatures and only print truly necessary badges. These badges are also printed on recyclable materials and are recycled after the event.

CSN product page image showing a screenshot of the Cvent Supplier Network page with a list of venues.

Prioritizing green practices with venues

The team extends their green practices to their venue sourcing, with sustainable venues at the top of the list. They use the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN), a venue sourcing network comprising over 300,000 global venues which features filters to identify those with green-friendly certifications like LEED, Green Globe, and Green Seal.

They also partner with the Hilton hotel chain, who provide a detailed carbon report after every event. Where possible, hotels also contribute to carbon offsetting for any emissions which could not be prevented.

RESULTS & LOOKING FORWARD

Improving progress year by year

In their most recent financial year, the company’s sustainable meetings program saved over $3M in cost avoidance and reduced carbon footprint by 3,300 tons. They have successfully saved over 151,000 bottles worth of plastic waste and eliminated the use of 6.4 million pieces of paper. This has resulted in over $3 million annual cost avoidance via green practices.

In future, the team plans to roll out their sustainability program worldwide, with plans to expand Cvent into Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada. “We’ve succeeded by making sustainability as simple as possible,” explains the company’s Sourcing Optimization Specialist. “We’ve made it easy to complete the green meetings checklist, and planners are automatically notified to do so after their event."

By ensuring sustainability is enfolded into their daily processes, the company is ensuring the continued success of its program. The Sourcing Optimization Specialist adds, "It’s part of the process: daily, common practice broken down into actionable steps.” They're excited to see the future successes they can bring to their global teams as a result.