IMEX: Environmental Agenda

IMEX, billed by U.K.-based show organizer Regent Exhibitions as the essential worldwide exhibition for meetings and incentive travel, will be held April 22-24 at Messe Frankfurt. This year's sixth edition is expected to attract about 8,000 attendees, as well as 3,300 exhibitors from more than 150 countries.

That's considerable, although the projections are a slight drop from 2007 when 3,400 exhibitors participated. The exhibitors represent national and regional tourist offices, major hotel groups, airlines, destination management companies, service providers, trade associations and more.

In 2007, more than 3,500 hosted buyers from 57 world markets visited IMEX 2007, contributing to a total of 8,300 visitors for the show's highest attendance ever.

The show was voted Trade Show of the Year in 2006 and Best Visitor Experience at a Tradeshow in 2005 by the Assn. of Event Organisers.

With almost 60 different workshops, seminars and forums in English and German over four days, IMEX provides a wide choice of informative and highly topical professional development opportunities for meetings professionals of all levels.

One of the seminars will be a session on sustainability presented by Meeting Professionals Intl.

According to MPI Director of Canadian Development Elizabeth Henderson, “Sustainability is a huge issue, not just in our industry, but in business as a whole.”

Henderson said MPI's IMEX seminar ties in directly with its sustainability conference held April 18-20 at ExCeL in London. That event, the European Meetings & Events Conference, was the first in the U.K. to implement the BS 8901 Sustainable Event Standard initiative supported by The MPI Foundation Europe and The Rezidor Hotel Group.

According to Henderson, it's the first MPI event, and possibly the first U.K. event, since the launch of the standard to try to achieve the BS 8901 Sustainable Event Standard with certification from an independent third party.

She added that MPI's intent is to manage its annual European conference in order to minimize negative social, environmental and economic impacts while meeting the event objectives and maintaining a high quality experience for all delegates. Henderson said MPI is now working on BS 8901 Phase II certification. “Our overall goal is to turn BS 8901 into an ISO and global standard,” she added.

Events can achieve certification by continuously improving their sustainability, Henderson said. She suggested the FutureWatch organization and MPI's EventView as resources for meetings interested in becoming greener and more sustainable.

Henderson added, “IMEX is a very forward-looking organization, not only when it comes to sustainability, so I'm not surprised that the event is so green.” She noted that, in general, Europeans and European meetings are greener than most.

What makes IMEX so green?

For one thing, Carina Bauer, IMEX marketing and operations director, said the show is presenting a series of new green initiatives at this year's show. And, she added, IMEX will become the first exhibition in its sector to use completely biodegradable and recyclable badges.

Like many other shows, IMEX traditionally printed more than 21,000 plastic badges and had the same number of plastic badge holders, Bauer said. The new badges, which were sourced on request by badging services provider RefTech, will be printed on 100-percent recycled paper. They are coated with a polymer made from lactic acid, made from fermentable sugars. This derives from corn, which itself is a 100-percent renewable resource. No petrochemicals are used in their production, and the badges are also completely compostable in water. As a result, IMEX will save not only the equivalent weight in plastic of nearly five average men but also, because of their lighter weight and ability to be printed as part of a direct mailing letter, it will save on paper usage within the badge mailing.

Organizers have expanded educational opportunities for the more than 8,000 attendees they expect at this year's show.

One highlight of the more than 60 workshops is the session “Storm Clouds or Silver Linings.” Jointly organized by the Intl. Assn. of Congress Centres (AIPC) and the Intl. Congress & Convention Assn., the session will feature a panel discussing the industry's future with association and corporate leaders:

• Deborah Sexton, president and CEO, Professional Convention Management Assn.
• Bruce McMillan, president and CEO, Meeting Professionals Intl.
• Geoff Donaghy, vice president, AIPC; group director, Convention Services AEG Ogden
• Jurraien Sleijster, executive vice president, MCI

Rod Cameron, president of Criterion Communications, will moderate the discussion.