With events playing such an important part of partner engagement activity, TD SYNNEX has kicked-off a project aimed at minimising and negating the effect of face to face events and is looking for further input and feedback from partners.
► More sustainable venues in easy-to-reach locations to be used
► Minimising use of printed and other materials
► Further ideas and suggestions from partners welcome
After more than two years during which we have had to conduct meetings, seminars and workshops virtually, we’ve seen a welcome return to live events at which we can engage with key contacts in person. At the same time, the whole channel is looking to be more sustainable and reduce its carbon impact and the return to live events presents a challenge here.
Celine McMullen, marketing communications director – Europe at TD SYNNEX, is leading the project. ‘We run a lot of events and we’re serious about moving towards net zero’, she said. ‘Obviously, events have a carbon impact. People need to travel to the venue and there’s the actual running of the event itself. We want to minimise the carbon impact of all our activities – and with events, we should be able to make a significant difference’.
There are six broad areas in which carbon impact can be addressed, she explained. These are: catering; accommodation; travel to and from the venue; the venue itself; collateral; and merchandising. TD SYNNEX is already taking actions in all these areas. It’s carefully scrutinising the sustainability of venues and trying to find locations that are convenient for public transport. It’s minimising the use of printed and other materials and looking at sustainable food options.
Inevitably though, every event will have some impact and TD SYNNEX is committing to planting at least one tree per attendee to offset that. For every event – even if there are far fewer attendees – it will plant a minimum of 20 trees. If there are more guests, more trees will be planted. TD SYNNEX is working with global tree-planting specialist Treedom to provide this offsetting.
It has also developed a framework for its efforts to make meetings and events more sustainable, working with Arete Zero Carbon on its own Event Carbon Calculator. This estimates the impact of an event, allowing TD SYNNEX’s team to adjust plans and make an allowance for offsetting.
While a lot is already being done to minimise the impact of events, TD SYNNEX is eager to learn more and to do more, said Celine McMullen. ‘I want to be really clear that we're just starting off. If our partners have any advice, ideas or suggestions, we’d love to hear from them.’
Contact the Team
If you want to find out more about the work TD SYNNEX is going to reduce the carbon impact of face to face events, or what’s it’s going on on a wider sustainability front, please use to form below to send us your enquiry.
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