Denmark - Inspiring Meetings

HEADQUARTERS E U R O P E , M I D D L E - E A S T, A F R I C A

INSPIRING DANISH MEETINGS

Š Jesper Reis

Destination Report Denmark is a special edition of HeadQuarters Magazine - November 2011 published by Meeting Media Company (Europe) - www.headquartersmagazine.com - press@headquartersmagazine.com

CONTENTS > INTRODUCTION

2 INTRODUCTION 4 LOCAL FLAVOUR 6 INVOLVING THE PARTICIPANTS 8 CREATIVE USE OF FACILITIES 10 SUSTAINABILITY

the MIND event this June in Copenhagen

DENMARK LEADING THE WAY

MEETINGS IN DENMARK. WITHIN THE LAST FEW YEARS COPENHAGEN HAS BECOME AN AVANT-GARDE DESTINATION WHERE SUSTAINABLE MEETINGS ARE ALMOST A WAY OF LIFE. AND WITH MEETOVATION AS A KEY CONCEPT TO ADD VALUE, THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE IS LEADING THE WAY. FAR AHEAD OTHER DESTINATIONS THAT CLAIM TO BE EVER MORE SUSTAINABLE. TEXT RÉMI DÉVÉ

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IN THE MIND Let’s be honest. Out of all the press trips I attended since I joined the meetings industry a few years ago, the MIND event, organized by VisitDenmark and Wonderful Copenhagen to promote the Meetovation concept (see sidebar), was the best. Not only because, according to me, my fellow journalists and a bunch of quality hosted buyers, the event was organized flawlessly, thanks to the involvement of - it seems - the main players of the local industry, but also because they had conceptualized the whole thing, with actually something to say, out of the box.

MIND is based on the Meetovation concept which, among other things, is concerned with increasing returns on meetings investment.

> INTRODUCTION

MEETOVATION Shake up the formal structures of conferences and encourage innovative thinking to conceive great ideas: Meetovation is the culmination of Denmark’s fight against boring meetings!

Meetovation is a distinctive Danish concept.

The idea is to utilize conference facilities and their setups, in fact the whole environment, in new and innovative ways. To actively engage, participants and to generate a positive energy that makes conferences and meetings seem less tiring and the big issues solvable.

Breaking with conventional one-way or ‘them and us’ communication is at the heart of Meetovation. When involving and engaging all participants, both delegates and organizers feel liberated. This again results in higher levels of learning and comprehension and generates a higher Return on Meeting Investment (RoMI).

Essentially, Meetovation is based on five elements: + Involvement of delegates + Creative use of physical facilities + Green and responsible operations + Integration of authentic and local flavour + Measuring the Return on Meeting Investment (RoMI)

This is achieved by a variety of methods including improved participant involvement, new ways of arranging meetings venues, and greater attention paid to rooting the event in the destination, by for example featuring local flavours and key areas, and ensuring that the venue chosen is especially well suited to the aims of the meeting.

So during the event, there were workshops where you could apply the Meetovation theory to reality. My favorite one was ‘MIND the green’, or how to incorporate green and responsible operations into your meeting.

With the legacy of COP15 (the United Nations Conference on climat change in 2009) as a background, the session provided very practical tips on how to make events more sustainable. All participants contributed, and

Being a Danish concept, Meetovation’s ambition of generating more ‘brain- energy’, goes hand is hand with the nation’s desire to use more alternative energy. Research also shows that conferences and meetings take a far more flexible and creative approach to the use of facilities at venues seeking explicit eco-friendly profiles.

A vast number of conference and meetings venues in Denmark today happily offer professional advice on how to incorporate elements of Meetovation into international business events.

WWW.MEETOVATION.COM

more than 15,000 participants and visitos to Copenhagen and the city of Horsens in the western part of Denmark. The vision of DSEI is to use the Danish EU Presidency to inspire businesses to greater collaboration, innovation and sustainable development. The project aims to increase the competitive positioning of Denmark as an undisputed leader in sustainable events and clean technology solutions.

SPECIAL MEETOVATION TRIP

Join the MIND fam trip in Copenhagen 15-16 November 2012

www.visitdenmark.com/mind

it showed that being sustainable is easy and most of the time cost-efficient! More on sustainability on page 10 of this supplement.

Since staging COP15 in Copenhagen and the succeeding launch of the ‘Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol’, the number of sustainable and certified businesses within the Danish industry has boomed.

Steen Jakobsen, Convention Director for Wonderful Copenhagen CVB, is ‘convinced that the DSEI will help strengthen the competitive positioning of Copenhagen as the “Capital of Sustainable Meetings”, and Denmark as a superb sustainable meetings destination, even further. With over 60% of the capitals’ hotel rooms third party eco-certified, sustainability is already an integral part of the Danish meetings industry. With this project we will develop Copenhagen’s “sustainable” position further.’

A GREEN EU PRESIDENCY To show that it’s not just words, the Danish meetings industry has teamed up with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that also the logistics of the 2012 EU Presidency are as sustainable as possible and result in ISO20121 certification of the Government event management system. The idea, known as the ‘Danish Sustainable Events Initiative’ (DSEI) is to surf on the same sustainable principles as COP15 in order to consolidate Copenhagen’s unique position as a green meetings city.

As a result of the 2012 EU Presidency, over 100 meetings of various sizes will attract

CONTACT + Wonderful Copenhagen Steen Jakobsen +45 3325 7400 stj@woco.dk www.meetincopenhagen.com + VisitDenmark Markus Diefenbach +49 (0)40-320 21 143 md@visitdenmark.com www.visitdenmark.com

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> LO CA L F L AVO U R

GET GASTRONOMICALLY AUTHENTIC MEALS ARE POTENTIAL HIGHLIGHTS IN CONNECTION WITH A MEETING OF ANY KIND, AND GOOD FOOD CAN HAVE A POSITIVE EFFECT ON THE ATMOSPHERE OF A WHOLE EVENT. THE DANES UNDERSTOOD THAT A LONG

noma

TIME AGO AND UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF MEETOVATION, THEY OFFER CONFERENCE DELEGATES THE POSSIBILITY TO ENJOY A UNIQUE, LOCAL AND CULINARY EXPERIENCE, STRESSING ONE OF MEETOVATION’S FOCUSES ‘AUTHENTIC AND LOCAL FLAVOUR’ -, WHEN ATTENDING AN EVENT IN COPENHAGEN.

The latest Michelin Guide also awarded Copenhagen’s restaurants 11 stars which is more than any other city in Scandinavia, and in fact more than Rome, Amsterdam, Vienna and the same amount as Milan. This clearly confirms that Copenhagen continues as the number one food-lover’s destination in Scandinavia. The main part of the restaurants awarded with stars focus on the New Nordic Cuisine. Worth noting is that Copenhagen also offers the world’s only Michelinstarred Thai restaurant - Kiin Kiin!

If you want to eat green, sustainable and organic food, especially Copenhagen is a good place to satisfy your hunger and fullfill your CSR-policy. The city’s #1 organic gourmet restaurant was just mentioned: Geranium. On top, there is a fine selection of organic and environmentally conscious cafés, delis and restaurants, and the number is growing all the time, in Copenhagen, but throughout Denmark too!

It’s no secret for whoever visited Denmark over the past years: Danish cooks have become experts in combining international trends with recipes taken from Grandma’s antique cookbooks and local gastronomy using only the best of Denmark’s natural produce while presenting the New Nordic Cuisine.

This change has been led by Copenhagen’s restaurants, which are now recognised by top

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food writers, gourmets and gourmands from around the world. It started out with Copenhagen restaurant noma receiving one, then two Michelin stars followed by the ultimate accolade: voted #1 on Restaurant Magazine’s annual top 50 list in 2010 and 2011! Now Denmark boasts the World’s Best Chef too; Head Chef Rasmus Kofoed at Copenhagen’s restaurant Geranium, who won the Bocuse d’or this January.

The selection of high-end restaurants is extensive, but dining out in Denmark is not necessary all fancy and expensive - there is a wide selection of restaurants for all budgets.

FOUR COPENHAGEN RESTAURANTS WITHIN DIFFERENT PRICE RANGES At noma1, based in a converted 19th century warehouse in the inner harbour of

> LO CA L F L AVO U R

Cofoco Restaurants3 is a group of restaurants that have become immensely popular.

They offer seven restaurants in Copenhagen all with different profiles form Mediterranean to British inspired menus, at different price levels; the most budget friendly offering a 3-course menu for DKK 275 (€ 38) and the most expensive offering a deluxe 5-course meal for DKK 500 (€ 67). www.cofoco.dk

At Geranium Restaurant

Copenhagen, René Redzepi blends the most exciting contemporary techniques with the finest Nordic ingredients sourced from as far away as Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. In 2005 Noma achieved their first Michelin star, and in 2007 a second star was added. www.noma.dk Restaurant Julian2 at the National Museum presents delicious medium priced climate friendly New Nordic Cuisine lunches created

by Jesper Julian Møller, former chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant, Kong Hans. This April Møller welcomed guests at Restaurant Toldboden, where the ambition is to be the Nordic region’s most sustainable eatery. www.restaurantjulian.com

Rooted in a no-fail concept of organics and incentive recipes, Bio Mio3 is located in Copenhagen’s trendy meat-packing district.

Opened in 2009, it seats 200 guests in a row of tables and is great for a limited budget and casual groups, since you can order

If you want to eat green, sustainable and organic food, especially Copenhagen is a good place to satisfy your hunger and fullfill your CSR-policy

individually, directly from the chef in the open kitchen. Naturally the interior is made out of certified woodwork and that the energy consumption is low. www.biomio.dk

1

expensive, 2 midpriced, 3 budget friendly

THE BRAIN FOOD CONCEPT Hotel meals vary in quality but at the Radisson Blu hotels in Denmark all meeting packages now include a new developed Nordic brain-food menu, which matches the Meetovation idea perfectly.

In September 2010 the four Radisson Blu Hotels in Aarhus and Copenhagen were the first to launch the new and unique concept, Brain Food, in order to create the most optimal settings for people attending meetings. The concept is designed in cooperation with Nordic Nutrition Experts, who underlines that the Brain Food concept aims to integrate health, taste and wellness in one, and with a key focus on creating better conditions for meeting participants.

Based on in-depth research by Danish brain scientists and chefs verifying how food affects the way the mind works, Radisson Blu developed an organic brain food concept that make participants stay energized and focused throughout discussions, to speed up decision-making and increase the delegates’ energy-levels and sense of well-being.

Brain Food is a holistic catering concept, which main focus is more fish, more whole grain products, fruit and vegetables and the usage of mainly local, fresh and pure fresh ingredients with minimal industrial processing - without compromising on the good taste.

The concept is now used as a standard catering for meetings, at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel in Aarhus as well as the Radisson Blu Falconer Hotel & Conference Center, Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel and the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in Copenhagen.

Louise Andersen works for Aktiv Kurser / Probana, a private supplier offering education and courses to companies. She explains how she incorporated the Brain Food concept into her offering: ‘We have cooperated with the Radisson Blu Århus for a long period, and have warmly welcomed there Brain Food concept! Lately we provided it for eight groups of 7 joining an education workshop. It was a great pleasure to receive the evaluation from the participants who had nothing else but positive comments on the Brain Food concept. One of the participants wrote: “Especially after lunch the batteries are normally flat, but this was defiantly not the case after the Brain Food lunch. It made a huge difference to experience feeling fresh and bright all day - Hurray for Brain Food!” From that one we decided to stick to the Brain Food for all our courses.’ www.radissonblu.dk

three kinds of brainfood

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> PA R T I C I PA N T ’ S I N V O LV E M E N T

MOVING MINDS RESEARCH HAS SHOWN AGAIN AND AGAIN THAT ONE ACHIEVES BETTER RESULTS IF THE DELEGATES GET INVOLVED, RATHER THAN JUST PRESENTED TO LONG LECTURES. SO THAT IS WHAT THEY PREACH AND PRACTICE IN DENMARK! AND FEEDBACK RECEIVED FROM CLIENTS WHO DARED TO ADAPT THIS TACTIC AT BUSINESS EVENTS STAGED IN DENMARK ONLY AFFIRMED THE ABOVE TOO… Sculpture at Dronning Louises Bro

THE MEANING OF MOVING MINDS…

troubles of one-way communication at business events of any size.

Conferences and large meetings are often succesIb Ravn sions of endless power-point presentations, interspersed with ten-minute Q&A’s, breaks, lunches and dinners. This format renders delegates very passive; several hours of sitting quietly in rows of seats is simply too boring, which is why people often seep out of auditoriums by mid-afternoon...

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT ON A LARGE SCALE

The Danes declared ‘War against boring meetings!’ a few years ago, and it is not just ‘hot air’. The Danish approach to active involvement at meetings starts from the fact that cognitive psychology and learning research have long established that for human beings to get anything out of lectures, they need opportunities to digest it, talk it over, relate it to their own experiences and apply it in their minds to their own (future) activities. One of Meetovation’s five key elements indeed focus on ‘involvement of delegates’ and tackles head on the

He says: ‘For participants to become involved more actively during conferences, first of all planners must cut down on the number and length of presentations. Two or three twentyminute presentations in the morning and one or two in the afternoon is plenty for people to take in. The rest of the time should be wisely spent on digesting the important input and messages and on meeting the other interesting delegates, who, in fact, may have as much to contribute to the individual delegates’ professional development and the overall meeting outcome as the speakers themselves!’

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It is a common misconception that participant involvement techniques can only be used at small meetings. Ib Ravn, former Consortium Director of Learning Lab Denmark and currently Associate Professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, explains on what can easily be done at congresses to get the delegates involved and inspired.

There are, of course, many ways of changing the traditional one-way communication lectures at large business events.

A vast number of Danish conference and meetings venues today happily offer professional advice on how to incorporate ‘involvement of delegates’ into major international business events, including a number of venues as, for example, the Royal Theatre, Danish Design Center, Scandic Hotels, Radisson Blu Hotels and Comwell Hotels. These, and other professionals within the Danish meetings industry, have with enthusiasm embraced the Danish Meetovation concept including taking part in the meetovator training program.

HOW TO INVOLVE AND INSPIRE DELEGATES, BY IB RAVN After a presentation, the moderator asks the delegates to turn to someone in the seat behind them or in front of them and spend 5-10 minutes talking about what they found interesting in the presentation. Subsequently, the moderator asks a few people to say out loud what inspired them in the presentation.

This approach is very useful for knowledge sharing.

> PA R T I C I PA N T ’ S I N V O LV E M E N T

ALGO 2009

at the IT University of Copenhagen

When the IT University of Copenhagen held ALGO 2009, an international conference with over 100 delegates, the focus was on raising awareness that algorithms not only compute things faster but also compute them by using less power. The organising committee decided that, in parallel with the exciting scientific program, they should create a ‘green’ event as well as get the delegates actively involved in the conference!

MIND session, Clarion Hotel

After two presentations, the moderator asks the delegates to get up and identify two persons they don’t already know, and share view points with them for 5-10 minutes. A few minutes standing up before lunch prevents burn-out.

After lunch, when ANOTHER lecture will put people to sleep, try a mingling-type activity on the open floor. The moderator says: ‘Everyone please, get up and introduce yourselves to someone you don’t know. Talk

The Danes declared ‘War against boring meetings!’ a few years ago, and it is not just ‘hot air’

about how today’s topic is relevant to what you do in your everyday life, or how you would like to change (if ever so slightly) what you do in your in the light of the information you received here’. The moderator will ring a bell after ten minutes and twenty minutes

respectively, indicating it’s time to find a new partner.

Later, instead of having a panel with five eager experts who will volunteer too-long answers to every question from the floor, ask delegates to spend five minutes writing down their most important thoughts; five minutes of complete silence in the big hall.

Then everyone finds a stranger and shares their thoughts with them. Next the pairs team up in groups of four, and everyone shares just one important point from their list.

On the spot in Copenhagen, in addition to being served organic food and drinking water from the tap, using public transport, staying green, and using airlines’ carbon-off-setting footprints, the conference delegates were invited to a reception at the Copenhagen City Hall. Getting there was by using Copenhageners’ favourite mode of transport: bicycles, for the fun and the evident participation involvement of it too! Hence, all the delegates headed off on bicycles - joined by none less than the Danish Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation - with full excitement.

Subsequent to the conference, the organising committee received extremely positive feedback from all participating delegates. They genuinely had a good time in Copenhagen, and highlighted the bicycle trip, as a surprisingly fun and unforgettable experience of the event.

INFORMATION Nhi Quyen Le, Academic Officer - Research Administration, IT University of Copenhagen, nqle@itu.dk, www.itu.dk

While everyone is standing up, the moderator interrupts: ‘Please move to the reception area, where there are high cocktail tables with four healthy smoothies or snacks on each. Find a table with three strangers and evaluate today’s conference.’ This way the delegates are strongly encouraged to do some networking while being given the opportunity to talk about what mostly mattered to them at the conference.

In short, this sort of involvement creates happy delegates who will look forward to next year’s event!

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> C R E AT I V E FAC I L I T I ES

HOW TO USE MEETINGS FACILITIES CREATIVELY MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, A MEETING IS JUST ABOUT A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION ON A BIG SCREEN, WITH PARTICIPANTS LINED UP, SEATING ON CHAIRS RATIONALLY SET UP IN SEVERAL ROWS. NOW THINK OF A MEETING WHERE A SEASCAPE IS PROJECTED ON ALL FOUR WALLS OF THE ROOM, WHERE YOU START THE DAY TO THE SOUND OF WAVES OR SURROUND YOURSELF WITH A FOREST AND BIRD SONGS. THAT’S THE EXTENT TO WHICH THEY CAN GET CREATIVE IN DENMARK, AND IT’S ALL PART OF THE MEETOVATION CONCEPT, WHICH ENCOURAGES PLANNERS TO THINK OUT THE BOX AND USE FACILITIES IN AN INNOVATIVE WAY.

What do we mean by inspiring, physical facilities? It could be anything from having a meeting outdoors, staging meetings in informal settings, using different table set ups and/or meetings held in rather unconventional environments.

In order to obtain participant involvement and get delegates energized and involved

at meetings (hence creating better RoMI, or return on meetings investment), research has shown that great flexibility of the physical set up at meetings is of major importance. In order to succeed in involving the participants, the physical frames must be able to support the kind of participation wished for in a particular meeting. It is therefore important to offer psychical frames that are flexible and easy to move around - a skill mastered perfectly well by a fine range of Copenhagen hotels and venues.

The right psychical frame to create a certain atmosphere in a meeting can help achieve specific goals. If one, for example, would like the participants to come up with new, innovative ideas - one can use the psychical set up to create a ‘Think out of the box atmosphere’. One example of this are the usage of gym balls in smaller meetings as they are flexible and send a different signal than if you were sitting on conventional chairs in a standard meeting room set-up.

WHERE TO GO TO DO SO The Royal Danish Theater includes a number of venues among which the new Opera House, the Old stage at Kongens Nytorv and the new Royal Playhouse. The theatre caters to events ranging from half-

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Toldboden

day meetings to major full-day conferences booth in foyers, in the halls, back stage and one stage in spectacular surroundings. They additionally offer expertise within the arts when they plan and execute events, with the help of in-house meetovators.

At the brand-new Bella Sky Comwell Hotel, which is directly connected to the flexible Bella Center, you can challenge the traditional meeting set up thanks to the modern futuristic and very Scandinavian design of the many meeting rooms and spaces. Bella Sky Comwell offers a versatile and customised meeting and conference programme in which relaxation, concentration and tranquillity are central elements of the concept.

Their in-house meetovaors take a holistic approach and are attentive down to the smallest detail.

> C R E AT I V E FAC I L I T I ES

Testimonial

MEETOVATION IN A THEATRE On several occasions, Det Ny Teater, a century old theatre downtown Copenhagen, has arranged conferences for Exiqon, a biotechnological company operating in Life Sciences and Diagnostics.

The head of the meetings department at Det Ny Teater, Meetovator Mette Wøhlk Veneman explains: ‘Once they had a session where they had asked actors to share the way they work with Exiqon’s employees. The main theme was ‘How to Bring out the Best in Each Other’.

The goal was to illustrate that, for a theatre performance, the show will be a disaster if the actors fail to help each other perform the best they can. One of the company managers and one of the actors came and shared their way of thinking both during rehearsals and the performance itself.’

Exiqon HR Manager Lotte Gunderskov, says: ‘It was interesting to hear about the work behind a theatrical performance, both from the management and the actors’ point of view.

At the Copenhagen Admiral Hotel, you can do a number of creative set ups with the help of the in-house meetovators. You can for example use the hotel’s schooners, one of Denmark’s best-preserved schooners, boasting a classic 1900 interior combined with modern facilities. The Admiral Hotel co-owns the vessel, which is permanently berthed in front of the hotel all year round and accommodates up to 42 guests. This way, you will be sure to give your events an extra dimension!

If you choose a venue that doesn’t have in-house meetovators, fear not! Some local DMCs have trained meetovators and can help you with creative meetings. ICS (www.ics. dk) and Eventually (www.eventually.dk), for instance, are here to make the most of any event you might want to organize.

Actually there were several things we could use, although we are from another branch.

For example how people working in the theatre seek to give each other space and help each other, in order to achieve success according to the motto: ‘If your colleagues don’t succeed the show won’t succeed, and you won’t succeed.’

Mette Wøhlk Veneman continues: ‘Theatregoers that have seen our premises and felt the atmosphere of the facility often have a certain romantic idea of theatres and actors. But a theatre is also an organization. Accumulated feelings and frustrations from everyday life do also exist in our colorful world. We use Meetovation in many different contexts, sometimes even without the end user noticing it. This could be for a meeting setup in a circle without tables or for an increased number of breaks so the participants have the time to pick up on what they have heard. It’s my impression the untraditional settings we offer at the theatre in generally help the participants think out of the box!’

Toldboden, one of the newest restaurants and meeting venues in Copenhagen harbour, doesn’t house meetovators, but offers mul-

Research has shown that great flexibility of the physical set up at meetings is of major importance

tipurpose, flexible event space for up to 600 people in a climate-friendly renovated old warehouse. Here it is easy not only to create innovative spaces but also to include some

The Opera House

of the other meetovation elements, like local flavour and climate-friendly solutions. Owner Jesper Julian Moeller strives to make it environmentally friendly using local sourced produce.

The menu has information on how much CO2 is used to produce each offering, while other green features include the use of reclaimed materials (the bar is constructed from an old warehouse floor, the floors are made out of sand from Danish beaches) and energysaving LED lights. On top, Toldboden boasts fantastic views of Copenhagen harbour and prominent neighbours such as Amalienborg Palace, the Royal Danish Opera, Holmen, the Little Mermaid and the HQ of Maersk Line.

Here you can definitely have a meeting with a twist… in your tongue and in your eyes!

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> SUSTAINABILITY

GREEN AS IT GETS WITH THE DANISH ORGANIZING A SUSTAINABLE MEETING IN COPENHAGEN AND IN DENMARK SEEMS NATURAL. WITH THE COP15 LEGACY AND THE GREENING OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE LINE OF FIRE, GREEN MEETINGS ARE EASY TO ARRANGE. I COULD PERSONALLY EXPERIENCE IT DURING THE MIND FAMTRIP LAST JUNE WHERE ACTIVITIES WERE ORGANIZED AROUND THE MEETOVATION CONCEPT, OF WHICH SUSTAINABILITY IS A MAJOR PART. NOW ANJA HARTUNG SFYRLA, INTERNATIONAL MARKETING MANAGER, BUSINESS TOURISM AT VISITDENMARK, TELLS US MORE ABOUT THE DANISH ADDED VALUE WHEN IT COMES TO GREEN MEETINGS. INTERVIEW RÉMI DÉVÉ

HQ: Every destination now says they’re sustainable. What makes Copenhagen/ Denmark different?

Anja Hartung Sfyrla: A number of things has made it easy for us to ‘walk the green path’. First because Denmark is flat and cars are quite dear here, we were born in a biking culture - it’s been a long time since we’re sustainable and we didn’t even know it! There are also great weather conditions for wind power, but, most importantly, we live in a very functional society that understand what it means to promote a healthy lifestyle, green solutions and sustainability.

Anja Hartung Sfyrla

The greening of COP15 has made it possible to incorporate some of these values to the meetings industry. As a matter of

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fact, the event partly transformed, or at least pushed the greening process in the Copenhagen meetings industry: we have a far more green meeting product today than before COP15. For example, Bella Center had a greening plan already before COP15, but decided to speed up the process - they reduced their CO2 footprint by 20% in the two years leading to the event and worked out a solution on how to serve organic food at reasonable prices. Likewise, many hotels got some kind of ‘green’ certification and to this day this number is still rising (see sidebar).

All of this shows it’s much easier to ask for and get a sustainable meeting in Copenhagen compared to other destinations. Here, you might even end up having a sustainable meeting without knowing it!

HQ:How do the Danish ‘EnergyTours’ fit into sustainability? What are they exactly?

Anja Hartung Sfyrla: EnergyTours offer a unique opportunity to come and experience Danish clean technologies and climatefriendly solutions. During those special tours, we invite planners to take advantage of the lessons already learned by Danish companies and institutions on how to fight climate change. An EnergyTour will be relevant to top, technical and commercial management in leading energy companies and other companies committed to the energy agenda, such as developers, technology providers and consulting engineers.

We give people the opportunity to meet Danish environmental frontrunners, including company leaders, politicians and experts. The groups using this service come as delegations to Denmark for a study trip, but very often EnergyTours are ‘natural’ pre- and post- tours in connection with the many conferences Denmark host within the field of energy and sustainabillity (www.energytours.com).

HQ: One of Meetovation’s key concepts is how to incorporate sustainability into your meetings. Can you expand a little bit on that?

Anja Hartung Sfyrla: In Denmark we are passionate about meeting design! We highly believe in identifying the purpose of a meeting and then designing it according to this.

Of course this will result in a better outcome and therefore a higher Return on Meeting Investment (RoMI) for the company organizing the meeting.

Meetovation is our recipe for designing the best meetings. This concept offers five design principles and sustainabillity is one of them. We do believe that taking good care of the environment and our world is very important today; a company demonstrating this kind of awareness in the way they organise meetings can obtain motivation and a positive attitude in connection with the other messages they want to convey to either internal or external stakeholders.

Integrating a sustainable thinking in the way the meeting is organised can also be a way to increase its effectiveness and even sometimes decrease its cost. Sustainable thinking is everything from using the excellent Danish tap water in jugs to using the ‘Walk and talk’ technique for a discussion session where you send participants out of the meeting room to a get some fresh air on a 20-minute walking trip so they can brainstorm in a different way.

Another example is the organiser contributing to rescuing trees in the rainforest instead of buying gifts which many delegates don’t bring home anyway to making all conference material available electronically, etc.

Integrating a sustainable thinking in the way the meeting is organised can be a way to increase its effectiveness HQ: I find that being sustainable is not every planner’s primary concern. It’s just an added value, but not a necessity after all. What do you say to those people?

Anja Hartung Sfyrla: As sustainability is an integrated part of our society and of our

meeting product we don’t really need to convince clients who don’t see sustainability as a priority. We do believe that responsible thinking can increase the positive experience for the participant of the meeting as well as it can often help reduce costs.Those arguments are often most important to potential clients.

HQ: Is there still room for improvement when it comes to Copenhagen/Denmark being sustainable?

VM Building

Anja Hartung Sfyrla: There is always room for improvement! A group of hotels are planning to come together and buy wind power energy for their hotels. Denmark will also host the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2012. As a result, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs will organise over 100 meetings of various sizes, attracting more than 15,000 participants visiting Copenhagen and the city of Horsens in central Jutland. At this very moment, key private and public stakeholders affiliated with the Danish meetings industry are uniting and creating an ambitious national sustainability project named the ‘Danish Sustainable Events Initiative’ (DSEI) to ensure that Danish sustainability leadership in action is advanced, showcased and shared.

COPENHAGEN

the capital of sustainable meetings

+ Green hotels: Copenhagen has a pioneering status when it comes to sustainable meetings.

This status is underlined by the fact that 60% of the city’s hotel rooms now hold one of the official eco-certificates available for hotels. + A biking culture: 50 % of all Copenhageners commute by bike, and in total Copenhageners cycle 1.2 million kilometers a year - equivalent to travelling to the moon and back, twice.

So delegates wanting to go to their meeting on a bike are more than welcome! + CO2 neutral by 2025: Today Copenhagen’s CO2 emissions are less than 2.5 million tons, and the ambition is that in 2025 the city’s CO2 emission should be 1,1 million tons. This will be achieved thanks to a wind mill project reducing CO2 emissions by 375.000 tons, a grand electric and hydrogen car project reducing emissions by 50.000 plant woods and a number of other initiatives.

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Open for Great Meetings

Feel free to bring your next meeting to Copenhagen - the Capital of Sustainable Meetings and the greenest major city in Europe. Copenhagen is a vibrant metropolis with a unique art & design scene, plenty of cultural attractions and many Michelin-starred restaurants.

Denmark is easy to reach from anywhere in the world, offers high value for money and has excellent hotels and ultra-modern meeting facilities. Copenhagen and Denmark is open for great meetings.

Open for Great Meetings

For Copenhagen enquiries: +45 3325 7400 kongres@woco.dk meetincopenhagen.com For the rest of Denmark: +45 3288 9937 conferencesales@visitdenmark.com visitdenmark.com