Your Conference or Event Can Change the World

May 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bad Water Kills More Children than War

This is a guest post by Calum Maclean. Many of you will remember Calum from his 17 years in the hotel business or his work at Clean the World. He has gone on to try and make a difference by providing clean water to those in need with www.sawyersaves.com You can contact him directly at calum@sawyer.com or 630-881-1066.

As a meeting planner you are committed to delivering an outstanding event. From the perfect location, F&B choices, natural light in the room, vetting the speakers, giving people enough downtime during the event, the list is endless.

Then there is the green or CSR component… As if there was not enough to do you now have to save the planet and everyone on it as well.

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Filed Under: CSR, Event Planning

A Sad Day for the Broadmoor

September 22, 2011 By 2 Comments

Image: Jeffrey Beall

The famed Broadmoor Hotel located in beautiful Colorado has been sold. I have a lot of opinions about this and I am about to share them with you because we all need a little rant from time to time…..

I hope that this hotel is a financial boondoggle to the new owner, Philip Anschutz who will be forced to sell it to another group who will retain the staff and management so that they do not lose their jobs. I am sorry that I have to feel that way, but I do.

Philip Anschutz is, in my opinion, one the biggest scumbags on the planet, right up there with the Koch brothers and Charles Manson…. Again, that is my opinion and if you don’t like it, you may feel free to unfollow, unfriend and forget I exist because we certainly do not share the same “values”.

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Filed Under: CSR, Event Industry

Don’t Fall for Greenwashing

September 21, 2011 By 9 Comments
Greenwashing in the Meetings Industry

This is Greenwashing

I put this picture up on Google Plus yesterday and it is still bothering me so much that I decided to post my thoughts here, a larger audience for me than Google Plus.

My thinking was, how many times do the unsuspecting buy into the load of crap that companies in the industry are selling us. I snapped this image while I was at a Hilton in Chicago. This is the bottle of water that they serve.

One of our group said “Oh COOL” and I just sat and laughed and explained that this is the worst type of greenwashing there can be because it is so blatant and in your face.

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Filed Under: CSR, Event Planning

The Hyatt Workers Strike – Meeting Planners Beware

September 20, 2011 By 5 Comments

Image: Huffington Post

Hyatt was bitching because 3000 union employees went on a week long strike in Chicago Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu after working without a contract for TWO YEARS. I am not surprised by Hyatt’s move and I am certainly not surprised by their response at the time, which was, typically corporate.

Here is what Hyatt Regency Chicago General Manager Patrick Donelly had to say:

“Unfortunately, this work stoppage could have been avoided if the local union had accepted the identical wage and benefits package they already accepted from Hilton, Starwood and InterContinental,” he said. “It is unclear why the union is refusing to help give our associates the benefit increases they have earned and deserved….We look forward to a quick resolution to this action so our associates can return to work as some of the best paid hotel associates in the city.”

Now, call me crazy, but I am not sure that this is an accurate representation of what the union and its members were striking about. What they were striking about in addition to pay, is working conditions and the rampant outsourcing that is taking place in the hotel industry… ergo, the meetings industry.

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Filed Under: CSR, Event Industry Tagged With: ,

When Your Meetings and Events Cause Harm By Doing Good

July 27, 2011 By 35 Comments
Meetings Industry Hotels and Associations

Photo: Pierre Tourigny

This is a post that I have been working on for about a month and I will be honest and say that I have been a little apprehensive in posting this because I was / am concerned about the backlash that I would receive. In the end, I have never been one to back down from anything….but still………..I did think about it for a couple of minutes.

Then, i got a tweet that made me say, “now is the time”…..

Coca Cola MPI WEC Tweet

Inspiring my ass, this little tweet hit me like a ton of bricks, let me tell you why.

It hit me because of what I see as our industry hypocrisy. I hope you are ready because although I see some really good stuff going on in our industry, I still see a lot of bad……let me explain.

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Filed Under: CSR Tagged With:
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