Every detail of SITE Florida & Caribbean’s Earth Day event was designed for sustainability.
Minimize single-use plastics, check. Source sustainable materials, check. Lower carbon emissions while diverting at least 90 percent of all waste generated by the event, check. The SITE Florida & Caribbean Earth Day event at 1 Hotel South Beach, Miami Beach, checked all the boxes for achieving a sustainable meeting—and then some. Called Message in a Bottle—Turning Trash into Treasure, the celebration welcomed a full house of 80 attendees to the eco-luxury hotel. From immersive biophilic tours showing how nature is integrated into the design of 1 Hotel—think a living green wall with more than 11,000 tropical plants—to a zen garden activation activity with sand that had been recycled from glass by Glass for Life, attendees participated in the sustainability story. They also contributed gently-used clothing to a “Vintage Market for a Cause” pop-up store supporting Dress for Success Miami, demonstrating how small collective actions can have meaningful community impact. And a scrumptious plant-based lunch with a menu printed on wildflower-seeded paper illustrated how taste doesn’t need to be sacrificed with sustainable dining.
“We explained to our attendees why we made these selections and how they minimize our environmental impact and promote social responsibility,” SITE Florida & Caribbean President/CEO Cocoon Incentives Steffy Kordy told Prevue. “Hopefully, planners were inspired to use the ideas for their next gathering.”
Kordy was joined on stage by presenters and industry luminaries including SITE Global’s Dallas Lyons and top executives from the Greater Miami CVB (GMCVB) including President & CEO David Whitaker. “Sustainability,” said Whitaker, “is a wise and important business decision because this is what customers want. It’s good for business and it’s motivation that will take us to the next level.”
Curtis Crider, CEO of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association (GMBHA), presented the 1 Hotel South Beach with 5 Green Keys, the highest level of Green Key Global’s eco-rating program. It is one of only two hotels in Florida and just a handful in the U.S. to achieve this top-tier rating of environmental management.
Top 5 Sustainability Tips for Planners
Purposeful planning for sustainability at incentive programs begins at the onset, said Kordy. Her 5 top tips for sustainable meetings and events:
• Source a hotel that has good sustainability practices in place, such as checking if they partner with a food bank for food leftovers.
• Offer a teambuilding activity with local impact such as a beach clean up, sea turtle adoption, reef restoration, partnering with Habitat for Humanity, etc. “People love to leave a positive footprint behind—it will forever bind them to the destination with good memories.”
• Offer locally sourced food.
• Purchase gifts from local vendors, such as locally produced honey, chocolates or artwork. “It might take a bit more research to find them, but ask around and you will locate good resources.”
• Contribute to a local charity. “In the case of my company, at the end of every event I make a donation to a local charity to show appreciation for the destination. This can be anything from adopting a sea turtle to supporting a local foster home.”
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