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Destination Report Denmark is a special edition of HeadQuarters Magazine - November 2011published by Meeting Media Company (Europe) - www.headquartersmagazine.com - [email protected]
HEADQUARTERS
© J
esper
Rei
s
INSPIRING DANISH MEETINGS
E U R O P E , M I D D L E - E A S T, A F R I C A
HEADQUARTERS 2
IN THE MINDLet’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 fl awlessly,
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.
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
DENMARK LEADING THE WAY
> I N T R O D U C T I O N
CONTENTS
2 INTRODUCTION4 LOCAL FLAVOUR6 INVOLVING THE PARTICIPANTS8 CREATIVE USE OF FACILITIES10 SUSTAINABILITY
the MIND event this June in Copenhagen
HEADQUARTERS 3
> I N T R O D U C T I O N
CONTACT
+ Wonderful Copenhagen
Steen Jakobsen
+45 3325 7400
www.meetincopenhagen.com
+ VisitDenmark
Markus Diefenbach
+49 (0)40-320 21 143
www.visitdenmark.com
MEETOVATION
Shake up the formal structures of conferences and encourage innovative thinking to conceive great ideas: Meetovation is the culmination of Denmark’s fi ght 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 fi ve elements:+ Involvement of delegates+ Creative use of physical facilities+ Green and responsible operations+ Integration of authentic and local fl avour+ Measuring the Return on Meeting
Investment (RoMI)
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 fl exible and creative approach to the use of facilities at venues seeking explicit eco-friendly profi les. 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
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 fl avours 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
it showed that being sustainable is easy and
most of the time cost-effi cient! More on sus-
tainability on page 10 of this supplement.
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 Presi-
dency are as sustainable as possible and result
in ISO20121 certifi cation 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
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 develop-
ment. The project aims
to increase the competi-
tive positioning of Den-
mark as an undisputed
leader in sustainable
events and clean tech-
nology solutions.
Since staging COP15 in
Copenhagen and the
succeeding launch of the
‘Copenhagen Sustain-
able Meetings Protocol’,
the number of sustain-
able and certifi ed busi-
nesses within the Danish
industry has boomed.
Steen Jakobsen, Con-
vention 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 sustain-
able meetings destination, even further. With
over 60% of the capitals’ hotel rooms third
party eco-certifi ed, sustainability is already
an integral part of the Danish meetings
industry. With this project we will develop
Copenhagen’s “sustainable” position further.’
SPECIAL MEETOVATION TRIP
Join the MIND fam trip in Copenhagen15-16 November 2012www.visitdenmark.com/mind
HEADQUARTERS 4
> L O C A L F L A V O U R
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 pro-
duce while presenting the New Nordic Cuisine.
This change has been led by Copenhagen’s
restaurants, which are now recognised by top
food writers, gourmets and gourmands from
around the world. It started out with Copen-
hagen 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 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
confi rms that Copenhagen continues as
the number one food-lover’s destination in
Scandinavia. The main part of the restau-
rants awarded with stars focus on the New
Nordic Cuisine. Worth noting is that Copen-
hagen also offers the world’s only Michelin-
starred 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
fullfi ll your CSR-policy. The city’s #1 organic
gourmet restaurant was just mentioned:
Geranium. On top, there is a fi ne selection
of organic and environmentally conscious
cafés, delis and restaurants, and the number
is growing all the time, in Copenhagen, but
throughout Denmark too!
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 RANGESAt noma1, based in a converted 19th cen-
tury warehouse in the inner harbour of
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
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.
GET GASTRONOMICALLY AUTHENTIC
noma
HEADQUARTERS 5
> L O C A L F L A V O U R
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 fi rst 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 fi sh, 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 fl at, but this was defi antly 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
If you want to eat green, sustainable and organic food, especially Copenhagen is a good place to satisfy your hunger and fullfi ll your CSR-policy
Copenhagen, René Redzepi blends the most
exciting contemporary techniques with the
fi nest Nordic ingredients sourced from as
far away as Iceland, the Faroe Islands and
Greenland. In 2005 Noma achieved their
fi rst 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
Cofoco Restaurants3 is a group of restau-
rants that have become immensely popular.
They offer seven restaurants in Copenhagen
all with different profi les 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
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
individually, directly from the chef in the
open kitchen. Naturally the interior is made
out of certifi ed woodwork and that the
energy consumption is low.
www.biomio.dk
1 expensive, 2 midpriced, 3 budget friendly
At Geranium Restaurant
three kinds of brainfood
HEADQUARTERS 6
> P A R T I C I P A N T ’ S I N V O L V E M E N T
THE MEANING OF MOVING MINDS…Conferences and
large meetings
are often succes-
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...
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 learn-
ing 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 experi-
ences and apply it in their minds to their own
(future) activities. One of Meetovation’s fi ve
key elements indeed focus on ‘involvement
of delegates’ and tackles head on the
troubles of one-way communication at
business events of any size.
PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT ON A LARGE SCALE It is a common misconception that partici-
pant 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.
He says: ‘For participants to become involved
more actively during conferences, fi rst of all
planners must cut down on the number and
length of presentations. Two or three twenty-
minute 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 interest-
ing 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!’
There are, of course, many ways of
changing the traditional one-way communi-
cation 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 Meet-
ovation 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.
Ib Ravn
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…
MOVING MINDS
Sculpture at Dronning Louises Bro
HEADQUARTERS 7
> P A R T I C I P A N T ’ S I N V O L V E M E N T
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 fl oor. The moderator
says: ‘Everyone please, get up and introduce
yourselves to someone you don’t know. Talk
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 fi nd
a new partner.
Later, instead of having a panel with fi ve
eager experts who will volunteer too-long
answers to every question from the fl oor,
ask delegates to spend fi ve minutes writing
down their most important thoughts; fi ve
minutes of complete silence in the big hall.
Then everyone fi nds 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.
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!
The Danes declared ‘War against boring meetings!’ a few years ago, and it is not just ‘hot air’
ALGO 2009
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 scientifi c program, they should create a ‘green’ event as well as get the delegates actively involved in the conference!
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 Offi cer - Research Administration, IT University of Copenhagen, [email protected], www.itu.dk
MIND session, Clarion Hotel
at the IT University of Copenhagen
HEADQUARTERS 8
> C R E A T I V E F A C I L I T I E S
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 fl exibility 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 fl exible and easy
to move around - a skill mastered perfectly
well by a fi ne range of Copenhagen hotels
and venues.
The right psychical frame to create a
certain atmosphere in a meeting can help
achieve specifi c 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 fl exible 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 SOThe 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-
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 fl exible
Bella Center, you can challenge the tradi-
tional 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 custom-
ised meeting and conference programme in
which relaxation, concentration and tranquil-
lity are central elements of the concept.
Their in-house meetovaors take a holistic
approach and are attentive down to the
smallest detail.
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.
HOW TO USE MEETINGS FACILITIES CREATIVELY
Toldboden
> C R E A T I V E F A C I L I T I E S
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, boast-
ing 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 accom-
modates 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.
Toldboden, one of the newest restaurants
and meeting venues in Copenhagen harbour,
doesn’t house meetovators, but offers mul-
tipurpose, fl exible 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
of the other meetovation elements, like local
fl avour 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 fl oor, the fl oors are made out
of sand from Danish beaches) and energy-
saving 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 defi nitely have a meeting with
a twist… in your tongue and in your eyes!
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.
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: ‘Theatre-goers 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!’
Testimonial
Research has shown that great fl exibility of the physical set up at meetings is of major importance
HEADQUARTERS 9
The Opera House
HEADQUARTERS 10
> S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y
HQ: Every destina-
tion 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 fl at 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.
The greening of COP15 has made it pos-
sible to incorporate some of these values
to the meetings industry. As a matter of
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’ certifi cation 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 Copenha-
gen compared to other destinations. Here,
you might even end up having a sustainable
meeting without knowing it!
HQ:How do the Danish ‘EnergyTours’ fi t
into sustainability? What are they exactly?
Anja Hartung Sfyrla: EnergyTours offer a
unique opportunity to come and experience
Danish clean technologies and climate-
friendly solutions. During those special tours,
we invite planners to take advantage of the
lessons already learned by Danish compa-
nies and institutions on how to fi ght 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 fi eld 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 meet-
ing 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 fi ve
design principles and sustainabillity is one of
them. We do believe that taking good care of
the environment and our world is very impor-
tant 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 some-
times 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 contribut-
ing 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.
HQ: I fi nd 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
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 FAM-
TRIP 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
GREEN AS IT GETSWITH THE DANISH
Anja Hartung Sfyrla
Integrating a sustainable thinking in the way the meeting is organised can be a way to increase its effectiveness
HEADQUARTERS 11
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?
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 fi rst half of 2012. As a result, the
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs will organise
over 100 meetings of various sizes, attract-
ing more than 15,000 participants visiting
Copenhagen and the city of Horsens in central
Jutland. At this very moment, key private and
public stakeholders affi liated 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
+ 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 offi cial eco-certifi cates 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 CO
2 emission should be 1,1 million tons. This
will be achieved thanks to a wind mill project reducing CO
2 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.
the capital of sustainable meetings
VM Building
For the rest of Denmark:+45 3288 [email protected]
For Copenhagen enquiries:+45 3325 [email protected]
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
Open for Great Meetings