For their Global Consumer Marketing event, a corporate client used to fly an average of 800pax to their global HQ Amsterdam. Participants would come from their offices in Dubai, Panama City, Shanghai, Tokyo, Gurgaon, the US and several European Countries. Resulting in an estimated global footprint of 247.05 tonnes CO2.
Times are changing. Not only does the excitement of flying 11 hours from Panama City to Amsterdam very quickly wear off. Since the creation of the UN’s SDGs in 2015, sustainability is no longer a “hot topic” it’s a growing necessity. Especially in the MICE industry.
To lower this company’s carbon footprint, the easiest solution would be to limit the live meeting to onsite/ local participants at the Amsterdam HQ. Then live-stream that meeting to the rest of the usual attendees. However, as in most cases, engagement and networking remains key for this corporation.
How do we reduce carbon footprint and retain the all-important face to face interaction?
Thanks to ABBIT’s Multihub Meetings format, the number of people flying is significantly less. Instead of flying all participants to Amsterdam, everyone remains in their own offices. Only 17 technicians are being flown to the participating locations, meaning the CO2 emissions are considerably reduced to an estimate of 10 tonnes. More than 230 tonnes less that last year’s meeting.
The event didn’t only save the company tonnes in their global footprint but also €400k. An event that would usually cost the company €500,000. is now costing them €100,000.
Whilst not all participants would meet face-to-face, in the Multihub Meetings format, everyone can always hear and see each other. Emulating face-to-face interaction. Many moments are scripted into the programme for cross-hub discussions, Q&A and feedback to ensure every “hub” feels valued and relevant in the meeting.
Presentations came from every hub, meaning all hubs had at least one speaker present. There was a global awards ceremony and a panel presentation between the main panellists in Amsterdam and several remote panellists from other hubs.
A truly dynamic hybrid meeting only made possible with a two-way connection in the Multihub format.