Client: Natural England

Event: Delivering As One Organisation (DAOO) - annual conference

Requirements: Natural England is a non-departmental public body set up to conserve and enhance the natural environment, so when it’s annual DAOO conference came round, the organisers wanted to make the event as sustainable as possible. As well as having a venue that sat well their culture and ethos, their objective was to reduce travel for both staff and speakers, and thus the carbon footprint for the event.

Solution: With 280 guests in the Lawrence Hall and 2000 guests in seven locations across the UK, video conferencing was used to link all parties simultaneously. The show’s organisers had no previous experience of live interactive links.

To enable the event to deliver at the highest level, the RHH provided and constantly checked wireless internet access to ensure 100% connectivity. The staff gave their experience of live feeds through events such as the May Day Summit, thus providing client with total support throughout the event. The electricity supply was set‐up to enable guests to access video links via personal laptops.

The new format reduced average emissions per person from 15.3kg in 2007 to 9.9kg in 2008, an overall reduction of 7.8 tonnes – a staggering 31% carbon footprint reduction on previous event.

Lorna Wilamowski, communications senior specialist at Natural England, explains: “We chose the Royal Horticultural Halls and Conference Centre for the London event because not only is it a stunning building, but the horticultural aspect complemented our values. Also, the fact that it is so central and accessible was great, as it encouraged guests to use public transport.”

Previously, the conference was held in several venues and all attendees were invited to attend at their closest location, but the number of guests meant that some events had to be spread over a few days to accommodate everyone. Lorna continues: “This year we wanted to try to avoid staff and speakers having to travel long distances to reduce our carbon footprint.”