“VOK DAMS were the first agency in Germany to be ISO certified in 1998 – where strict sustainability requirements applied and still apply. A little later they joined the UN Global Compact. As a result of early and intensive commitment to sustainable action, the company supported the first-ever award ceremony of the German Sustainability Award in 2008 and ensured the sustainability of the event through their consulting services.” (quote taken from VD website – sustainability and CSR).

Claudia Verena is responsible for CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility at VOKDAMS and she is “closing” the series of introductions about the participants of the ecomice explorers initiative for IMEX22! We see you all in Frankfurt next week!  

Question 1) How open are your customers to consider sustainable options for their programs?

Our customers are asking more and more for sustainable, especially environmentally friendly, design options. These requirements come from all industries. Individual sustainability strategies and goals are often the driving force, sometimes the motivation lies in the brand core of the company and is already taken for granted.

What extra miles are walked by your company to convince customers about sustainable options?

At VOK DAMS, we have always strived to exceed our customers’ expectations. This is our performance promise: creating better results! An interdisciplinary CSR team is firmly anchored in our company in order to use our own resources for creating our processes and projects more sustainable. We also consult our customers in sustainability agile to develop the best project result together.

Question 2) What is your motivation for joining the ecomice explorers group at IMEX?

In addition to the professional exchange on more sustainable incentive and event solutions, I expect from the program above all a solidarity of the market participants to promote the topic seriously and together. Especially with regard to our supply chains, I am very excited about solutions from the IMEX community for more sustainable MICE solutions. And I’m super excited in collecting live inspiration again that I just can’t find on screen.

Question 3) Can you give an example of a conference, event or other program that you have organised taking sustainability aspects into account?

What I remember most strongly, even though it’s been a few years, is the “Spritsparathon”* with Volkswagen. It was a public driving event to learn how to drive in a fuel-efficient manner, which took place internationally in the markets and culminated in a world champion electric vehicle final drive from Berlin to Frankfurt to the IAA. Numerous climate and environmental protection measures that everyone can take up in everyday life were also conveyed in a playful way. We selected particularly sustainable and climate-friendly locations and hotels, the catering was vegetarian, the focus was on nature and interpersonal experiences. Environmental topics such as seasonal food, hydropower, wind energy and aerodynamics, energy generation through the use of force on the ergometer and much more were positively and emotionally integrated in various team activities. From today’s perspective, a sustainable car event from around 10 years ago may seem paradoxical, but it was also somehow ahead of its time. We learned a lot from this project: How much team energy can be released through the motivation to do something sustainable and how much fun it is. An event with a learning effect for the participants and the organizational team, without pointing fingers. That was great. We definitely need more of that today.

Claudia, ecomice thanks for your support showing the industry that we can be part of the solution rather than part of the problem!

* “Spritsparathon” comes from the German term of “Sprit sparen” which stands for saving gasoline in day-to-day language

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ecomice is a consultancy and PR / marketing unit for sustainable legacy and supply chains in destinations.

It is an initiative of tmf dialogue.

Travelling today means to reduce negative impact as much as possible and to take responsibility for the destination. Our collaborative business model integrates all stakeholders to jointly follow the sustainable goals of the UN Agenda. We support building legacy projects (environmental and societal) and creating new programs.

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