Socially Responsible Partnerships

Langebro - Bridge in Copenhagen with marathon runners

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How high are your ambitions?

To support your efforts in working with Socially Responsible Partnerships, we have put together a list of key actions you can take. Consider these a starting point. A guide, and not a final checklist. It is meant to get you started on building your own list of actions and help you meet your sustainability ambitions.

High ambitions

If you have high ambitions in Socially Responsible Partnerships you can commit to the following:

Ensure full gender equality (the target being a 50/50 gender split) and cultural/ethnic/age diversity amongst keynote speakers and panel participants.
Allow younger and less privileged talented people to attend your event (for instance through scholarships, discounts and virtual attendance opportunities for students, start-ups etc.).
Make sure all participants are encouraged to engage in the local culture and community, for instance through local sustainable dining, experiences and attractions.
Engage local stakeholders and host public side-events (e.g. keynote speakers giving a guest lecture at a local organisation or involve participants in activities at local schools).
Use socially responsible companies as suppliers.
Use students from relevant fields as staff at the event.
Display student projects as part of the conference.
Strive to make your event an example to be followed by other events and organisers, in terms of sustainability and social responsibility.
Aim to make the event socially inclusive, for instance by adapting supplier contracts to include local businesses, science institutions, young talents, and local citizens.
Make hybrid accessibility solutions for your event (virtual alternatives/ streaming options), so as to ensure access for a broader geographic and socioeconomic pool of delegates. Here are som cases from Copenhagen.
Set goals, targets and KPI's, and measure them

Medium ambitions

If you have medium ambitions in Socially Responsible Partnerships you can commit to the following:

Strive towards gender equality and cultural/ethnic/age diversity amongst keynote speakers and panel participants.
Provide local experiences and dining options that focus on sustainability.
Share your experience with sustainable event-planning with partners, suppliers and participants.
Provide opportunities for younger and less privileged talented people to attend your event ( for instance through scholarships or discounts for students, starts-ups, etc.).
Use students from relevant fields as staff at the event.

Modest ambitions

If you have modest ambitions in Socially Responsible Partnerships you can commit to the following:

Seek gender equality amongst keynote speakers and panel participants.
Ensure that the event is easily accessible for all participants, regardless of disability.
Insure that your suppliers have a code of conduct that dictates fair working conditions.
Promote your sustainability ambitions, goals and expectations in public communication and participant material.

Why is it important

Social responsibility for an event means building sustainable relations and ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity of access. This includes broad gender and societal representation among participants, panels, keynotes. It also includes working to create a long-term positive impact on local communities. Even though the participants are only at the destination for a short period of time, you still have the opportunity to engage them in local culture prior, during and after the event, as well as encouraging your participants to behave responsibly as being temporary locals. Key questions to ask yourself are:

Do you actively promote gender equality and diversity in your event/congress program?
Have you thought about how your event contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals?
Do you make it possible for everybody to participate? Is there easy and equal access to attend e.g. in terms of disabilities, variation in registration fees, transport, venue, arenas, accommodation, communication, etc?
What are local communities experiencing? If your event is taking over major parts of the city or locking down streets, can you then convert this inconvenience by inviting or engaging locals in and around the event?
Are you providing value to local businesses? Can you procure from local suppliers, not only providing value and support for businesses but create more engaging experiences for participants? Can you donate or encourage your participants to do so?

Connecting with knowledge societies, locals and partners

Wonderful Copenhagen Convention Bureau works with a broad variety of stakeholders including suppliers within the meeting and event industry and close collaboration with universities, communities and organisations. Wonderful Copenhagen can support your efforts and ambitions for creating a strong and positive impact by helping you engage with local communities, relevant companies and partners in Copenhagen. In fact:

Copenhagen CVB works with a professional network of more than 135 members across the Copenhagen Meetings Industry, Meetingplace. Copenhagen CVB will be pleased to connect with relevant suppliers and partners. Read more about the unique network here.
Copenhagen Convention Bureau has developed the Copenhagen Legacy Lab programme including a tool to help international congresses in creating long-lasting positive impact. Read more here.
Copenhagen Convention Bureau has established two strategic alliances; The Life Science Alliance and the Green Conference Alliance that both comprise of the major stakeholders relevant for contributing to the optimal value proposition and potential partnership for an association congress. The Life Science and Cleantech/Green Conference stakeholders can support with a range of activities for the benefit of the association, its delegates and societies both locally and globally. Read more about clusters and alliances in Copenhagen her e.
Inspiration and ideas from events and congresses in Copenhagen that show best practice examples. Find four inspirational cases here: Roskilde Festival, UIA 2013, Tomorrow Urban Travel 2019 and C40 World Mayors Summit.
Copenhagen CVB has developed a dialogue tool, The Copenhagen Congress Compass, that will help you start a conversation about how to best implement the Sustainable Development Goals in your event.
Copenhagen CVB and MeetDenmark partners have developed an overview on how Copenhagen and Denmark manage to be a safe place for hosting business events despite the COVID 19 pandemic Read more about it here.

Finnished with this planning area?

This was the last planning area of your sustainable event. Go through all your steps and check if they live up to your ambitions and see also what SDG's that your event will be impacting.

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