When MCI started our corporate responsibility journey in 2007 we knew that to become a sustainable business, we needed to make sustainability a core part of our products as well as operations.
In 2014 we made great progress, and are proud to see that sustainability is firmly entwined into our business strategy, services and managed solutions.
We needed to make sustainability a core part of our client value proposition.
We believe brands can be positive forces for change as well as engines of growth by communicating authentically with customers and stakeholders, improving operational performance and driving innovation to create products, solutions and collaborations for the new era of Sustainability.
Since 2007, we have organised over 600 projects about sustainability and energy related issues. In 2014, we consolidated our reputation by organising 107 events in 56 countries and delivering 25 sustainability consulting projects for corporate and institutional clients including Engineers Australia, Symantec, the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau and Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
With over 600 high-profile sustainability and energy related projects managed to date and industry-wide recognition for our pioneering sustainablility consulting, ISO certification and sustainability reporting, we are also the world’s leading organiser of sustainable events and events about sustainability and energy.
In 2014 we developed and launched the Sustainability Center of Excellence. This is a global team of sustainability experts who have a core focus on helping create sustainable brands and helping associations, governments and corporate scale new sustainability technology and solutions.
Our solutions and managed services help organisations create strategy, implement complex programmes by engaging stakeholders, and activating them through face to face events, and innovative online communications strategies. Building community for everyone we serve.
Industry categories we have an expertise in include: Smart City, Smart Energy, Smart Healthcare, Water, Infrastructure, Green Building, Sustainable Transportation
For those clients wishing to be leaders in responsible business, in 2008 we created MCI Sustainability Services; a dedicated business unit focused on providing strategic advisory services to industry & government. Today our experienced consultants work hand-in-hand with governments, destinations, associations, venues and hotel chains seeking a competitive advantage, helping them better engage stakeholders, improve operational efficiency, accelerate innovation and increase return on investment.
Example clients include: Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau , Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, Korean Tourism Organisation, Visit Denmark, Wonderful Copenhagen and the City of Gothenburg.
Asset Development
Example clients: UN Global Compact, GRI, Sustainable Brands
Engagement Strategies
Example clients: UN Global Compact, Gothenburg Convention Bureau, Singapore Tourism Board
Brand Enhancement
Example clients: Copenhagen Convention Bureau, Las Vegas Sands Coorporation
Performance Management
Develop sustainability programmes and management systems that increase triple bottom line performance.
Examples include:
Experience Management
Example clients: Schneider, Symantec, Q Cells, Danish Maritime, Climate Group, UN Global Compact
Content and Communications
Example clients: Visit Denmark, Singapore Tourism Board, UN Global Compact, Wonderful Copenhagen
In 2014, MCI supported The Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development Singapore, which brought together over 500 business leaders, NGOs and policy-makers from around the world to redefine what prosperity means for us today and how we can create shared value for society across six sectors – building & urban infrastructure, consumer goods, financial services, food, beverage and agriculture and renewable energy and shipping.
Leveraging on MCI’s in-house consultants to provide an in-depth sustainability strategy for the Responsible Business Forum, the event in hand with leading sustainable venue Marina Bay Sands achieved a waste diversion rate of 90%, a 5% reduction of energy emissions onsite for this already highly sustainable event, and produced less than 0.5kg of food waste per delegate.
Symantec Vision 2014 Symposium was a series of events in Dubai, Munich, Paris and London.
The conference series focuses on IT professionals and provides specific content tracks, hands-on experiences and face-to-face interactions for administrators, managers, directors, C-level executives and small businesses.
MCI implemented a comprehensive sustainable event strategy to improve the delegate experience and to address the environmental, social and economic impacts of the Symposium. The Symposium achieved a waste diversion rate of 89%, producing an average of only 0.42kg of waste per participant. Moreover, Symantec also supported a legacy programme to sponsor and co-organise a Plant-for-the-Planet Academy that trained 40 children to be Climate Change Ambassadors.
Because of increased efficiencies and involvement in community engagement, the Symposium tracked at least €25,427 in sustainability related savings and had a total direct and indirect economic benefit of over €2million to local economies and communities.
The event series won the 2015 IMEX-GMIC Green Meeting Award.
Organised by Engineers Australia (EA) – the largest and most diverse professional body for engineers in Australia – Convention 2014 was launched to advance the engineering profession through the sharing of expertise, knowledge and innovation. It brought together all areas of the engineering profession, with national and international industry leaders exposing delegates to megatrends and thought leadership that will influence the future direction of engineering in Australia – which is to say, a future with sustainability at its core.
Not only was 89% of waste diverted and 100% of food and cold beverages sourced from within Australia, Convention 2014 also supported 6 local non-profit organisations, adding value to local economies and communities. For example, Convention 2014 organisers engaged with Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) to support local engineering projects, and supported food distribution organisations such as SecondBite and OzHarvest.
The Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) is a showcase of the latest research and developments in emergency medicine, highlighting industry best practice solutions, performance against professional standards and innovation that builds the quality of emergency care in Australasia. Held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), ACEM 2014 brought together over 900 national and international specialists and health professionals in a new, exciting and interactive format.
Following the ISO20121 Guidelines the ACEM 2014 team incorporated environmental, social, and health and wellness programmes into the event to ensure that the meeting benefited and supported the environment, delegates and the local community. Ultimately, ACEM 2014 achieved a total waste diversion rate of 86%. This is one of the highest waste diversion rates recorded at MCEC and sets a benchmark for diverting waste from landfill for future ACEM.
The Orange Babies foundation was established in 1999 to help pregnant women with HIV and their babies in Africa. MCI Amsterdam teamed up with Vogue Netherlands, House of Orange and MAC Cosmetics to celebrate Orange Babies’ 15th birthday. For this charity event, 15 top Dutch models were present at a stunning fashion show by Azzedine Alaia.
The event’s ‘Think Big’ theme was a reference to the foundation’s starting point as a very small organisation which grew and grew year on year. A collection of gnome artwork decorated by ten artists and Dutch celebrities were added to Alaia’s pieces to contribute to raising over €400,000 at auction. This funding will give an estimated 60,000 babies a fair start to life in 2015.
Novo Nordisk – the world’s leader in diabetes care – were looking to increase awareness and engagement around sustainability and wellness during their UK Plan of Action Meeting. To keep things interesting, MCI partnered with Blondefish to create a gamification application, capitalising on a friendly sense of competition to encourage participants to act sustainably both during and leading up to the meeting itself.
By keeping track of and rewarding responsible behaviour (such as opting for granola rather than bacon and eggs during breakfast!), the application was able to: quickly build awareness around Novo Nordisk’s commitment to sustainability, change event participants’ behaviour, and ultimately activate Novo Nordisk’s key organisational behaviours.
Nordic Forum – New Actions on Women’s Rights was launched in Malmo, Sweden on 12-15 June. The Conference ended by handing over a document of points to the Nordic Ministers of Equal Rights, which the Nordic women’s rights organisations had agreed on for the Nordic Governments to implement and work on. The conference took place in two different venues, with more than 20 parallel sessions, events and performances. MCI handled the exhibition with almost 100 exhibitors comprised by NGOs, private companies as well as public institutions; MCI was also in charge of the production of the opening, closing and main plenary sessions, which included speeches, theatre and musical performances.
This year, the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) approached MCI with a vision – to be the leading Asian Sustainable MICE Destination and a Global Top 10 Sustainable MICE Destination. As a first step to achieve this goal, MCI’s team of consultants came together to produce a Sustainability Master Plan for TCEB.
MCI utilised a three-pronged approach in conducting an industry audit of the current state of environmental sustainability practices within the Thai MICE industry, engaging institutional stakeholders, assessing the national MICE industry and analyzing international market forces.
As a result, MCI’s team identified gaps and areas of opportunities in environmental & social sustainability for the local MICE industry and recommended strategic options for sustainable development. The end product was a Sustainable Destination Master Plan to guide the Thai Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions Industry towards sustainability until 2020.
The International Foundation for Research (IRP) is an organisation that supports projects that have as a goal to overcome paraplegia. One of the most important sources of funds for the organisation is its annual fundraising gala, Bal du Printemps. Dorier has been proudly supporting the foundation for more than 5 years by providing in kind sponsorship for Bal du Printemps. The Bal du Printemps 2014 hosted more than 500 attendees and raised more than 270’000 CHF (€ 230’000) an increase in participation of 30% and in fundraising of 40% compared to the previous year.
MCI Argentina organised the 1st Argentine Older Adults Fair for Supervielle Bank linked to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Healthy Aging Programme. As 10% of Argentina’s retired population are customers of Supervielle Bank, the aim of this event was to build brand loyalty with the “grey market” and to engage with their audience, both current and potential.
For that reason, Supervielle Bank challenged MCI to create an engaging and stimulating programme, designing a space for older adults (65+ years) to share different experiences via a series of entertaining and informative touch points.
Held in Mendoza, the fair welcomed over 5,000 participants to meet 60 sponsoring companies and take part in an activity programme consisting 90+ activities. The most popular activities included the Healthy Ageing Conference, an elderly chorus, ballet, a personal care lecture series, tango lessons, regional cooking classes, folklore music and election of the Senior Beauty Queen. MCI Argentina had the foresight to use the event as an opportunity to help some of their corporate clients investigate new market opportunities – everyone’s a winner.
The World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 was organised by MCI India on 10-14 February 2014 in Delhi. The Congress – which helps shape the next steps in the field of integrative science and global and local sustainability – places great importance on being a zero carbon footprint event as well as protecting the environment. However, MCI were posed with significant challenges, such as immense logistical and security challenges with the large attendance.
MCI rose to the challenge and delivered an event which attracted over 1,000 delegates from 84 countries, spread across 3 venues and 5 hotels. Moreover, 60% of the waste was recycled to reduce the carbon footprint and the Congress went on to sponsor meal for the day for homeless youth, contributing towards food security for some of those who need it the most.
The sustainability of MCI as a long-term business is contingent on the value we bring for our clients and in 2012 MCI launched a global client satisfaction measurement programme.
Inspired by the Net Promoter Score® methodology, we have implemented a formal, systematic and proactive process to capture the “voice of our customers.” We selected to measure five criteria that drive the customer experience working with MCI: quality of services, quality of relationship, right team, value for money and willingness to recommend.
In our first year of measurement, MCI earned a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 48. As none of our competitors or peers seem to be using this globally recognized standard, it has been a challenge to find an acceptable industry benchmark to evaluate our performance. Instead, we set ourselves a 2015 global goal to reach a NPS of 51. In 2014 we are incredibly satisfied to have over performed and reached 60.
To help us on our quest for quality and to improve the group and individual office Net Promoter Scores we are regularly analysing performance and making the required organisational and process changes. The Customer Satisfaction Index is part of the C-level agenda. Improvements will be supported by formal training and on the job coaching and mentoring.
From the survey we have two major conclusions that we need to and are addressing:
The quality of our services is paramount. Without quality, we will fade away.
Dev Sharma, Vice President Strategic Account Management
To motivate our talents in 2014, MCI repeated the “Customer Satisfaction Awards” to recognise outstanding customer service achievements and give MCI offices visibility for their outstanding achievements. To qualify for the award, offices had to achieve a client NPS over 51 and a statistically significant response rate. The award winners in 2014 increased by 6 from 2013. The 2014 winners were: MCI Amsterdam, MCI Brazil, MCI Dublin*, MCI Geneva, MCI Germany*, MCI Prague, MCI Singapore*, MCI Tokyo, MCI Vienna and MCI Zurich*.
*Winners also in 2013
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