Sustainability: What Does it Mean to You?
Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This is important because practicing sustainability helps to improve the quality of our lives, protects our ecosystem, and preserves natural resources for generations to come. When it comes to events and event planning, virtual or hybrid events are sustainable by default due to the factor of travel. However, there are many other ways in which a digital experience can help to decrease environmental impact, in comparison to in-person events.
6Connex Sustainability Commitment
At 6Connex, we’ve been working towards communicating the benefits of our sustainability commitment. We’re committed to identifying opportunities to lead to sustainability efforts through foundational and innovative programs, and sharing information about the credible carbon emissions that have been avoided as a result of hosting events on the 6Connex virtual venue platform.
6Connex & WSP Partnership
In an effort to identify and measure the positive impact of the 6Connex sustainability efforts, we’ve partnered with WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering and professional services consulting firms, to conduct a greenhouse gas (GHG) impact assessment of hosting virtual and hybrid events on our digital venue platform, in lieu of hosting in-person events.
Conducting a Carbon Footprint Assessment
To conduct an accurate assessment of the carbon footprint from both in-person events and virtual event, WSP had to consider the following event boundaries:
In-Person Event
-
- Travel to and from event
- Travel while at event
- Materials and handouts
- Meals at event
- Hotel stay
- Electricity usage at an event center
- Heating and cooling
- Waste
Virtual Event
-
- Home electricity usage
- Heating and cooling
- Meals during event
- Energy from home office
- Emissions associated with 6Connex operations
- Waste
WSP compiled and assessed detailed activity data from seven virtual events hosted on the 6Connex event platform for the GHG impact assessment analysis. Some of the results of these studies are highlighted below.
1-Day Virtual Event in Healthcare
WSP gathered live event data from an in-person event for a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health through medical education, health care, medical research, and community collaborations. A typical in-person event with this organization emits ~36X more emissions than a virtual event. Transforming this event from in-person to being hosted with our virtual event software is equivalent to the following:
-
- Preserving 23 acres of forests
- Powering 619 homes for a year
2-Day Virtual Event in Marketing
WSP studied event data from a cross channel marketing platform that empowers marketers at high-growth companies to create unified customer experiences across all channels. The largest impact of an in-person event with this organization is associated with travel, making up about 86% of total emissions. Transforming this marketing event from in-person to using our virtual conference software is equivalent to the following:
-
- Charging 204 million smartphones
- Recycling 570 tons of waste instead of landfill
2-Day Virtual Event in Software
WSP gathered data from a cloud-based software company focusing on customer relationship management service, customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development. A typical in-person event with this organization emits ~83X more emissions than a virtual event. Transforming this event from in-person to virtual id equivalent to the following:
-
- Preserving 53 acres of forests
- Removing 1,696 vehicles from the road for an entire year
1-Day Virtual Event in HR
WSP studied data from an event hosted by a technology company that provides human resources software as a service. The largest impact of in-person events with this organization is transportation, accounting for about 88% of total emissions. Transforming this in-person HR event to virtual is equivalent to the following:
-
- Charging 1.2 billion smartphones
- Recycling 3,460 tons of waste instead of landfill
Sustainability and Carbon Footprint Report Results
The results of the GHG impact assessments show that conducting an event using the 6Connex virtual event platform is significantly less carbon intensive than conducting an in-person event. Please note that the differences of these events should be analyzed as carbon emissions avoided and not saved, given no reduction had actually taken place. This study leveraged as much primary data as possible using the most up to date emission factors.
About 6Connex Virtual Venue Solutions - Our Digital Experience
6Connex is the leading provider of virtual and hybrid event solutions. Our secure, cloud-based platform expands audience reach and drives in-depth content engagement for marketing, sales, recruitment, training, and HR communities to make for successful online events around the world. Our product portfolio includes virtual environments, learning management, and webinars. Demand more from your virtual and hybrid event solution. Request a virtual event demo with 6Connex, or contact our event software experts for more information.
www.6Connex.com
Have Questions? Please call 1.800.395.4702 or email us at sales@6connex.com.
