In 2004, IMEX - the global meetings and travel exhibition - introduced its Corporate Responsibility Centre, which offered attendees expert advice on topics including environmentally sustainable and socially responsible business practices.

The response, said Carina Bauer, marketing and operations director for the Frankfurt, Germany-based show, was underwhelming.

Although IMEX annually attracts thousands of attendees and exhibitors from dozens of countries, "We had about three appointments," Bauer said, laughing. That same year, IMEX also hosted its first green meeting seminar at the exhibition. Maybe 10 people showed up. "We started out with just the basics," Bauer said, "but even that was too much."

Clearly, IMEX was ahead of the curve. At recent shows, there have been queues of attendees waiting to talk with experts at the Corporate Responsibility Centre, and the green meetings
seminars are so popular they're held twice a day and draw standing-room-only crowds. But the larger lesson is that IMEX's leadership continued with the initiative as part of its business strategy, in spite of the slow start. "We carried on because we believe it's important," Bauer said.

Indeed, five years later, IMEX is a leader in sustainability issues. In addition to its green meeting education, it annually presents IMEX Green Awards in partnership with the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC). IMEX also showcases best practices through its own meticulously detailed policies, which extend from offering fair-trade coffee and tea in seminar rooms, to using recyclable carpets in the exhibition hall, to using green energy. In May, IMEX 2009 will become the first trade show to offer hydroelectric power to its exhibitors. Another first: biodegradable name-badge lanyards made from plant silk, derived from the waste stems of grain crops. And while last year, nearly 87 percent of waste at IMEX was recycled - and the rest was incinerated, with the energy created donated to the local community - organizers expect to achieve even greater waste reductions in 2009.

Some green practices save the organization money, Bauer said, while others cost more. "It comes down to business culture and what is important to you."

That's been Jan Peter Bergkvist's experience as well. Now the owner of Sleepwell, a Sweden-based sustainable business group, he previously served as vice president for sustainable business for Scandic Hotels, the leading hotel chain in the Nordic region, with 151 hotels in 10 countries.

Scandic's commitment to sustainability began well over a decade ago, when new management took the then-struggling chain and rebuilt its culture. Today those values are integrated into every aspect of the company's business practices, from eliminating bottled water, to supplying eco-friendly pens and paper to meeting rooms, to using renewable building materials for new construction wherever possible. Scandic registers its consumption of fossil carbon dioxide, energy, water, and unsorted garbage, and tallies it in a"Sustainability Live Report." Since 1996, the chain has reduced emissions by 30 percent.

There are two ways to approach green meetings practices, Bergkvist said. One is the risk-driven approach, he said, "where you make sure you don't have too many skeletons in the closet - i.e., you know which suppliers you use, you know that the food you are serving is safe, and know that the chemicals you are using are not carcinogenic." He continued: "Then there is the positive approach - which has been the approach of Scandic - where we very much believe that a very strong way to build a brand is through the values you share with your customers, your guests, your team members, and your owners."

Bergkvist's mantra has always been that achieving sustainability requires a combination of two things. First is the dedication of top management, including the CEO. But management support must also "be combined with training and educating all of the team members."

There are already a lot of sustainability policies out there. In the West, Bergkvist said, "you hardly find a company that does not have an environmental or maybe even sustainability policy. But it's not always connected to real action in daily business, and that's where I see a big need."

Guy Bigwood is group sustainability director for MCI, the global association, communications, and event-management company, where he is responsible for the organization's corporate social responsibility and sustainability services. Based in Barcelona, he frequently speaks at conferences about sustainability as a critical business strategy and posts about sustainability issues on his blog - called "Less Conversation, More Action" (http://lessconversationmoreaction.com).

For Bigwood, the key issues are "integration, consistency about raising the bar, and coming up to a better level of performance all around, not just exemplary performance in one area." He said: "We're very focused within MCI in building a culture of responsibility, of morals and ethics. People respect each other. When people have more respect, they are going to respect the planet better."

True leaders have created cultures that are permeated with sustainable values. "I was in Google last week," Bigwood said. "They've got it. You go to a Scandic Hotel, they've got it." The surrounding culture also plays a big role. "You would never serve a client a coffee in a paper cup in Spain," he said - and not just because of you don't want to waste a paper cup. "You'd probably get shot."

Take Away: Little things add up at the award-winning Scandic Hotels chain, where after 15 years, according to Jan Peter Bergkvist, sustainability is second nature:
Scandic sorts waste at its hotels into as many as 22 categories, has stopped using bottled water and single-use disposable packages, and uses room keys to control lighting. Plants are watered with the half-full carafes left at empty restaurant tables, so that not a drop is poured away.

The hotel chain has also established the Scandic Sustainability Fund, and this year will begin awarding grants to individuals and organizations for projects that broadly support sustainable development. Money for the fund comes from sales of the hotel's specially designed water bottles, made from hand-blown recycled glass, and sales of the single "A Million Candles Burning," by the Swedish singer Martin Stenmarck.

Barbara Palmer is senior editor of Convene.