Oregon Convention Center urges event professionals to have their say and accelerate the creation of a sustainable event industry

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The Oregon Convention Center (OCC) has joined Positive Impact Events and other event industry partners to urge industry professionals across the world to take part in a vital initiative – 'Engaging the global event industry with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)' – ahead of the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York on September 25-27.

An online survey has been created as part of the 'My World Global Citizen Survey' to bring people's voices into official debates about the UN SDGs and provide anyone working in the meetings and events industry the ability to contribute opinions and commitments to how the global event industry can achieve these goals. Surveys completed before September 1st will be used to form an ‘acceleration action’ which will be shared with the United Nations.

The OCC wants to encourage all our partners and friends in the meetings and events industry to take the 3-minute survey at http://survey.positiveimpactevents.com and give their essential input on how to accelerate sustainability efforts worldwide.

"The Oregon Convention Center has been a champion of sustainability for over two decades, and we are proud to be supporting this industry-wide engagement with the UN SDGs through our efforts and sponsorship,” says Craig Stroud, OCC Executive Director. “By completing this short survey, event professionals will be taking a decisive step toward identifying the best solutions and realizing these goals at a global industry level.”

In addition to the Oregon Convention Center, the creation of an acceleration commitment is supported by IMEX, Maritz, and event technology provider Cvent, which will communicate to the United Nations how engaging the event industry could lead to achieving the UN SDGs by 2030.

“It is becoming more and more important to align the event industry’s practices with the UN SDGs as these goals continue to gain traction internationally,” says Ryan Harvey, OCC Sustainability Manager. “At the OCC, we’ve begun to use them as a framework for moving our organization’s strategic planning and goal-setting forward in areas like clean energy, water management, waste diversion, local partnerships, and staff and client engagement.”

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infographic of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Positive Impact, a global not for profit which exists to engage, educate and collaborate to cultivate a sustainable event industry, will analyze all survey responses and create content for an ‘Acceleration Commitment’ that will identify key action items to take. The report will be submitted to the United Nations as part of their call for commitments to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which will be discussed at the summit in New York in September. The event is the first UN Summit on the SDGs since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015.

“The UN SDGs provide a common agenda and a means to help organizations and individuals quantify the strengths they can continue to build upon as well as identify and target the areas they feel the most passionate about,” adds Harvey. “The survey seeks to assess where industry professionals stand on these strategic sustainability goals and offers an opportunity to present the values they share with a powerful, unified voice.”

Full details of the acceleration commitment will be presented across Positive Impact’s network and at Cvent CONNECT Europe, October 14-16 at the InterContinental O2 in London.

About Positive Impact Events
Positive Impact is a global not for profit which exists to provide engagement, collaboration and education to create a sustainable event industry. Positive Impact has a number of Memorandums of Understanding with United Nations bodies including UN Environment, UNFCCC and UNSDG Action and is an affiliate member of UNWTO.

About the Oregon Convention Center
The Oregon Convention Center is owned by Metro and managed by the Metro Exposition and Recreation Commission. OCC is a sustainably operated LEED® Platinum facility that hosts groups from around the world and brings millions of dollars into the Portland and Oregon economy.

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UN Sust Dev Goals Infographic.fw_.png

UN Sust Dev Goals Infographic.fw_.png

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