Basic Event Information
Date: 19 May 2022
Location: Švicarija, Ljubljana
Organiser: Ekoturizem d.o.o. (Go Green) supported also by ETC ADRIATIC d.o.o. and BOLD AM Agencija d.o.o.
Client: Ekoturizem d.o.o. (Go Green)
EVENT CATEGORY: CATEGORY B2B
EVENT SUBCATEGORY: Best CSR Event
EVENT FORMAT: LIVE
Event description and key objectives
The ‘TRACKS’ (in Slovene: ‘SLEDI’) business event was organised to cater to Go Green’s business partners and employees, as well as to other invitees working in the business and tourism sector. The key objective of the event was to showcase GO GREEN’s long-term sustainability commitment, while thanking all the companies and individuals who are part of GO GREEN’s success story and inviting them to join us in leaving their TRACKS that are socially and environmentally responsible.
The main theme of the event was water and how it is far from self-evident. We wanted to highlight the importance of preserving natural resources by supporting a project aimed at raising the awareness of the importance of the Triglav Glacier, cooperating with the British-Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU).
This event was the first time we publicly announced our participation in the project. All of our targeted activities served the main purpose – putting water and environmental sustainability at the heart of our event.
Upon arriving at the venue, each guest was given the opportunity to pick a tree seedling of their choice (among three types), and pledged to plant the tree after the event; 200 new trees were ‘planted’ in this way.
The culinary experience at the event was linked to Slovenian local suppliers and producers, and guests could sample Slovenian delicacies at various stalls.
The event featured renowned performers Maja Keuc, Xequitifz, Dancer on Silk, Fire Show, Dancers in Wings. The event was hosted by David Urankar and Jure Godler.
Key challenges
The key challenge of the event was to showcase our Company’s activities and values, the full range of our services, our commitments for the future and all the employees who co-create the Go Green story.
We did this in several ways during the event. CEO and owner Blaž Ahčan presented the Company’s values, the projects the Company is involved in, the concrete sustainability commitments of the Company and thanked the business partners and employees for their cooperation and co-creation of a better future. The employees introduced themselves to the invitees in a video invitation.
We worked with a renowned director to produce a presentation acted out on stage, presenting details pertaining to each employee. The sketch was performed live by the employees – a Go Green ‘fairy tale’ of sorts. In this part, the employees helped the event host Jure Godler to find a solution to his stressful situation; each employee took part in a specific part and the co-host David Urankar introduced each one with a short description.
Preparing the content for the presentation to reflect the true image of the Company and its members, and then preparing the employees to perform the sketch, required everyone to step outside their comfort zones. However, we were able to present the main strengths of the Company and individuals in an innovative and personal way.
To stay focused on our primary business/services, we also had two of our latest electric vehicles on site at the event, as well as a technologically advanced, luxury vehicle with low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, which communicated our future business direction.
Creativity
The event is built on a creative approach in all key segments.
We have launched the event in a very special and creative way. We combined the virtual and the real world and, after an introductory part of welcoming guests and handing over the trees, we started the event itself with a video broadcast. In it, GO GREEN’s CEO offers a lift to the two event hosts who are ‘late’ to the venue of our event in Tivoli Park. The three of them get in the GO GREEN car and drive to the event. In the meantime, the filmed vehicle arrives in real life at the Švicarija venue, carrying the event hosts and the CEO, who together take to the stage, greet the visitors, and start the programme.
We wanted to encourage all visitors to leave a socially responsible footprint with us, so we involved them in a socially responsible act and gave them the opportunity to choose their tree on arrival.
We also wanted to present Slovenian water in an innovative way, so instead of the typical welcome drinks, we offered three different Slovenian waters. Guests were escorted by water fairies to a stand where they were greeted by a professional bartender and offered a variety of Slovenian waters, decorated in the form of a cocktail.
We added a special creative touch to the food, too, with a stall selling home-grown vegetables and fresh fruit, where guests could see a real greengrocer, select their own vegetables, and even pick a fresh strawberry from the plant.
Innovation
We brought to the event venue and displayed the state-of-the-art vehicles that the Company uses to provide its transport services. Among them were two electric vehicles and the latest models that the Company already uses in its services or will use in the future. All the vehicles have state-of-the-art technology that enables the Company to provide high quality, technologically advanced transport services with minimal impact on the environment. Guests were able to see the vehicles in detail, sit in them and the hostesses provided them with all the detailed information they needed.
The concept of the event from start to finish is based on an innovative approach ensuring that the invitees will recollect its key objective: to showcase Go Green’s wide array of activities and long-term sustainability commitments.
Execution
We chose a location that was green and in nature and this setting matched the colour of our corporate identity. We guaranteed comfortable access to the venue thanks to a shuttle service in electric vehicles (Kavalir) from the car park and around Ljubljana’s Tivoli Park. Corporate identity was used consistently; a ‘special green carpet’ greeted guests on the staircase leading to the venue. The stairs were covered with green signs which, when seen, created the Company’s logo, and cypress trees were placed along the staircase to create the impression of a natural fence.
Promotional videos were played on screens, food stalls were dressed in green and featured custom wooden labels with the menu of what they offered in neat pyrographed lettering. The signage used the typography of our corporate identity.
The stage was covered with grass sward instead of a traditional hard floor. After the speeches and toasts, we served the guests a green coloured soft drink.
We created a detailed scenario before the event and wrote the full script and timeline for the hosts and all the performers. The director supervised its performance on the spot.
We made sure that all guests received food and drinks without waiting: we served the dishes according to a carefully devised plan, ensuring that every guest had the opportunity to try every course. At the end of the event, we were pleased with the target achieved, with 95% of guests making sure they picked up their tree on departure.
Measurable results
The event aimed to carefully nurture relationships with business partners and existing customers, to clearly present Go Green’s values, to encourage sustainability among partners and to educate about the importance of natural resources. The response or participation of business partners and employees was high. We achieved our targets both in terms of the number of guests and in terms of raising awareness of corporate social responsibility and water in the business community.
We received many verbal and written thanks and compliments during and after the event. Word of the creative content and the overall success of the event spread quickly in the following days in the industry we work in. After the event, we also had an increase in the number of posts on all social networks, and we also saw an increase in the number of visits to our website.
Communication
We started communicating with the invitees about three weeks before the event with a ‘Save the date’ email, in which we also presented the importance of being responsible to our environment and the importance of natural resources, especially water.
We followed up with a video invitation, where presenters Urankar and Godler reiterated the importance of natural resources and the responsibility we all have towards the WATER we leave for future generations.
In both stages of the invitation process, participants could confirm their attendance via a link within the message, so that we had an accurate number of registered participants at any given time. Our business partners who had not yet confirmed their attendance were then personally called and invited to the event. This way, we also communicated with those who could not attend the event due to other commitments.
We also sent out a friendly reminder before the event itself. We communicated with participants in a variety of ways: the programme and content of the event, the invitation, the staff presentation and, of course, by talking and socialising with guests in person. After the event, we continued the communication by sending a video of the event or “after movie” and thanking the invitees for their participation. We published the pictures, video, and other content, along with the impressions and thank-you notes, and communicated the content of the event on social media.
The use of sustainable practices
We wanted to ensure sustainable practices at all stages of the event, so we invited guests by e-invitation and tracked registrations through an electronic application. We provided guests with transport in Kavalir electric vehicles from the car park or other locations in Tivoli Park to the event location. Guests were invited to walk to the event (at least part of the way). In this way, we encouraged them to keep their private vehicles at home and also contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of the event.
In the catering area, we also ensured sustainable practices; we agreed that food was sourced from local suppliers, staff served or loaded food in such a way that we controlled the amount of food waste, we ensured that food and drinks were served without packaging, etc. In this way, we have tried to achieve the objective of reducing the carbon footprint and waste per person.
The gifts we gave to guests were designed to communicate our commitment to minimise our impact and foster our care for the environment. In addition, we ensured that the gifts were delivered in biodegradable packaging.
The event itself and the theme of the event was water and the importance of preserving natural resources, so we joined and will co-implement a project to raise awareness about the importance of the Triglav Glacier.
ESOT has always been very attentive to sustainability, for instance, the final conference program has not been printed for many years and every waste is limited to the maximum, whether we are talking about food (extra food was donated to a city charity association), paper, plastic (use of reusable aluminium bottles with water dispensers around the congress venue, use of badges without plastic holder, etc.), or transport (no transfers to / from are organized for the speakers, where possible tickets for public transport are offered to delegates, etc.).
