Black Meetings & Tourism - APEX/ASTM Standards For Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Cross Major Milestone

Greening of Hospitality Industry
APEX/ASTM Standards For Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Cross Major Milestone
The Convention Industry Council recently announced that the APEX-lead initiative to create standards for environmentally sustainable events has crossed an important milestone. Eight of the nine draft standards have completed review by the ASTM committee where they have been under development. This final vote marks the completion of the consensus process for the development of the standards and clears them for final approval and ratification as official ASTM Standards. "CIC is thrilled to report that the project has reached this stage," stated Karen Kotowski, CAE, CMP, CEO of the Convention Industry Council. "This is a major accomplishment for the many volunteers and stakeholders in our industry, and in the ASTM standards development world, who have devoted countless hours to the development, revision and refinement of the standards. We know there is much anticipation in our industry for their completion. The process has been long due to overwhelming interest in from all parties, and we are now right at the finish line." The suite of standards, comprised of nine individual "sector" standards, covers all facets of event planning and management: Accommodations, Audio-Visual, Communication & Marketing, Destinations, Exhibits, Food & Beverage, Meeting Venue, On-Site Office, and Transportation. The standards have been in intense development since the project was initiated in 2008. Sue Tinnish, who chairs the ASTM E60.02 Committee on Hospitality, stated, "The APEX/ASTM standards are certainly more robust as a result of the wide and varied input from the environmental scientists, materials and engineering community, environmental consulting, and various industries including plastics, chemicals and construction. By gaining their consensus and input, the development of the standards took much longer than anticipated. However, we will have a more thorough and better product as a result." The next steps in the ASTM process are administrative review and preparation of the standards for publishing. The standards are reviewed at the Executive Level by ASTM's Committee on Standards, which examines the process and vote counts before sanctioning the publishing of the standards. Based on the closing dates of the two recently completed ballots, the APEX standards will be reviewed by the body on two meeting agendas. Exhibits, Food and Beverage and On-Site Office were reviewed by the Committee on Standards in July; Audio-Visual, Communications, Destinations, Meeting Venue and Transportation will be reviewed in August. After these reviews and approvals the standards will also undergo a final editorial stage and then be released for publishing. The ninth and final standard, Accommodations, is undergoing final revisions. The APEX volunteers anticipate balloting those revisions in June, with a completion date in late summer. The Convention Industry Council's 31 member organizations represent more than 103,500 individuals and 19,500 firms and properties involved in the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry. CIC facilitates the exchange of information develops programs to promote professionalism within the industry and educates the public on its profound economic impact. CIC's programs include the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) program, the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) initiative, the Hall of Leaders and numerous industry resource projects. For more information visit www.conventionindustry.org.

Greening of Hospitality Industry

APEX/ASTM Standards For Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Cross Major Milestone

The Convention Industry Council recently announced that the APEX-lead initiative to create standards for environmentally sustainable events has crossed an important milestone. Eight of the nine draft standards have completed review by the ASTM committee where they have been under development. This final vote marks the completion of the consensus process for the development of the standards and clears them for final approval and ratification as official ASTM Standards.

"CIC is thrilled to report that the project has reached this stage," stated Karen Kotowski, CAE, CMP, CEO of the Convention Industry Council. "This is a major accomplishment for the many volunteers and stakeholders in our industry, and in the ASTM standards development world, who have devoted countless hours to the development, revision and refinement of the standards. We know there is much anticipation in our industry for their completion. The process has been long due to overwhelming interest in from all parties, and we are now right at the finish line."

The suite of standards, comprised of nine individual "sector" standards, covers all facets of event planning and management: Accommodations, Audio-Visual, Communication & Marketing, Destinations, Exhibits, Food & Beverage, Meeting Venue, On-Site Office, and Transportation. The standards have been in intense development since the project was initiated in 2008.

Sue Tinnish, who chairs the ASTM E60.02 Committee on Hospitality, stated, "The APEX/ASTM standards are certainly more robust as a result of the wide and varied input from the environmental scientists, materials and engineering community, environmental consulting, and various industries including plastics, chemicals and construction. By gaining their consensus and input, the development of the standards took much longer than anticipated. However, we will have a more thorough and better product as a result."

The next steps in the ASTM process are administrative review and preparation of the standards for publishing. The standards are reviewed at the Executive Level by ASTM's Committee on Standards, which examines the process and vote counts before sanctioning the publishing of the standards. Based on the closing dates of the two recently completed ballots, the APEX standards will be reviewed by the body on two meeting agendas. Exhibits, Food and Beverage and On-Site Office were reviewed by the Committee on Standards in July; Audio-Visual, Communications, Destinations, Meeting Venue and Transportation will be reviewed in August. After these reviews and approvals the standards will also undergo a final editorial stage and then be released for publishing.

The ninth and final standard, Accommodations, is undergoing final revisions. The APEX volunteers anticipate balloting those revisions in June, with a completion date in late summer. The Convention Industry Council's 31 member organizations represent more than 103,500 individuals and 19,500 firms and properties involved in the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry. CIC facilitates the exchange of information develops programs to promote professionalism within the industry and educates the public on its profound economic impact. CIC's programs include the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) program, the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) initiative, the Hall of Leaders and numerous industry resource projects. For more information visit www.conventionindustry.org.