Hi Ana,
Will the ISO20121 standard ever contain targets and benchmarks for sustainable events performance?
Congratulations on setting up your company Lisa! What kind of events are you aiming to run?
Hi Ana,
There doesn’t appear to be much uptake for ISO 2012 1 compared to other standards, why do you think this is?
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ISO 20121 will never contain targets or benchmarks because the idea is to provide a framework to understand what matters, address it and improve how you work. And what matters and what you can do differs from country to country, organisation type, etc.
For example, when you organise events in multiple places in the world you will have different types of targets, according to what matters in that specific country and to what you can actually do.
Because ISO 20121 applies to all types and sizes of organisations and might be biased towards certain type of organisations / events’ types.
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I think the events’ industry has not adopted other management systems in past, like ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environment) and they perceive these systems as bureaucratic and maybe limiting of their freedom of action.
This is not true at all, but the perception out there doesn’t help.
In France, there this standard is very popular, also because the Sports Ministry have endorsed it. It’s something that you simply must have!
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To be honest, I don0t know that many training courses out there.
Sustainable Events Alliance has been working on that arena and I’m starting a collaboration with them.
I also do bespoke training in my company.
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Some of my clients in France belong to high-end Caterer Organisation they set-up to support each other. This is a very clever way to implement ISO 20121 with reduced costs. They organise training courses, consultancy support, build databases, .etc, all shared between the members.
And because they all do the same thing, all the work is bespoke to their industry.
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Do you think there is a difference in how ISO20121 is perceived around the world? When we talk to some clients in the US they have never heard of it!
Are you able to share anything at all about what is planned for sustainability at Paris 2024?
Please can you put the details of your company, so that anyone who is interested knows how to find you?
Yes, definitely!
In France, all the major sports events implement ISO 20121. As a consequence, all the venues, suppliers, agencies that work with them are exposed to the standard or and implement it themselves.
Then, it’s like a snowball.
London 2012 Olympics tried to have this effect on the supply chain and events industry but maybe the timing was not the right one, and it didn’t really pick up.
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The best way to find me, is by email - ana.inacio@suberconsulting.co.uk.
You can drop me a line even if it’s just to ask a question about Sustainable Events.
I think knowledge should be shared! 
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Thank you so much. My background is mainly in sporting/ charity events. But I’m looking to move more into the corporate market, Supporting organisations with creative , bespoke yet sustainable solutions for their event.
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I think companies are going look more and more for Sustainable Events solutions, Lisa.
It’s definitely a must have!
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Welcome to the sustainable events club Lisa! Hopefully events will get going again soon so you can demonstrate the solutions to clients.
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Me too!! for now its all about networking, learning and marketing!!.
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That’s a wrap folks! Thank you so much Ana for sharing your expertise and thanks all for your questions.
If you have any other questions for Ana, you can contact her on here @Ana_Inacio or by email at ana.inacio@suberconsulting.co.uk.
Join us in the Green Room same time next week for another Ask Me Anything!
Thank you all for your participation! 
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