Cobo Center Hosts Green Event Certificate Training for Event Professionals
August 9, 2018
Detroit's Cobo Center continues to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability in the events industry by hosting the newly released Sustainable Event Professional Certificate (SEPC) training for employees and event professionals, set for Sept. 11-12.
To be led by the Events Industry Council, this will be the first training for this certificate program to be offered in the state of Michigan.
Combining active learning and experiential elements, the SEPC program is designed to enable participants to implement their own green events.
Topics will include understanding the business value of sustainability for the events industry; practical solutions for improving environmental performance in areas including food and beverage; transportation; supply chain management and effective methods for achieving corporate social responsibility goals.
Mariela Mcllwraith, EIC director of industry advancement, will conduct the SEPC training, during which participants will be asked to customize a roadmap for their own sustainable event.
“The Events Industry Council is pleased to be offering this certificate program for the first time in Michigan,” said Karen Kotowski, CEO of EIC. “Hosting the event in Detroit’s Cobo Center, a venue that has received our third-party audited venue certification, will allow us to reinforce the sustainability curriculum with experiential elements.”
The training program comes to Cobo as part of the facility’s Green Committee’s efforts to implement new and innovative green initiatives throughout the facility and community.
Established in 2011, the Committee has garnered several community awards for Cobo, including the Keep Michigan Beautiful President’s Plaque in 2016.
“The sustainable practices that the Cobo Center has implemented over the last several years, including energy management, food recovery, and intensive materials reuse and recycling, are potent examples to all institutions, businesses and residents in Detroit that we can, and indeed we must, all play a part in creating a sustainable future in Detroit for current and future generations,” said Joel Heeres, City of Detroit director, Office of Sustainability.
He added, “I laud their leadership on these issues.”
Cobo Center became the ninth U.S. convention center to achieve the EIC’s ASTM/APEX Sustainable Event Standard Certification in 2015. Venues are certified after implementing a set of voluntary standards to create more sustainable meetings and events. Cobo successfully re-certified in 2017 and will apply again for re-certification next year.
“Organizing our facility operations around the EIC sustainable event standard helps us create an ecosystem for our events that supports sustainability and encourages the industry to engage in green efforts,” said Claude Molinari, general manager of SMG/Cobo Center.
He continued, “We set audacious goals each year for the Green Committee and hosting the SECP training was one of them. Helping our employees achieve this certificate strengthens our commitment to the environment.”
To learn more about the EIC’s SEPC training program at Cobo Center, go HERE.
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