German Convention Bureau and EVVC’s SECON 2023 draws over 200 attendees

The ‘Sustainable Events Conference – Shaping the Future’ (SECON) drew 200 attendees to Osnabrück in Germany, 14-15 February, and sent a strong signal for a sustainable future. The event, initiated by the GCB German Convention Bureau and the EVVC European Association of Event Centres was hosted at OsnabrückHalle event centre, with another 30 delegates taking part digitally via livestream. Key content and discussion results of the SECON will be published in a report shortly. Speaker Dr Maria-Elena Vorrath kicked off the conference agenda which included workshops on sustainability strategies, communication and education, best practices from the event industry and a panel on Net Zero Carbon Events. “Sustainability is a key aspect in event organisers’ decision-making,” said Matthias Schultze, GCB managing “With SECON, we therefore wanted to bring together service providers along the entire supply chain of business events to jointly develop sustainable solutions for Germany as a meeting destination.” SECON 2023 attendees were able to choose from one of five off-site activities, which included visiting local e-mobility or B Corp companies, the German Federal Environmental Foundation and an innovation centre on the site of a former freight depot, or a guided city tour of Osnabrück. “Event venues and their surroundings represent the entire diversity of business event destinations,” said Ilona Jarabek, president of the EVVC. “The example of Osnabrück shows how conference attendees can benefit from exploring the local environment and be inspired by it. Our joint task is now to implement the impetus we have gained at SECON in our day-to-day work.” GCB and EVVC have jointly been organising a sustainability conference for more than 10 years, and the next SECON is scheduled to take place in 2025. Photo credit: EVVC/GCB – Philip Gunkel