eventberry!

Posted by andrew on Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Seventeen Events launch eventberry – an online system to achieve BS8901 compliance.

Seventeen Events, the sustainable event management agency based in east London, is delighted to announce the launch of their new project – eventberry.

eventberry is an online system to manage compliance to BS8901, the British Standard for sustainable event management. After accessing the site at www.eventberry.com, users have access to all of their projects and can see in an instant the path ahead to achieve BS8901 compliance. The system manages your relationships with suppliers, stakeholders and internal and external clients. Rather than just creating a template for you to fill in, eventberry prompts you with questions and hints which help to establish the tracking necessary to make you BS8901 compliant. Using powerful drag and drop functions, regular email updates and a centralised supplier database, the system allows you to manage all of your vital event information wherever you are. The site was designed and built by Dunk Digital, one of the leading independent creative design agencies in London.

Seventeen were delighted that one of their key clients, the MS Society, were able to use the system to help improve sustainability at their events, and gain compliance to BS8901. The first MS Society event to use the system was the charity’s AGM which took place in September 2008. Seventeen worked with the MS Society to ensure that the system was working properly for them and ultimately to ensure that the event was compliant to BS8901. The MS Society is now considering the best way to roll the system out across their other events and continue to improve their levels of sustainability, with the goal that all of their events can be compliant with the standard.

Chris Bray, Head of Conferences at the MS Society commented, “It is hugely important for us to consider the social, economic and environmental impact that MS Society events have, given their size and the attendance figures. We’re proud to be the first charity to be recognised like this and are committed to making sure all our events meet the highest standards they can.”

eventberry is simple and clear. No formulas, no periodic tables, no spreadsheets. Simply enter the date of your event and its title and you can get started. From here you can add stakeholders – either new or imported from saved projects on the system. Then over time you can build up the documentation necessary to claim BS8901 compliance – your sustainable development policy, sustainability risk analysis, key performance indicators, maturity matrix and more. eventberry draws all this information together over time to create a master document which outlines your compliance to BS8901. As all information can be carried forward to future events, the process becomes simpler over time. And as part of your subscription to the system you have the expertise of Seventeen Events at your disposal at all times.

Andrew Williams, managing director of Seventeen Events, is excited about the launch of the new system. “I think eventberry could make the difference for a lot of agencies, organisers and venues between being compliant to BS8901 and thinking it’s all just too much effort. No-one in the industry who takes a responsible approach to sustainability wants an easy rubber stamp – that would be meaningless. What we have to do is find ways of integrating compliance into the day to day routine of running events. If we can make it easier for organisations to manage their data, and make it easier to gain compliance to BS8901 by organising that data properly, it’s a win-win situation for everyone. Our overriding aim has to be to increase the level of sustainability in the events industry, and I think our new system will help do that.”

eventberry is the first of two BS8901-related products which Seventeen Events are launching before the end of the year. As well as these initiatives, Seventeen are delighted to be working on the fourth year of the Observer Ethical Awards as well as the second year of the MediaGuardian Innovation Awards.

Notes to Editors:

eventberry is a powerful online tool which helps suppliers, venues and individual events gain BS8901 compliance. www.eventberry.com.

Seventeen Events is a sustainable event management agency based in east London – www.seventeenevents.co.uk. Andrew Williams is available on 020 7515 8402 to discuss your event or to arrange a visit to Seventeen’s eco-offices in east London. Andrew was recently named the 72nd most influential person in the UK event industry in Event Magazine.

The MS Society is the largest charity in the UK for people affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – around 85,000 people in the UK. More information is available online at www.mssociety.org.uk. Chris Bray, Head of Conferences and Events for the MS Society, was recently named the 55th most influential person in the UK event industry in Event Magazine.

Dunk Digital is a creative design agency which produces a variety of online and offline work including websites, interactive kiosks, games and microsites. They recently completed a major overhaul of the National Youth Theatre website. www.dunkdigital.com.

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