Convention Centres are good for you

This article was first published in Boardroom on April 9^th.

Associations worldwide are including wellness aspects in the way they work and engage with their members, including at events. As a result, convention centers are changing their service offer to comply with these requirements. This involves changing the food offering, making sure that there are spaces within the venue allowing participants to “withdraw” from the event and the creative use of space for different types of activities, such as morning yoga sessions.

According to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ,  the prevalence of food allergy is increasing in both Western and developing countries. In Western countries, challenge-diagnosed food allergy has been reported to be as high as 10%, with the greatest prevalence noted among younger children. There is also growing evidence of increasing prevalence in developing countries, with rates of challenge-diagnosed food allergy in China and Africa reported to be similar to that in Western countries. Both the volume and the variety of food allergies are a real challenge for convention centers, also taking into account that 51% of adults with a food allergy have had a severe reaction in the last 12 months – mistakes are not an option.

But it’s not only food allergies. Delegates are generally more looking for healthy food experiences which are in line with their values and lifestyle. In an informal discussion on the challenges associations face when organizing events, Nadège Mullier, Executive Director at INAA, the global association of accountants and auditors, saw food preferences as one of the top 3. “We need to spend a substantial amount of time collecting food preferences and making sure that the food on site complies with these preferences, on top of making sure the menus are varied and preferably have a local touch”, explains Nadège.  Convention centers like “Room with a Zoo” (Antwerp, Belgium) recognize this challenge and have moved to fully vegan menus, which addresses a significant part of the allergy challenges.

Some convention centers however see the overall trend towards more wellness at events as an opportunity to differentiate themselves and take it a couple of steps further. The Te Pae Christchurch Convention Center (New Zealand) is one of them.

”Over the past three years Te Pae Christchurch has focused on facilitating wellness into our clients’ events, seeing this as a growing trend and of interest for our visitors.  We have taken the time to understand and know who the professionals are who work in our local wellness sector, and how they can partner with us to create wellness activities in the events hosted at Te Pae Christchurch.  As an example, we partner with Sarah O’Connell from Christchurch-based Soul Studios – a yoga professional with experience in running breathing & stretching sessions for large groups, delivering sessions about Well-being, or even lunch-time yoga classes.  She works with us to design and deliver quiet rooms for busy delegates, or in providing chair-massages within exhibitions.  We provide advice, ideas and introductions to our clients for well-known keynote speakers who can incorporate aspects of wellness into the program content, such as New Zealand-based presenter and speaker Lauren Parsons who is an expert in this space.”, says Gillian Officer, Director of Business Development “The team at Te Pae Christchurch have also created 100% plant-based menus that will support a healthy food preference …. although we are finding that our organizers are not quite ready for this in Australasia yet.  We help facilitate early-morning runs or yoga in the park and we are actively exploring the option to permanently turn one of our less-utilized rooms into a permanent quiet/sensory room that our neuro-diverse clients can access upon need. We see that balance and wellness are of growing concern to society generally, and in particular our customers and guests so to ensure that we continue to deliver an international-standard convention center and to align to industry best-practice, Te Pae Christchurch will continue to upskill and implement projects that will continue to support the health and wellness of our guests.”

The Te Pae Christchurch case demonstrates that – paraphrasing the slogan of an Irish beer brand – convention centers are good for you. The efforts done by the team allow organizers to offer a great experience to the delegates, which is in line with their values and their need for wellness and which in its turn leads to higher delegates figures and satisfaction. Much more to come …

Sven Bossu, CEO, AIPC