Bristol-based events, exhibitions and experiences company Ignition is building on double-award success at December’s prestigious national EN Elite Awards to take its ‘we can do more’ message on sustainability to a wider local audience of event professionals.

Ignition, based in Bristol’s Paintworks with a US office in Indianapolis, was declared a two-times winner last month at The EN Elite Awards, held at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London – and was the only shortlisted company to bag two separate awards. The first was for ‘Best Employer 2018’ (joining the firm’s ‘Best Places to Work’ Award from earlier in 2018), whilst a second award – ‘Best Eco Supplier 2018’ – was given in recognition of the company’s pioneering efforts to combat waste in the events and exhibition industry.

Now Sam Rowe, Ignition’s CEO, is set to take that message to a wider audience of local professionals in the events industry as a speaker at the first-ever ‘MEET South West’ one-day conference event. Sam’s speech, entitled ‘A Sustainable State of Mind’, will be given at 1300h on Wednesday 30^th January as part of the event’s ‘Knowledge Hub’ programme, at We The Curious on Bristol’s Millennium Square.

‘Twelve years ago, when we first set up Ignition’, Sam Rowe commented, ‘the industry was incredibly wasteful. We would regularly see skips at the end of events piled high with expensive and non-biodegradable kit, all heading straight for landfill. It was one of our founding missions as a company to take a stand against this ‘build and burn’ culture and to help create a more responsible, future-focused and environmentally-kinder industry. I’m delighted now to have this chance to speak to our peers in the South West at this great, Bristol-based event about what we can all do to improve the sustainability of events from every angle.’

Sam’s speech will look, in practical ‘how to’ terms, at what those in the industry can do to promote a sustainable ‘people, planet AND profit’ approach to the creation of exhibitions and events, looking at everything from venue choice and electricity consumption to the design of modular stands and ticketless events, as well as how to minimise food waste, lower carbon footprints, create zero landfill policies and find alternatives to plastic (with new products now coming onto the market made from everything from algae to cellulose nanocrystals from crabshells!), as well as advising on the value of rewarding both improvers and achievers on their sustainability targets.

Claire Menzies, Chair of Blue Flint Group, Ignition’s parent company, was on the London Olympics Steering Committee, helping to create new models of sustainable accreditation at what was the world’s first-ever fully-sustainable event back in 2012. Ignition subsequently became the first business in its industry to receive ISO 2012-1 accreditation for sustainable event management and now has a total of three ISO accreditations, helping to fly the flag for what Bristol businesses can achieve on a global basis. The company’s clients range from huge corporates such as Roche, Eli Lilly, BAE Systems and Etihad Airways to regional businesses and institutions such as The Gro Company, The University of Bristol and The Bristol Cultural Development Partnership.