Creating opportunities to Unite to Act for the Global week to #ACT4SDGs

As a mobiliser for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Action campaign, Positive Impact invited the global event sector to unite and #ACT4SDGs with the following opportunities for engagement:

• Register for our 48 hour education event ‘Unite to Act’ to explore Positive Impact's CPD courses with a global community of event peers

• Join a Leadership Network created for companies showing leadership in sustainability

• Explore a collaborative way to identify credible actions so your event will advance the UN SDGs

We also provided 9 Opportunities to Unite for Action.

Providing free sustainable event management education for the UN Global Week Unite to #ACT4SDGS

Positive Impact is a mobiliser for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Action campaign and was happy to provide this free event as an opportunity for engagement in sustainable event management education.

This was a 48 hour online event between 18th and 20th September 2023, where attendees were able to access aspects of our education, which is accredited by CPD (the world's leading and largest independent Continuing Professional Development accreditation body).

The event provided an insight into the CPD courses that Positive Impact provides, which will help organisations to explore sustainable event strategies and education and further the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Content included speakers from UNICEF UK, The Race to Zero, ISO, Paris24 and the International Olympic Committee

This event was available to anyone responsible for:

• Implementation of sustainable event strategy in their organisation

• Fulfilling CPD training courses to further their organisation’s event sustainability education

Unite to Act ISO 20121 Liaison and National Standard Bodies Sessions

As part of Positive Impact’s wider campaign to help the event industry to advance the SDGs, we created an opportunity for liaisons to ISO 20121 and National Standard Bodies to present their own sessions during the event.

Input from the liaisons to ISO 20121 and National Standard Bodies shaped this part of the event, and speakers were invited to add their own sessions to the Positive Impact website.

Positive Impact facilitated the opportunity by:

• Providing technology for the delivery of a session

• Providing materials to support the promotion of the event

The sessions included:

• How to design events that inspire climate action
  Francesca Harris, CEO/Founder, 4GOOD

• Small Company, Mighty Impact: Delivering Sustainability, One Drop at a Time
  Laura Notarbartolo, CEO, Italian Special Occasions

• Zero waste events - Why and how
  Rishita Sharma, Founder, Green Utsav

• Storytelling your sustainability success
  Ulrika Mårtensson, Owner, IMPROVEMENT

• Sustainability measures taken in our convention centre
  Paula Blomster, Congress Manager, Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre

• Eco-production: Exploring the Environmental Impact of events + An Assessment of Sustainable Event Practices
  Hatem Ben Haj Hassine, Eco-Producer Event Sustainability Manager, suun sustainability

• Sustain Your Sustainability Momentum - Small Steps, Keep Learning
  Jacqueline Beaulieu, Director, Strategic Marketing & Client Engagement, Poretta & Orr | Exhibits & Events

Mobilising critical action on the Sustainable Development Goals

Positive Impact and the UN SDG Action Campaign are joining forces to mobilise millions to take critical action on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Positive Impact’s role as a Global Week to #Act4SDGs mobilising partner provides an opportunity for events to be recognised as amplifying ways to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. Event professionals are being encouraged to post, share and pledge their actions and talk about how they flip the script for a more sustainable world.

The #FlipTheScript campaign was launched to show that change is possible when we work together and its key mobilisation moment, the Global Week to #Act4SDGs, takes place 16 to 25 September, during the high-level UN General Assembly debate.

Marina Ponti, Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, said that the time is now for all stakeholders – organizations and individuals alike – to come together in solidarity.  

“In these challenging times for the world, the power is in our hands to flip the script on climate, justice and peace - which means re-writing the narrative and reclaiming our future. A future with people and planet in focus. The UN SDG Action Campaign and its partners have shown that we are stronger together as we can mobilize millions of people to bring about positive change,” Ms. Ponti stated.  

To #FlipTheScript, the UN SDG Action Campaign calls for a journey of advocacy and action. Taking action means behaviour change at all levels, transforming the way things are done to implement the change. Changing the narrative from events creating waste to events creating opportunities.

Positive Impact CEO, Fiona Pelham, talks about the campaign:

Event professionals can play a part in creating that change in three simple steps.

Start by sharing a #FlipTheScript graphic which illustrates how easy and impactful changing the narrative can be. 

Next, post a picture of your event's positive impact on social media using the hashtags #eventscreatechange #shareapositiveimpact, #FlipTheScript and #Act4SDGs. Positive Impacts can use these posts to capture and reshare your solutions with the global UN SDG Action community.

If you’re unsure whether your example of positive impact fits the bill, check out the other solutions in the Share a Positive Impact library.

Positive Impact also encouraged two global event sector associations to support their communities to share best practice examples.

To stay up to date with how you and your organisation can make a difference, you can pledge to be a Positive Impact ambassador. Ambassadors are supported with materials from collaborations with UN bodies, to lead the transformation of the event sector. In the last 12 months over 1,700 ambassadors have received resources to advance commitments for climate, justice and peace.

Find out more about the UN SDG Action Campaign’s #FlipTheScript campaign.

Collaborating with #Act4SDGs

The Global Week To #Act4SDGs has taken place annually since 2016 With the intention of inspiring action to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are 17 goals which will create a world that works for everyone.

You can learn more about what the SDGs mean for events from a campaign Positive Impact delivered in 2020 to engage 100,000 event professionals in building the future of human connection in line with the SDGs.

You can read more about how the event sector is accelerating progress towards the SDGs with the latest acceleration action report submitted to SDG Action for the event sector.

This year the Global Week to #Act4SDGs has a goal to inspire 100 million people to take individual and collective action with the overall target of mobilizing 1 billion actions by 2030. held during the high level week of the United Nations General Assembly this year’s mobilisation will also drive action in the lead up to COP26 in Glasgow. Positive Impact has submitted actions which will be led by the community of over 1600 global ambassadors and which are accessible to event professionals around the world.

Communicating how #eventprofs are in action to #TurnItAround during SDG Action Week

Laura Miller, Manager of Events & Customer Experience at Interface shared with the UN during SDG Action Week on how event professionals are in action to #TurnItAround and progress the SDGs through facilitating participation and inclusion (SDG 16.7.2.) through events.

Presenting at the UN SDG Global Festival of Action on how events are a route to achieving the SDGs

Fiona Pelham hosted a presentation at the 2019 SDG Global Festival of Action sharing stories of how events are used to change the world. These stories also shared actions people could take so they left the room inspired and ready to take action.