Features - October 2007

Corporate Social Responsibility
Meetings With A Conscience
By Baylee Simon

At this year’s annual sales meeting, Jeff Barber needed more than just a suit and a pen  — he needed a hammer and nails. Apparently, new-product knowledge and a business plan weren’t the only things he was expected to build at this company event: Barber and his colleagues had to build a playground.

“It was a really big task. Everybody put their minds to it, and we knew what we wanted to do and what we had to do,” said Barber, a sales representative for Emmitsburg, MD-based Playground Specialists Inc., a

Voluntourism is alive and well in New Orleans. Attendees who have participated in corporate projects often return on their vacation to “have a good time doing good.” For a list of organizations that need help, go to www.neworleansonline.com.

recreation company that designs and installs playgrounds and play equipment.

Earlier this year, Barber and his colleagues teamed up with Playworld Systems Inc., a customized recreation equipment manufacturer based in Lewisburg, PA, and KaBOOM!, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization, to rebuild a community playground in New Orleans. The build took up one day of the three-day sales meeting, which is held every year by Playworld Systems to review new training techniques, marketing strategies and sales numbers with its associates and distributors. What made this year’s meeting stand out: power tools instead of PowerPoints.

“It was great because normally we have the same presentation-type meeting, and on this one — getting to do the build — not only was it an enjoyable experience, it was a learning experience,” Barber said. He had participated in community builds before, but never in such a grim setting. “Just to be able to build somewhere that was devastated as badly as New Orleans was — I wasn’t able to comprehend how bad it was down there.”

By the end of the day, every meeting attendee had helped construct a brand new playground at Taylor Park,

Hotelier Harris Rosen, who was born and raised in NYC’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” had an epiphany 13 years ago that inspired him to help the less fortunate. Rosen is flanked by the smiling, happy children he has encouraged and educated through the Tangelo Park Pilot Program in Orlando, FL.

located in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans.

“It was much more of an interactive experience working with all of the playground specialists,” Barber said. “I think you get more out of that sort of thing than you ever could get out of just sitting at a table and listening to presentations and lectures.”

Meetings Build Communities
The January Playworld Systems meeting attended by Barber is just one example of the many “socially responsible” meetings that are en vogue for big-name corporations. Companies such as Starbucks, Pfizer and Motorola have spent years sponsoring charity events and partnering with non-profit organizations, and now many smaller and mid-size companies are following suit.

“The term corporate responsibility, itself, is not new, it’s been around since the early ’90s,” said Alan Ranzer, executive director of Impact 4 Good, a company based in East Hanover, NJ, that organizes community service-related teambuilding activities for corporations. “It’s definitely entering the meeting industry a lot because it’s good for so many reasons,” Ranzer explained. 

Companies That Care
“It’s a corporate image thing,” Ranzer said. “When you see a company that has done Habitat for Humanity, who sees that? Consumers. And there are statistics that show American consumers want to buy from companies that care.”

It’s true: One study found that over a six-year period, every year at least 80 percent of respondents reported having a more positive image of a company that supports a cause they care about; two-thirds of the same group said they’d likely switch to a brand that participated in cause-related marketing over one that didn’t, given parity in quality and price.

“Secondly, you want to have happy workers. A lot of employees make a commitment to community service and communities in need,” Ranzer said. “They feel good about themselves, but they also feel good about the company they work for and have more loyalty for that company.”

While corporate meetings and incentive trips typically include teambuilding activities such as ropes challenge courses or scavenger hunts, involving everyone in an event centered on giving back to a community is a unique way to bring coworkers together.

“It’s always nice to see colleagues from around the United States and around the world. [At the build], we had a chance to bond a whole lot more by working together all day long, talking with each other and feeding off of each other’s experiences,” Barber said.

And for the Playworld Systems sales assistant who planned the meeting, that was the point.

“When we have a meeting, our whole sales team always thinks, ‘What’s a different element we can put into it?’” said Kristi Teats, national sales assistant at Playworld Systems. “It brings your salespeople together and gives you a good feeling. I didn’t need to convince anybody.”

The Pitch
But even if a company isn’t in an industry with such direct community connections as playground manufacturer Playworld Systems, it’s still a great idea to plan community service elements into a meeting, though it may take a little more convincing of the higher-ups.

“Getting away from the touchy-feely aspect of this and putting a hard, business explanation behind it is how you’ll get businesses to come along,” said David Clemmons, founder of Chula Vista, CA-based VolunTourism International, a nonprofit organization that puts companies and tourists in touch with

Benchmark Hospitality’s “Hometown Hospitality – Caring For Our Communities” program in action. Team members recently hauled 20 tons of rock by hand to build a new Gabion Seawall on historic Sheffield Island in Connecticut’s Long Island Sound.

community-building activities overseas. Though Clemmons does think socially responsible meetings are becoming more popular, he said meeting standards haven’t changed and CEOs are still concerned with just one thing: What’s the bottom line?

“If you as a meeting planner say look, I have this die-hard desire from my client to give back, then what you have to do is demonstrate that this is going to improve some aspect of the business of the client,” said Clemmons, pointing out that only the top 500 companies out there can put on events like these without worrying about how it’ll affect their budgets. “Show [your boss] that a cocktail party does not create teambuilding and interaction amongst employees like building a school room for children in Cancun,” Clemmons suggested. “Ultimately this is about you and your company, and if the participant is going to benefit from that type of experience, they’re going to bring more loyalty to your company as a whole. And that’s the bottom line.”

Should a planner feel guilty about pitching community service as a business venture? Clemmons says don’t.

“If you don’t look at it holistically, it can look paradoxical,” he said. “Some people are motivated by the feel-good aspect, some are motivated by the business aspect. If you can master both, you’ll be able to speak to either side.”

Location, Location, Location
Once a planner has the go-ahead to include a community-building event in the meeting or incentive program, the next big step is choosing a venue. In this case, picking a location is more than just deciding

Laura Neumann, vice president and general manager of Cheyenne Mountain Resort and the leader of Colorado Springs Brownie Troop 97 is shown with her troop after baking 30 dozen cookies for the children of Marian House, a local soup kitchen. The resort received the National Restaurant Association’s 2007 “Restaurant Neighbor Award” for the State of Colorado.

between two resorts; it’s choosing a setting that’s conducive to the type of community service experience that’s ideal for the attendees.

“The right venue really depends on the needs of the corporation,” said Ranzer, explaining that while one company may have the time and resources to send its employees out into the community, another may only be able to dedicate a few hours to an activity that’s done right in the hotel. “The key point is to keep in mind that there are so many different community service opportunities out there that there will be an easy option,” he added.

For Playworld Systems, the obvious location for their community playground build was New Orleans. With the help of KaBOOM!, Teats found a community partner through the New Orleans Park and Recreation District. She decided on Taylor Park, a small park next to an empty school that was closed due to Katrina damage. An open daycare nearby cut the ribbon on the brand new playground.

“Be different, be unique,” Clemmons advised. “Don’t just go for the easy out. Turn the event into something really unique, even if it takes you a little more time and effort to find a local, grassroots organization.”

“Make [the activity] accessible, so people can do it and not lose out on the other side of the trip,” advised Ranzer, who was pleasantly surprised at the attendance for a volunteer activity he included in an incentive trip he coordinated in the Caribbean. “We estimated we would get 35 percent attendance and we ended up getting 75 percent — the event planner was more shocked than we were,” Ranzer said. “The point is that when given the opportunity to give back, people will embrace it.”

Philanthropy Is Contagious
Orlando hotelier Harris Rosen, who was recently named the “Best Corporate Citizen” by Orlando Magazine for the second consecutive year, has high hopes that the new wave of philanthropy and socially responsible corporate behavior catches on all over the country. Rosen, the president and COO of Rosen Hotels and Resorts, which owns and operates seven Orlando area hotels, is well-known for his philanthropic efforts, conservation initiatives and community loyalty.

Rosen, who said he “puts his money where his heart is,” explained, “I give because I want to make a difference,” and “because it makes me feel good inside.”

One of Rosen’s most notable accomplishments is the Tangelo Park Pilot Program, which he started in 1993. Rosen pledged that “every two-, three- and four-year-old would be able to go to preschool at no expense to their parents and that for every youngster in the program who was accepted to a public college in Florida, we would pay his or her tuition, room, board, books and travel.” The program has provided more than 324 college scholarships. Currently, approximately 99 percent of students graduate from high school and nearly 70 percent go on to college.

A “Win-Win-Win”
Planners can make an event a great experience for everyone involved by being creative with the community service activity they choose — whether it’s reinforcing a company’s initiative to build on last year’s sales by organizing a Habitat for Humanity community build with its employees; or bringing coworkers closer together by giving them the afternoon to work in a soup kitchen or paint a mural at a park or school.

“Teambuilding has been around for a long time, but you don’t have to do rock climbing or a ropes challenge course, you can do something that gives back to the community and achieves the same objectives of the activity,” Ranzer said. “It’s a win-win-win — a win for the company, a win for the employees and a win for the beneficiaries of the community service activity.”

Laura Neumann, vice president and general manager of the Cheyenne Mountain Resort, a Benchmark Hospitality International property in Colorado Springs, CO, agrees. “You have different kinds of conversations when it’s not over a cocktail or in a meeting room chair,” said Neumann, who’s planned a number of events for corporations such as Pfizer and BestBuy. “Just half a dozen people volunteering in a soup kitchen for six hours in one day can change a company’s culture, even if they may not be changing the world.”    C&IT