Founded in 1987, the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) is the umbrella body of the conference and meetings industry of South Africa. SAACI is recognised as the official body and mouth-piece of the conference industry by South African Tourism and government.

Each SAACI branch (Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Northern Territories) is responsible to host an annual congress in their province. It was KZN’s turn to host the SAACI 2014 Congress and Exhibition in the chosen destination of St Lucia, iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

The Local Organising Committee (LOC) from SAACI appointed Shades of Green Events and Exhibitions to do an environmental audit as part of a sponsorship agreement.

Shades of Green Events and Exhibitions interviewed the LOC prior to the Congress in order to establish an understanding of what environmental measures the committee had put in place during the planning stage of the Congress. Shades of Green Events and Exhibitions then performed an on-site inspection during the event, using the findings in the report. The key areas that the report looked at were:

• Waste Reduction and effective management
• Energy Efficiency
• Water minimisation
• Transport
• Eco Procurement
• Venue & Accommodation
• Communication, Awareness & Training
• Social and Economic Development
• Biodiversity
• Monitoring and Reporting

Attending the congress gave the Shades of Green team the opportunity to network and keep up to date with the latest developments in the conference and meetings industry.

Shades of Green Events & Exhibitions are committed to delivering outstanding service and surpassing every client’s expectation. For more information on how Shades of Green Events & Exhibitions can help you with your environmental audits or carbon footprint analysis please don’t hesitate to contact us.