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SB'13 Workshops
Limited Capacity. Register NOW!
SB'13 Workshops
Take a deeper dive into half- or full-day interactive sessions on Monday during pre-conference workshops. These comprehensive sessions are a great way to elevate your knowledge in certain subject areas fundamental to advancing fast in your sustainability journey. Remember to purchase an ALL EVENT pass in order to participate in these productive work sessions.
| 9:00-12:00 | MORNING WORKSHOPS [CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING] | ||
| GARDEN ROOM Beyond Employee Engagement: HR as a Tool for Embedding Sustainability for Transformational Change Jeff Mendelsohn, Founder & Chair, New Leaf Paper Hunter Lovins, President & Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions Liz Maw, CEO, Net Impact Tom Day, Chief Sustainability Officer, USPS Matthew Abrams, Vision Keeper, The Mycelium School Ellen Weinreb , Managing Director, Weinreb Group Sustainability Recruiting Megan Rast, Environmental Sustainability Director, Sony Pictures Additional speakers may be announced on site! Although many companies have launched employee engagement programs with sustainability education, recognition and incentives, the question still remains: How can companies implement true employee-level sustainability integration, building it into performance criteria and compensation, and unleash the powerful benefits to society, the environment, and business performance? Known as the 'A Team' Challenge, this multi-brand effort seeks to support the development of "A players" in all corporations, top performers that care about the success of the business and about its positive legacy in the world.
Integrating sustainability into every employee's performance criteria and compensation is essential for transformational change toward sustainability. It communicates trust in employees to contribute - and integrity to the company's publically expressed sustainability platform. Empowered and entrusted employees perform better. Corporations with integrated sustainability programs attract, empower, inspire, and retain top performing employees, driving innovation, financial performance, and shareholder value. |
DOCKSIDE ROOM Decoupling Brand from Business Model – How Business Model Innovation can Help Generate Long-term Success for Brands Fiona Bennie, Head of Sustainability, Dragon Rouge Choosing the right path to sustainable customer delight is no trivial task. How do you arrive at a business model that delivers on customer expectations, AND is radical enough to make a dent out of the real sustainability challenges of the day? This workshop provides a framework for using business model innovation to deliver on both brand purpose and the promise of a sustainable future. Using our guest experts' 'ambition model' describing different levels of sustainability ambition, and the innovation needed to meet that ambition - from incremental, to new product development, to business model innovation - participants will work to unlock their brand's potential by completely rethinking the ways in which it might structure and deliver on its value proposition. Bring a brand case you would like to experiment with and expect to leave with some fresh ideas about how you might deliver your brand promise to your customers in the future.
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SUNSET BALLROOM 1-3 Research Roundtable: Latest Consumer Insights from SB's Top Research Picks Tom LaForge, Global Director, Human & Cultural Insights, Coca-Cola Raphael Bemporad, Founding Partner & Chief Strategy Officer, BBMG Chris Coulter, President, GlobeScan Lee Ann Head, VP Research, Shelton Group Amy du Pon, SVP, Head of Strategic Planning, MPG/Havas Media Renee Lertzman, Consultant and Faculty, Royal Roads University Jason Burnham, Partner & Social Engineer, Burnham Marketing Kathleen Gasperini, Senior Vice President, Label Networks Jeremy Cohen, EMEA Chair, Business + Social Purpose, Edelman Liz Gorman, Senior Vice President, Sustainable Business Practices, Cone Communications In this information-rich session, our top pick researchers share their latest insights into what is happening in 2013 around consumer engagement with brands' environmental and social sustainability promises. Researchers will each present their latest data, followed by a rich discussion about comparative methodologies and insights that can be gleaned, as well as gaps that can be identified by looking at the landscape of available data. Particularly noteworthy this year will be the advances in ethnographic studies and the use of empathy interviews to complement, if not replace, traditional 'cold' surveys. Expect a wealth of hard information, accompanied by a great opportunity for Q&A with researchers and peers to help inform your strategy for 2013 and beyond.
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| BAY VIEW ROOM Bringing Life Cycle Assessment to Life: Applying LCA to Build Futureproof Products and Brands Jon Dettling, Managing Director, US, Quantis Kevin Owens, Director, Global Sustainability Systems, Steelcase Mark Brodeur, Global Sustainability Director, Nestle Purina Jennifer Walter, Manager of Product Communications and Packaging, Sprint Kara Hurst, CEO, The Sustainability Consortium Wood Turner, Vice President of Sustainability Innovation, Stonyfield This workshop provides a comprehensive view of the evolution of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applications over the last few years, especially in terms of scope, cost, 'typical' project time, as well as the availability and precision of relevant data across carbon, water and other types of impacts. It offers attendees an insider up-to-date look at the most common ways leading brands are applying LCA to innovate for sustainability. Furthermore, it explores the relationships between various applications, with detailed case-study examples of each. Participants will leave with an understanding of how much to plan to invest, and how to extract the most value from an investment in an LCA project.
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SUNSET BALLROOM 4-5 GRI G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines: Introduction and Implementation Guide for the U.S. Context Note: 8:00am - 12:30pm GRI Certified Trainers and Sector Leaders Join us for two back-to-back unique Master Classes on G4, the next-generation GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. The first class -- "G4 Download" –- will be an in-depth introduction to the freshly released G4 Guidelines, a first of its kind for North America after G4's official launch in Europe in late May! Certified Trainers and Sector Leaders will explain GRI's new guidance for governance and remuneration, value chain and boundary, management approach and materiality, and all levels of application. You will learn what new disclosures have been created for GHG, anti-corruption and supply chain reporting, as well as how G4's renewed focus on materiality will impact your reporting and how GRI's inventory of disclosures can be used to create a report that is truly tailored to your organization. In the next master class -- "G4 Applied to the US Context"-- you will learn how GRI's G4 Sustainability Reporting Framework can be applied to the US legal and regulatory context. Experts will explain how GRI principles and GRI disclosures can be interpreted to maximize your organization's transparency.
Please note that a full series of three Master Classes is required for a GRI G4 Certificate, and the remaining class will be made available as a webinar. Stay tuned for details! |
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| 1:30-4:30 | AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS [CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING] | ||
| DOCKSIDE ROOM Systems Thinking in Action: How to Tackle those Tricky Challenges that are just too Big and Complex for one Organization to Tackle Alone Sally Uren, Deputy Chief Executive, Forum for the Future Gil Friend, CEO, Natural Logic Increasing numbers of businesses are beginning to understand that some of their key sustainability challenges are just too big and complicated to tackle alone. They are also recognizing that in order to deliver a truly sustainable business, they have to shape the system around them. In addition, entire sectors, as diverse as the global shipping industry and the US dairy sector understand that value chains need to work in new and different ways in order to push sustainability into the mainstream. Systems thinking offers a practical framework for finding new solutions to old problems.
As more people connect the dots to make sense of ever-more-complex relationships between various areas of science, business and lifestyle, interest in systems thinking accelerating. The language of systems has made its way into mainstream usage and opened up a rich new toolkit of approaches to innovation and problem-solving in business—and the potential for a 21st century reboot in how we do everything. How do you "get the entire system into the room" or mapped onto the wall so you can recognize relevant connections—that are often invisible in traditional financial and management reports and system? This workshop introduces core systems thinking principles and frameworks, and uses hand-on exercises with specific case studies to explore the applicability of systems think and design methodologies in every aspect of business—and to give you practical ways to bring these tools back to work with you, and critically, to deliver lasting and significant change. |
SUNSET BALLROOM 4-5 Demonstrating and Communicating the Business Ca$e for Sustainability: A How-to Guide to Calculating the ROI of Sustainability in Seven Key Areas Bob Willard, Author and Speaker, The New Sustainability Advantage Business leaders are paid to focus on the bottom-line, and they should. They acknowledge that environmental and social concerns deserve attention, but not at the expense of company profit. Surprisingly, many companies are discovering that they can enhance their competitive positioning by behaving more responsibly. Based on Bob's latest book, The New Sustainability Advantage, this presentation repositions smart, innovative sustainability strategies as a means to achieving existing company goals, rather than a separate imperative to worry about. Bob applies business and leadership development experience from his 34-year career at IBM Canada to show how sustainability strategies can increase revenue, save expenses, avoid impending risks, and enhance brand value, resulting in profit improvements of 51% to 81% within three to five years for a typical company. That is, smart sustainability strategies help companies survive the economic downturn, while positioning them to thrive in the new economy.
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GARDEN ROOM Sustainable Brands 101: Integrating Sustainability at the Brand Level Jennifer Rice, Principal, Fruitful Strategy Among most CMOs and brand owners at mass-market companies, sustainability is not on the radar. Yet even if it's not part of a brand's core positioning, social and environmental sustainability is rapidly becoming an essential lens for identifying opportunities for competitive advantage, innovation, shared value and customer loyalty. It's also critical for identifying credibility gaps that can put brand reputation at risk.
Jennifer's course provides a structured, repeatable methodology for developing an integrated brand/sustainability strategy for one brand or a portfolio of brands across diverse geographies. The proven Five Sustainable Brand Stages framework will help you to discover your brand's gaps and opportunities across 6 areas, from positioning and customer experience to communications and credibility. We'll also discuss shared value and how to use the brand as a guide for sustainable innovation. |
| BAY VIEW ROOM Integrated Climate Solutions for Unavoidable Emissions: How to Legitimize Your Sustainable Brand Claim through Smart Carbon Strategy Kate Dillon Levin, Corporate Partnerships, CodeREDD Tara O'Shea, Corporate Partnerships, CodeREDD David Antonioli, CEO, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Kapil Mohindra, Co-founder, Skystream Markets Kevin Hackett, Director, Sales and Marketing, NativeEnergy Edit Kiss, Carbon Portfolio Manager, Eneco Carol Derby, Vice President of R&D, Designtex Mark LaCroix, Executive Vice President, The CarbonNeutral Company This workshop will provide attendees with a holistic understanding of how to address unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions while creating value for their stakeholders, company, and brand. Topics discussed will include broad trends around carbon offsets, emerging greenhouse gas regulations (including California's AB32), and how to successfully and responsibly integrate carbon offsets into corporate sustainability strategy and practice. Our guest experts will offer specific insights into leading options for Verified Emissions Reductions and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). The session will review leading project types, such as forestry, methane capture, and renewable energy, as well as leading certifications - Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, and CAR. Experts will discuss the particular value of REDD projects (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation), and how you can play a role in bringing about the development of a project that supports brand claims to sustainability. The workshop's full scope will enable attendees to better understand why and how Verified Emissions Reductions may be integral to their company's climate solutions.
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SUNSET BALLROOM 1-3 Understanding and Utilizing the Power of Different Worldviews: Communications Strategies for Business and Social Change John Marshall Roberts, Founder, Worldview Thinking Back by popular demand, this dynamic workshop has been fine-tuned and perfected to help sustainability advocates, marketing executives and communication professionals overcome cynicism and drive behavior change for their sustainable projects and initiatives. Through a variety of grounded business case studies and interactive exercises, participants will learn: a revolutionary new scientific framework for overcoming cynicism through strategic marketing and communications called Worldview Thinking (tm); the 4 major thinking styles that drive all stakeholder attitudes and behaviors; the 4 major species of cynicism and how to overcome them; the 3 filters that your audiences use to keep important messages out; innovative action strategies for finding key leverage points for creating behavior change in any audience - based upon a proven psychometric data model (the Roberts Worldview Assessment).
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