The British Council has an International Climate Champions initiative encompassing some 50 countries worldwide. The initiative involves identifying and training climate champions who carry out projects and, in many cases, work to influence national and international policy.
The Council needed to organise a highly focused weekend event for up to 18 UK champions, which would combine training in such skills as project management and communication skills with the opportunity to forge strong personal links between the Champions. The venue needed to meet a number of key requirements:
To have a committed policy on the environment and the ability to help create events with minimal impact on the environment.
To provide a comfortable, productive training and social environment uninterrupted as far as possible by other users of the venue.
To provide scope for ‘breathing space’ between formal sessions and the opportunity for formal breakout sessions in a cost-effective way
The Cotswold Conference Centre showed clear evidence of its environmental policies, and its facilities include magnetic wall boards, reducing the need for paper. The event was contained within its Smallbrook Suite, which includes main training and breakout rooms and relaxation areas within a dedicated location. Dining, bar and leisure facilities were all within a few minutes' walk.
“Specialist venues have the potential to show a much more focused and all-round commitment to the environment,” said Mary Stansfeld, the British Council's Project Manager for International Climate Champions: “They also tend to be more flexible: with a hotel based event, you can use the room you pay for but you rarely find breathing spaces which aren't occupied by other users; even though there were other events taking place at the venue, our event was almost fully self contained.”
The Council was also delighted with the commitment of the Cotswold Conference Centre staff. “Such support, and their specialist understanding of how to make our event work as smoothly as possible, are service features that you don’t always find in multi-purpose venues, ” added Ms Stansfeld.
The Council needed to organise a highly focused weekend event for up to 18 UK champions, which would combine training in such skills as project management and communication skills with the opportunity to forge strong personal links between the Champions. The venue needed to meet a number of key requirements:
To have a committed policy on the environment and the ability to help create events with minimal impact on the environment.
To provide a comfortable, productive training and social environment uninterrupted as far as possible by other users of the venue.
To provide scope for ‘breathing space’ between formal sessions and the opportunity for formal breakout sessions in a cost-effective way
The Cotswold Conference Centre showed clear evidence of its environmental policies, and its facilities include magnetic wall boards, reducing the need for paper. The event was contained within its Smallbrook Suite, which includes main training and breakout rooms and relaxation areas within a dedicated location. Dining, bar and leisure facilities were all within a few minutes' walk.
“Specialist venues have the potential to show a much more focused and all-round commitment to the environment,” said Mary Stansfeld, the British Council's Project Manager for International Climate Champions: “They also tend to be more flexible: with a hotel based event, you can use the room you pay for but you rarely find breathing spaces which aren't occupied by other users; even though there were other events taking place at the venue, our event was almost fully self contained.”
The Council was also delighted with the commitment of the Cotswold Conference Centre staff. “Such support, and their specialist understanding of how to make our event work as smoothly as possible, are service features that you don’t always find in multi-purpose venues, ” added Ms Stansfeld.
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