College Sports Information Directors of America

Connect Magazine featured CoSIDA's San Francisco Convention St. Anthony outreach as a prime example on how groups/associations go into the community and serve - and engage their members.

see this ONLINE: Conventions use social responsibility to engage attendees, by Jennifer Garrett, Associate Editor, Connect Magazine

photo: CoSIDA President Larry Dougherty, CoSIDA Goodwill Committee Chair Sam Atkinson and workers from St. Anthony's

Social responsibility is one of the buzzwords floating around corporate America, and it has spread quickly throughout the meeting and convention world. Service projects, donation drives and volunteer days at conventions are ways for meetings to give back to cities in which they’re held (in addition to the innate economic impact).

Public relations efforts, websites and business plans of large corporations like Gap and Coca-Cola reflect the belief that social responsibility can attract business. Whether it’s a McDonald’s Happy Meal that gives a donation to the Ronald McDonald House or Ethos Water, the premium bottled water company that helps children around the world get clean water, companies not only feel the need to be responsible, but to allow customers to join in.

“How do you create business models that inspire people to engage with you?” Jonathan Greenblatt, co-founder of Ethos Water, asked attendees at the July Destination Marketing International Association (DMAI) annual convention. He suggests that you have to do it from the bottom up, in a tangible way.

“In a world where everything is discoverable,” he says, referring to the 24-hour news cycle, Internet and social media, “you have to be authentic.” Rather than just touting green efforts or charitable donations, many conferences are encouraging attendees to get involved.

When the College Sports Information Directors of America Convention met in San Francisco in July, attendees participated in a four-hour volunteer project at St. Anthony Foundation, an organization that serves the homeless and needy, namely those with drug and alcohol addictions. Attendees also donated 400 items, ranging from clothing to flash drives and toiletry items, through a clothing drive during registration.

“We felt several years ago it was important for us to step out from the shadows and roll up our sleeves and help out local charities in the cities that host our annual convention,” says Sam Atkinson, CoSIDA Goodwill Committee chair and sports information director at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. ”We want to show that CoSIDA cares about our host city and that we lead by example when it comes to giving back.”

Harris Rosen, founder of Rosen Hotels and Resorts, is well known around the hospitality industry for his generosity through the Harris Rosen Foundation. In addition to its recent work in Haiti, the Rosen Foundation adopted the community of Tangelo Park in Orlando, where Rosen’s hotels are located, 25 years ago. Meeting attendees using his hotels, Rosen Shingle Creek, Rosen Centre Hotel or Rosen Plaza Hotel, can volunteer in the community in which Rosen has created nine preschools, helped send hundreds of kids to college and improved the community through clean-up efforts and rebuilding projects.

“More and more groups are asking for charity initiatives to take part in,” Rosen says. “It is amazing the response we get from associations and businesses looking for ways to give back and they are so thankful that we provide something for them to do.”

In July, DMAI welcomed representatives from destination marketing organizations, which are often the connecting point for meeting planners looking for volunteer opportunities in a host city. The convention showed the benefit of providing such projects with a service day of its own. Attendees participated in a service project at Feeding South Florida, a food bank that serves daycare centers, homeless shelters, residential homes for the physically and mentally challenged, assisted-living facilities for the elderly, youth programs, soup kitchens and emergency food pantries. Watch the video below to see the response of some of the volunteers.

Calendar

Important Dates