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Certification speaks and returns volumes.
Before STOKE, it was impossible for your prospective attendees to make an apples to apples assessment of your sustainability efforts. Some event operators have scalped tickets by making false claims of sustainability while many others have incredible initiatives, but are not able to communicate this effectively to the market. Event management companies are choosing third party sustainability certification to:
- Get help developing a systematic approach to sustainability;
- Reap cost savings related to resource-use efficiencies and quality staff retention;
- Gain market advantage;
- Build brand loyalty; and
- Have authentic and impactful efforts recognized and respected.
Sustainability demands much more than a recycling bin.
Those who truly champion sustainability should be rewarded with more than an “eco” label or a green leaf badge… you have worked too hard for your efforts to be recognized by something that does not fully represent your accomplishments and that has no relevance in the outdoor or action sports lifestyle and youth culture. That is why we created STOKE. STOKE Events demands the highest standards in sustainability and it resonates with our community.
STOKE Events has five real and significant advantages for members.
The 5 advantages of stoke operators
Market Access: we see you in the crowd and backstage.
The mainstream events and conferences market is impossibly diffuse and notoriously difficult to penetrate in a meaningful way. Outdoor, conservation, and action sports lifestyle events are not. Most of this target market can be reached through a handful of magazines, websites, and webcasts. STOKE Events engages this market through these media.
Targeted & Appropriate Communications: we’re the keynote speaker, headliner, and moderator.
STOKE was developed by outdoor and action sports enthusiasts in close consultation with the owner/managers of event providers who focus on delivering impactful experiences for this growing community. We know how to communicate with this market because we are that market.
Sector Specific Sustainability Criteria & Indicators: designed to integrate with your BEO and EPK.
Over a two-year period, we developed more than 90 comprehensive sustainability assessment criteria that reflect the challenges and best practices specific to events and conferences that appeal to the outdoor and action sports communities.
Cost Effective, Even for Small Events: you won’t be scalping tickets.
Membership and evaluation fees are indexed to annual turnover and are by far the most affordable on the market. Besides savings from operational efficiency gains, even if STOKE media outreach and brand association only secure you a 0.001% increase in ticket sales, your costs are still more than covered.
Expert Support & Consulting: we’ve mapped the floor plan and developed the operational program.
STOKE has been a pioneer in researching and applying sustainability principles to the outdoor and action sports lifestyle industries since 2010. Consisting of a network of the leading researchers and consultants in this specialized field, we provide a range of services to create and implement sustainable solutions for any event or conference that caters to this unique culture.
Certification Process
Become a STOKE Member and get “The Kit”.
We provide specialized tools to systematically integrate sustainability from the ground up and to communicate your success. The Kit includes:
- STOKE Sustainability Management System Template
- STOKE Self-benchmarking Tool
- STOKE Customer Satisfaction Surveys
- STOKE Communications Strategy Template
- STOKE Supply Chain Transparency Letter & Questionnaire Template
- STOKE Membership Logo
- STOKE Member Profile on our website
Assess your current operations. Complete the STOKE Benchmark and submit.
Management can complete the self-benchmark or a STOKE representative can help your team work through the benchmarking process to provide deeper insight into all of STOKE’s criteria and compliance indicators and efficiently assess your event’s current operations. After the benchmark is submitted and reviewed by the STOKE Board for authenticity, you receive the “STOKE Benchmarked” logo for use on your marketing materials and a STOKE Benchmarked profile on our website.
Create a Roadmap to Compliance and Beyond.
Now that you have The Kit, you’re benchmarked, and you know your STOKE score, it’s time to plan how to achieve the highest level of certification and put it into practice. You can prepare your own roadmap to compliance (RTC) or you can have a STOKE representative roll up their sleeves alongside you to build a comprehensive RTC report:
- A STOKE RTC report provides you with clear, precise, and actionable short and long-term implementation strategies that outline your business’s unique pathway to STOKE compliance at the highest possible level.
- STOKE can help leverage your existing sustainability initiatives as well as source sustainable suppliers, create sustainability tours and interpretation for guests, conduct cost-benefit analyses on sustainability upgrades, and develop plans for incorporating your sustainability vision into your property, your staff, suppliers, and community.
Ready for the ride? Take the drop, and if you stick it—get certified.
Once you are confident that you exceed 70% minimum compliance for certification, gather all your supporting evidence and contact us to arrange a formal evaluation. The cost of evaluation includes evaluator travel expenses plus a fee indexed to the size and scope of your business. Evaluation follows these three steps:
- Schedule evaluation with a STOKE Certified Independent Evaluator—we have evaluators in many regions of the world to reduce travel impacts as well as costs for properties.
- The evaluator conducts a rigorous assessment of all criteria and collects supporting evidence including photographs, copies of documents, interviews with staff, guests, management, suppliers, and local communities.
- Evaluator presents evidence to STOKE Board who assess evidence and evaluator’s recommendations. Certification may be granted or denied based on evidence collected.
Let the world know.
Just like a double fisted claim on the ride of your life when none of your friends saw it, touting sustainability is only cool when someone’s there to back you up. STOKE is that high-five at the end of an epic ride. Upon accreditation, hoots and hollers are followed by:
- STOKE logo for the level of certification awarded.
- A comprehensive property profile on the STOKE website with booking links as well as supporting content that showcases best practices.
- STOKE Certified press releases, digital and print media articles in endemic and non-endemic markets, and strategic, coordinated social media campaigns.
This is only the beginning.
Riders are constantly looking at the horizon for that next line. We’re always pushing to improve our performance and looking for the next perfect ride. STOKE challenges you to push your performance and be a better rider—not in terms of board control, but in terms of sustainability. Progression never ends.
- All events are required to be re-evaluated every year to assure the public that our members are genuinely committed to sustainability. Re-evaluation fees are considerably lower as the bulk of the work in evidence collection takes place during the initial evaluation.
- Incremental improvements are expected between evaluations. We understand that environmental, political, and other factors create new challenges and can render previous initiatives irrelevant. What is deemed as an incremental improvement is carefully evaluated by the STOKE Board.
- If the event advances to a higher certification level, new logos and badging will be provided and a new round of media promotion entered into.
STOKE is here to honor sustainability pioneers and to usher in emerging sustainability leaders so that the outdoor and action sports lifestyle culture continues to innovate as much in sustainability as it does in creativity and progression.