The 2024 edition of SITE Classic, held September 9-12 in Miami Beach, featured a number of changes to keep this staple event on SITE's calendar relevant and fresh for attendees. 

One of these changes included introducing a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity, sponsored by IHG Hotels & Resorts. Taking cues from the SITE Florida & Caribbean chapter, all Classic attendees were welcome to join a beach clean-up just off the hotel property. 

Here’s what worked well, alongside lessons learned that will improve future SITE CSR projects — all based on this year’s beachside beautification efforts. 

What worked: extra education, chapter leadership, and firsthand results 

Overall, those who took part in the beach clean-up considered it a rousing success. Despite the oppressive humidity (for those of us not from Florida, at least!) and light sunshowers, the experience overall felt special and fairly unique to the destination. 

Before heading to the sand, we began our beach clean experience with a presentation from local Miami Dade County marine biologists and recreation staff that run the county’s Sea Turtle Conservation Program. The presentation added extra urgency and increased motivation for volunteers to pick up as much trash as they could, after speakers shared tons of interesting facts about how pollution impacts the area’s sea turtles and other ocean critters. 

Partnering with the county also meant SITE was able to symbolically adopt a turtle nest right outside the SITE Classic 2024 host hotel — giving attendees even more inspiration to keep the beach clean and do all they could to be responsible guests at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. 

This beach clean was also led in part by members from SITE Florida & Caribbean. Adding in a CSR element gave this chapter a chance to shine what are regular sustainability efforts they undertake, and highlighted for other chapter leaders attending Classic how give-backs like this can drive engagement at the chapter level. 

As an added final bonus to this year’s beach clean, volunteers were invited to rejoin the group early the next morning back at the adopted turtle nest to watch the Miami Dade turtle team perform an excavation. The team found two hatchlings during the excavation, and released them back to the ocean once they’d finished their count. It was a heartfelt moment that was undoubtedly one of the best parts of SITE Classic, for those who were able to watch the tiny turtles swim out to the ocean.

Any of the nest's hatchlings that survive into adulthood will also return to the same spot on Miami Beach in about 20 years to start their own families: an incredibly special legacy from this year’s program! 

Room to improve: scheduling, better publicity, and how to best position 

While still a success overall, there are still areas for growth in thinking about how SITE — and incentive professionals in general — may want to improve future CSR offerings at incentive events. 

To start, this year’s SITE Classic beach clean-up was scheduled at the same time as the Classic pool social: historically one of the most popular parts of the event. While this was intentional, with the beach clean an alternative activity attendees could take part in if they did not want to spend any or all of their time poolside that afternoon, it did mean fewer attendees in general were willing and able to help clean. 

It stands as a creative challenge, then, for savvy planners to find exciting and encouraging ways to publicize an activity like this and make it equally compelling as more relaxing parts of the program — perhaps focusing on how CSR programming can be just as rejuvenating, or provide other meaningful returns for attendees. 

Better positioning of dedicated CSR activities through more dedicated signage, enhanced event app promotion, and letting word-of-mouth spread excitement could also help better position future sustainability projects SITE decides to take on.

Overall, we’re proud of the nearly 12 pounds of plastic and other trash this year’s collectors plucked off the beach: an incredible start to what we hope are newly rooted efforts to make giving back a more centralized, strategic part of SITE’s event programming. 

Thank you again to IHG Hotels & Resorts, as well as SITE Florida & Caribbean, for their sustainability leadership!