Julia Spangler
Owner, Ecosystem Events
Unionville, Ind.
Describe your job.
I’m a sustainability consultant and educator focused on the events industry. I help event organizers reduce the environmental impact of their events, with a particular focus on event waste.
What made you choose the meetings and events industry?
I began my career as a graphic designer, and I took a role on a communications team that also produced internal events for a mid-size company. Through the handful of events we produced each year, I saw firsthand how much waste events can create. I had been looking to pivot my career to create more positive impact, and event waste stood out to me as a problem that didn’t have many people focusing on solutions.
How did you get started and what got you from there to today?
I started in 2015 by consulting part-time while still working in graphic design. In 2018, I switched to running Ecosystem Events full-time and focusing largely on providing onsite waste-diversion services for events in central Indiana. Initially, my company offered onsite waste-diversion services, helping event organizers recycle, compost, and donate materials from their events. We only offered these services nearby so as not to cancel out the positive impact of our work by having a high carbon footprint from driving our trucks long distances.
I’ve switched my focus back to education and consulting so I can share what I learned from my onsite experiences. I now have the same approach for all events, nearby or around the country, which is to consult with the event organizer on their waste-diversion plan and also assist with identifying local resources who can provide onsite support if needed.
How do you keep up with industry trends, changes, and cutting-edge developments?
As a sustainability consultant, I need to stay up to date with both the events industry and developments in sustainability. To do so, I subscribe to various newsletters, follow experts and colleagues on LinkedIn, and stay involved with groups like Members United for Sustainable Events.
What essential skills should every industry professional possess?
I think every event professional should practice asking venues and vendors about their sustainable offerings. You don’t have to be an expert in sustainability to ask what options are available and to hold your venues and vendors accountable for doing things they should be doing and for not being egregiously wasteful. By that, I mean event organizers should have their radar up for things that sound like they’re going to be wasteful. For example, if a vendor is proposing a custom backdrop made from thousands of paper flowers, ask if that backdrop is going to be disassembled and recycled after the event is over. If the venue proposes a balloon and confetti drop, don’t assume they have a magical way of making that sustainable; ask about it, and consider other ways to create a festive environment with less waste. When designers are coming up with really creative ideas for events, they don’t always consider sustainability; so, if event organizers want to focus on sustainability, it’s up to them to keep checking in with vendors about it. That kind of prompting from their clients also will encourage vendors to start considering sustainability themselves.
What is the philosophy or approach to work that gets you through stressful times?
I often have to remind myself that change takes time and the industry has a long way to go before it’s sustainable, so progress may not happen as fast as I want it to. I try to meet my clients and their vendors where they are and propose the next best steps for them rather than trying to leapfrog to a perfect state before people are ready.
What is the best professional advice you ever received, and what advice do you have for others in the industry?
I always appreciate reminders about maintaining healthy professional boundaries. As much as we may want to be in control of everything, there are times when we have to let go and realize we’ve done all we can, and we have to trust others to hold up their end. For me, that means if someone else involved in the event drops the ball on something sustainability related, it’s not necessarily a reflection on how well I’ve done my job. You can’t handhold other professionals to do their jobs the way you want them to.
Describe your biggest professional success.
What I enjoy most is teaching, so I feel the most fulfillment when I hear positive feedback and comments from event professionals who have taken my classes or heard one of my presentations. I recently heard from an event professional who has taken two of my courses. She works with a statewide events association, and she shared that my first course about zero-waste events helped form the foundation of the association’s sustainability plan, and the next course (which was even more in depth about event waste) helped them expand it even further. It’s really gratifying that my courses were valuable not just to one organization, but to one that’s in the position to lead by example for its members.
Share an anecdote about a meeting or event that did not go as planned (something funny or odd) and how you handled it.
Working with event waste, there’s always something unexpected. We find a lot of unusual items when we’re sorting waste. The strangest item I’ve ever found in the trash at an event was a set of beer-flight glasses from a restaurant that was not remotely in the vicinity of the event. Someone must have stolen the glasses from the restaurant, driven downtown to the event, and then decided they didn’t want them anymore! I took them home, ran them through the dishwasher, and donated them.
What is the best part of your job?
Helping event professionals start to believe it’s really possible to reduce waste in our industry. I love seeing the light bulb go on when someone hears a tip or strategy they can apply directly to their event.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I live on a hobby farm with my husband, so we enjoy growing and cooking a lot of our own food. I’m also a musician and play guitar in a folk/Americana group with friends.
