Tips for hosting an environmentally friendly conference

You may have noticed that green is the new black - more people are becoming environmentally conscience and as a result, many companies are making efforts to be more green. This new trend of corporate responsibility has made its way to the meeting planning industry. There are some very simple changes that you can make when planning your conference that can have a positive impact on the environment and soon being green will become second nature.

Site Selection
Many hotels and conference centers have green programs in place. When you are selecting the location for your next conference, inquire about green programs that the potential sites have. During the conference, you can promote the programs or create your own.

At a recent conference that Designing Events managed, we found a unique way to reuse the travel sized toiletries provided by the hotel. Large boxes were set up around the conference to collect unused toiletries and after the conference they were donated to a local woman’s shelter.

Reuse and Recycle
Recycling is an obvious effort that should be made for a green meeting. Hopefully, the location of the conference already has a recycling program in place, which will make this an easy one.

Think of other items that you use on-site that can be reused – name badge holders and lanyards are two good examples. On the last day of the conference, set out baskets with a note asking people to leave their name badge holders and lanyards so that they can be used again.

Save Some Trees
Postcards, brochures, direct mailings, registration books – promoting a conference is traditionally done through a large amount of printed materials, cutting back on these will save some trees and save on costs. But what about my marketing efforts you may say? The internet and e-mail marketing can play a large role in promoting your conference. An online conference marketing program is environmentally friendly, cost effective and timelier than printed materials. While some printed materials will always be needed, limit them whenever possible.

Website - Invest in a comprehensive association conference website. The cost to include information on a website is minimal, so get rid of that 4-color registration book and put all of the information on your website. Send out a postcard instead and direct people to the website for all of the information they could ever need!

Electronic Materials – Instead of a large program book and print outs of speakers presentations, consider saving all of the materials on flash drives that can be distributed to attendees on site. You can also offer the materials for download on your website.

Print on Recycled Paper – When you do need to print materials, be sure they are printed on recycled paper. There are many options available for papers, as well as soy and vegetable based inks that are friendlier to the environment.

Downloads – Instead of mailing all of your printed materials, offer them as pdfs that can be downloaded from your website.

Food and Beverage
This is an area when your green conference can have a lot of impact.

No Throw Aways - Ensure that all china and service ware is not disposable – real plates and silverware send a better impression and is better for the environment.

Water, Water Everywhere – Have water coolers set up around the conference area instead of providing bottles of water. Consider including a water bottle with the conference logo on it as a giveaway to encourage people to reuse!

Individualized Servings – When possible, minimize individual servings of beverages and condiments. Those small bottles of ketchup are cute – but they lead to a lot of waste.

Together, We Can Make a Difference!

If everyone made just a few of the changes listed above, we could make a huge impact! Going green is not just a passing fad, we believe it will soon be a staple for all meeting planners, so start now!

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