September 2008
40 Easy Green Tips

Proven strategies to make your show more environmentally responsible

Contrary to what you might think, greening your event doesn’t have to be difficult, and it doesn’t require hiring a sustainability officer. You can start as simply as reducing what you print and eliminating bottled water. Here are 40 ideas you can implement right now to create a solid green initiative, as presented at the EXPO/Red 7 Media Green Event Summit in June in San Francisco.

The presenters:
Sandy Voss, Group Show Director, New Hope Natural Media
An early adopter of green practices at her events, Sandy Voss has spent 11 years at New Hope Natural Media, a division of Penton Media, pioneering the creation of sustainable communities within the trade show industry. New Hope Media has multiple shows and conferences in the natural products/healthy foods industry worldwide.

Amy Allen, Associate Show Director, Hanley Wood Exhibitions
Amy Allen is responsible for the direction and implementation of the Remodeling Show and DeckExpo and played a pivotal role in creating new, organic growth for Hanley Wood in the green residential building segment. She’s an advisor on the Hanley Wood Green Task Force to implement creative, effective and economical green solutions for company events.

Donna Sanford, Publisher, EXPO/Red 7 Media
Donna Sanford is the Publisher & Editor of EXPO Magazine. She’s spent 25 years in the industry – starting in her family’s association and show management firm. She’s worked as a meeting planner and trade show coordinator at both small and large associations and at a for-profit firm, as well as two years at a CVB.

10 site selection/venue tips
Sanford: Meet close. This is something you’re going to do anyway as part of a good attendance strategy, but find the geographic center of your attendee base when selecting your destination, and within that destination, use hotels close to the facility.

Sanford: How green must the destination, facility and hotels be? You determine that. Will you only meet in a LEEDcertified facility, or are you happy with a building that’s put some green practices in place?

Voss: Look at the sustainability statements in your contracts. Whether it’s a convention center or a hotel, consider what your goals are and how they’re being included in the contracts to make sure your expectations are met. Don’t forget to include the exclusive vendors within the building, too. Someday soon we might also see buildings making requirements of us for sustainability and eco-efforts. Watch for that flip side.

Voss: Define for the caterer what green means to you and make sure they can meet your demands. Do you expect organic, natural, local or vegetarian? Ensure that there are donation programs in place for leftovers and composting, and that they be flexible when considering disposables, china and shared condiment bowls.

Voss: Benchmark your recycling, energy and water usage so you can set goals to improve upon next year. You need venues that can measure those for you.

Allen: The small recycling bins are great on the attendee side, but they don’t do much for your move-out process. Find a facility that will bring in full haul bins for paper and cardboard. Exhibitors will do the right thing if we provide the opportunity.

Allen: Most of us tend to use the same company the facility uses for hauling waste, but for World of Concrete we were able to switch to a different company — at no additional cost — that repurposed and redistributed more than 81 percent of our trash.

Sanford: Specify if you want biofuels used for any motorized equipment at your event.

Voss: Look for facilities with energy savings — motion sensors in meeting rooms, low-flow toilets and faucets, etc. Use half lights on move-in/move-out days if you can. Escalators require a lot of energy usage. Could they be reduced or turned off on lower occupancy days? Negotiate with the venue that if your event is resulting in energy savings for them that you get part of that savings passed along to you.

Voss: Consider offsetting the energy you can’t conserve. We get it sponsored at our event.

10 tips for attendees
Allen: Increase your use of paperless technology. Put conference proceedings online; go with a paperless press room; encourage exhibitors to bring less — attendees don’t want all that paper to schlep home anyway. It doesn’t all have to happen overnight. Our first attendee outreach is electronic, and people can opt out of receiving a printed brochure. So we’ve cut down the printing and mailing of brochures, but we haven’t eliminated it.

Allen: Rethink your registration systems. Some shows offer electronic registration only — no phone, no fax. On site is all electronic as well; they even e-mail your receipt.

Voss: Provide transportation alternatives. Make sure your Web site offers public transportation information, and ecofriendly plans to get to the venue from the airport. Make sure your shuttles are in line with the ridership. Don’t get a 100- person shuttle and run it for 20 people. And slow your schedule during off-peak times — this will save you money, too. We’ve done carpools and ride-share programs and we’re considering a hybrid taxi fleet. Some events offer premium parking to hybrid vehicles. Austin, Denver and Boston have bike taxi fleets. Choosing walkable cities helps, too.

Voss: Look at the food you’re serving. Choose local, organic and natural where possible — or at least things with lower sugars, whole grains, fresh fruit or no high-fructose corn syrup. Some facilities are willing to revamp their concessions. But this will be a lot easier if you’ve negotiated it during the contract phase and not 90 days out from your event.

Allen: Reduce waste where you can. At some of our shows, we have 120 paid conference sessions that have always been ticketed events. We’ve done away with that in favor of having attendees swipe their expo card at the door for access. We’ve also eliminated paper within the lead-retrieval systems.

Sanford: Educate your industry. You have a dual role as a show producer and an educator. Your industry is relying on you to help them green their own businesses. Model the behavior, and ensure that there are sessions specific to their businesses.

Sanford: Consider a green pavilion for exhibitors selling green products or a model store concept that helps attendees see green in their workplaces.

Allen: Use digital signage for directions and presentations. There are concerns about the energy it takes to run digital signs, but at this point, we’re going digital to prevent the waste of meter boards. I think sponsors can get better exposure, and we can change the copy at any time for last-minute updates.

Sanford: Promote your green activities. It’s good PR for you, it’s educational for your industry and attendees and exhibitors can point to their participation in a green event. But be careful you don’t turn into your own greenwasher. This is a subject people are passionate about, and you don’t want a group of bloggers creating a backlash against your show because you claimed to be greener than you really were.

Sanford: Create a presentation download site. Ask speakers not to bring handouts. Create PDFs of their presentations and any handouts they wanted to use and place them at a download site available only to those in attendance at the event. Often, you can get that site sponsored.

10 service contractor tips
Voss: Specify green initiatives and requirements in all your RFPs. If you know you need something specific, put it in. If you don’t know, have some strategic discussions with potential partners before you even issue the RFPs. We’re all just getting started with this, and we’re learning together. Decide if you want to take baby steps or do the whole package. And it’s not just about your general services contractor; it’s about your shuttle provider, your staffing agency and your AV company. It’s got to be everybody.

Voss: Find vendors who have researched the authenticity of their green claims. Have they engaged third-party testing? We’re working now without a lot of standards, so it’s important to do your research and your homework.

Allen: Reuse or repurpose banners and signage. Let’s be realistic — we’re going to use banners. So let’s figure out a way to be more environmentally friendly, and save money. Develop a template that will work with your décor that you can use for a few years. Your contractor may also be able to recommend fabric solutions. When it’s time to get rid of a vinyl banner, it can be repurposed. They’re made into boat covers, purses and as covers for hay bales. The Discovery Channel turned its vinyl into bags they give away at their next event.

Voss: Negotiate pricing. Not all green alternatives cost more. Don’t take it at face value that there’s always a premium. Maybe the material you want to use for signs is 10 percent more expensive, but the process for making the sign is less labor intensive, so it’s a wash. That’s why you have to partner with your contractor and really have a conversation, more so than just issuing RFPs for green signs. Some things will cost more, but you’re going to save in certain areas, too — especially printing. Your bottom line might be the same. Also, the more we all start using these green materials, the more the price will come down. And buy in bulk. We just bought 100,000 biodegradable badge holders when we only needed about 50,000, but it was worth the savings.

Allen: Use booth trash receptacles and/or liners made of recycled materials that are also recyclable.

Allen: Encourage all contractors to offer online ordering. It’s what everyone prefers anyway. Exhibitors don’t want to print out forms, fill them out and fax them back. And contractors don’t want to get faxed forms they have to enter into their system. This is an easy change for the better.

Voss: Set goals each year with your contractor so you can measure your performance and make changes along the way. Did you hit your goal of 100 percent online service kits and ordering, for example?

Allen: Use green materials for registration, entryways and lobbies. You can’t encourage exhibitors to green their booths if you’re not greening your own areas.

Sanford: Learn about and decide what your product specifications will be. There are two parts of the product lifecycle to think about — what it’s made of and what it can be made into when you’re done with it. If you’re only willing to accept carpet that’s 100 percent recycled and 100 percent recyclable, specify that. Some carpet has recycled fibers, others have recycled backing; still others are fully recycled.

Allen: Work with your contractors to find ways to use the special event areas on your show floor. A couple of our shows have live demonstrations that include physical building rooms so attendees learn to properly install cabinetry and such. We used to bring in a front-end loader and tear it down and throw it away. Now we employ labor for four hours and they take it down by hand and Habitat for Humanity comes and gets it and uses it in a home. Have a dialogue with your contractor and brainstorm ideas.

10 tips for show management
Voss: Change the way you do business at home. If you want to walk the walk, you’ve got to be green in your office, too — not just on the show site. Put healthy alternatives in your vending machines. Include environmental goals in job descriptions. Recognize employees who are outstanding in this area. Put together programs beyond waste and energy usage such as giving employees hours to volunteer in the community, for instance.

Allen: Focus on your own waste management. As show managers, we tend to be prepared to the extreme. We all have copies of our 4-inch function books, with copies of all contracts, orders, etc. We’ve actually started going paperless on site with Smartpads.

Allen: Skip the bottled water and soda cans in your show office. Use pitchers of water and juice as well as china and flatware instead of disposables.

Voss: Be eco-friendly with office remodeling. Consider low-VOC paints and recycled carpeting when you can. Our landlord agreed — and I wouldn’t call him super progressive. We just talked to him about it and told him it mattered to us.

Voss: Consider organic apparel if you’re going to have logoed staff shirts on site.

Voss: Provide transportation alternatives for staff. All our employees get a free bus pass each year. And we have bike racks at the office.

Voss: Educate your employees like you do with your attendees and exhibitors. We bring in local groups to educate us on recycling and conservation. We’ve brought in clients who have strong green initiatives and had them talk to us about how they’ve changed their manufacturing process and how they’re looking at transportation and shipping products across the country. It’s really raised our awareness.

Voss: Evaluate your printing options. Choose recycled and recyclable papers. Print on both sides, if possible. Select environmentally friendly inks, such as soy or water-based, rather than petroleum-based inks. Use a local printer, if possible, to avoid shipping. Print less.

Allen: Evaluate your event’s specific areas of wastefulness. Don’t be overwhelmed. Take a step back and say ‘Okay, what are the three most wasteful things we do at our event,’ and just tackle those this year.

Allen: Scan all of your documents and store them electronically. We’re stepping away from paper files in our office. Contracts faxed from exhibitors come into a fax box in your e-mail. We never even print them.