October 2006
Prepared to go green
Environmental sustainability is not a passing fad. It’s become a major public concern. What does it mean for your show — and how much will it cost you?

By Patricia D. Sherman


In 2003, the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA, www.outdoorindustry.org) threatened to pull its endorsement of the Outdoor Retailer show, which is owned and managed by VNU Expositions (www.vnu.com). The move was prompted by outdoor recreation business owners, who are OIA members, concerned about the management of public lands in Utah. To forestall the loss of the twice-yearly show held in Salt Lake City, which drew more than 15,000 attendees and $24 million in economic impact, the state agreed to:

• Establish an environmental task force that includes representatives from the outdoor industry;
• Challenge the Bureau of Land Management on its approval of oil and gas drilling in certain wilderness areas; and
• Add 175,000 square feet to the Salt Palace Convention Center to accommodate the show’s growth.

Three years later, the 2006 Outdoor Retailer show in August broke records with more than 21,000 attendees and has signed a contract with Salt Lake City through 2009.

This muscle-flexing by attendees and exhibitors, led by the Outdoor Industry Association, was much publicized in the industry. Not so well publicized, says Peter Devin, VNU Group Show Director, who manages the Outdoor Retailer shows and the Fly Fishing show held in Denver, was the influence exhibitors had on the operation of the show itself. “At the same time that this was going on, one of our exhibitors, Scot Leonard, President of Indigenous Designs, challenged us to produce a more environmentally sustainable show. Over the past three years, the show has instituted many green practices. The practices have spread to other shows in the VNU Sports Group, and the company has added a sustainability officer,” he says.

Green synergy
As the Outdoor Retailer show demonstrates, one of the strongest forces moving green shows into the mainstream is exhibitor and attendee pressure. But when show managers, venues and the larger community cooperate, the results can be dramatic. For example, the Construct Canada trade show at the Metro Toronto Convention Center (MTCC, www.mtccc.com), held last November, achieved zero waste. That is, all waste — from cardboard to pallets and food — was re-used or recycled.

The show, with attendance of 23,000, naturally features a strong green component because many of the 1,100 exhibitors are committed to sustainability, says Jacqui Elliott, Principal of Toronto-based York Communications (www.yorkcommunications.ca), which owns and operates the show. “Because commercial buildings are among the largest consumers of water and energy, and we’re a national show, it’s incumbent on us to lead,” she says.

While exhibitors and attendees were committed to the idea, in practice there was a steep learning curve, says Elliott. For instance, there were sets of three recycle bins labeled for paper, plastic and glass placed around the floor, but if attendees were still confused about what trash to put in which bin, they got help from Green Ambassadors stationed on the floor to assist and answer questions, she says.

From the point of view of the MTCC, “We started with the most challenging show,” says Vince Quattrociocchi, Vice President of Operations. “The 26 metric tons of waste from the Construct Canada show included every type of building material imaginable.” Separating and directing it took a lot of hard work on the part of the center staff and the waste management contractor. MTCC estimates that the program saved 238 trees, 4,300 gallons of water and 30 cubic yards of landfill space.

“It would have been much easier to throw everything into the truck,” he says. To avoid that temptation, “We completely removed our trash compactors. In the end, we reclaimed or recycled virtually 100 percent.”

The MTCC was so pleased with the results, Quattrociocchi says, the next zero-waste event is already lined up — the PCMA annual meeting in January.

Ten years ago, the topic of green conventions and trade shows would have elicited a blank stare from most show organizers and exhibitors. Environmentally responsible practices were still on the fringes of the show and meeting industry.

Now, green has moved into the mainstream and will most likely become the standard in coming years. Meeting and trade show facilities are building green and retrofitting to become green. Organizers, on their own and with partner vendors and contractors, are incorporating green practices into trade shows and events. Corporations and associations are setting up departments and committees to ensure environmental stewardship.

To a great extent, this shift in the industry is the result of the convergence of economic circumstances — rising energy prices, decreasing landfill space, concern for global warming — which are going to exert stronger pressure over the next five years.

“Sustainability has become a major public concern,” says Andy Acho, who recently retired from Ford Motor Co. where he was Worldwide Director of Environmental Outreach and Strategy and is now an international speaker on corporate environmental efforts. “It’s not the flavor of the month. It’s here to stay. Today, proactive environmental actions make economic sense.”

Buildings lead the green initiative
“Over the next 10 years, 70 percent of buildings in the industry will incorporate green principles,” predicts Rebecca Flora, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Green Building Alliance (www.gbapgh.org) and Chair of the 15-member commission that conducted the design competition for the first fully green convention center in the country, Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center (DLCC, www.pittsburghcc.com).

“We saw that a large-scale, high-impact building could introduce environmentally responsible venues to the show and meeting industry,” says Flora. The city was able to take a chance on sustainable design because there was private funding behind the process. “The Heinz Endowment wanted to invest in a green building in the region.” The goal was to demonstrate how green practices could apply to any building. The result, nearly 10 years after its conception, is a building that has set the bar for other public buildings and shifted future design, she says.

The convention center shows that sustainable buildings and practices are competitive. “Costs of green features in the DLCC were capital investments and are not born by users,” says Mark Leahy, General Manager. Some services, like haulage, zero out for both the facility and the show. “It costs more in time to separate, bale and store trash. But because we have a market that pays to pick up, we have close to a 100 percent offset,” he says.
The DLCC also demonstrates that green design features can be effectively marketed to any group. For instance, “Most centers are dark boxes. Our exhibit halls are filled with natural light. Studies show that when attendees can see products in natural light, sales increase up to 20 percent,” says Joe McGrath, President and CEO of Visit Pittsburgh (www.visitpittsburgh.org).

“Any new building will be built green,” says Jeff Blosser, Executive Director of the Oregon Convention Center (OCC, www.oregoncc.org) in Portland, OR, an older center that has made concerted efforts to go green as it remodels and adds new space. (See sidebar, Five Green Convention Centers, below). “Sustainability is part of the ethos of the culture now and will become a bigger, top-of-mind issue for convention centers over the next decade.”

Shows begin to go green
Some show organizers saw the business potential for producing green shows early on. “Our industry has such a huge impact on the environment across the globe. The initial concept was ‘this is the right thing to do,’ ” says Amy Spatrisano, CMP, Planner for Meeting Strategies Worldwide (www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com) based in Portland, OR. MSW produces shows for organizations ranging  from environmental groups and academic and religious associations to Fortune 1000 corporations. “But it had to make economic sense for our clients. We started thinking about it seriously from a business point of view about six years ago and developed a business case. We were able to show clients how we could save them money with environmentally sustainable practices. It was slow at first, but interest has really picked up in the past three years.”

For other organizers, the impetus to go green comes from within their industries. VNU Sports Group, which includes the Outdoor Retailer show, has nine shows, seven in major convention centers. It’s introducing green practices into the operation of all its shows. “Our initiatives began because our clients are interested in environmental issues,” says Cindy Sample, Operations Director.

The interest in more responsible shows, though, extends to groups that don’t have a direct business link with the environment. “It’s important to religious groups and many associations. Even major corporate show producers, such as Ford, Starbucks, Coca Cola and GE, have a commitment to sustainability as part of their mission statements, and departments to track compliance,” says Spatrisano.

Big shows, small footprints
Even big shows want to leave smaller footprints. The key is partnerships with committed parties.

VNU Expositions has the clout and connections to work across the industry. It began forming sustainability partnerships in 2004, Sample says, and specific sustainability programs are tailored to the capabilities of the centers. Recently, VNU partnered with GES to provide recycled carpeting for the trade show floor. “We’re testing the recycled product on the show floors. We don’t throw it away after one show, but use it in the next show. If this works, we’ll use it more extensively in 2007,” says Sample.

VNU partners with SMG to establish green practices on site, such as energy-efficient light fixtures, recycling programs, water conservation in rest rooms, recyclable paper products, thermostat controls, and biodegradable food-and-beverage containers. It also partners with 3 Phases Energy, which produces wind energy, to purchase renewable energy credits to offset electricity usage for seven shows a year. That will save enough energy to power 57 homes for a year.

Groups that want sustainable show practices don’t have to limit their destination choices to cities deservedly admired for their green convention centers and extensive recycling infrastructure. It’s not hard to find receptive convention centers and contractors, says Spatrisano. For instance, she managed a meeting for 3,500 Unitarian-Universalists in Fort Worth, TX, in June. “Sustainable practices were new for the convention center staff, but they were wonderful,” she says. “We asked them to cut air conditioning during move-in and tear-down. The city doesn’t have a commercial recycling program, and the hauling contractor for the center does not recycle. We found a local family-owned hauler that does recycling to do temporary hauling. Now when the contract comes up for renewal, the temporary hauler will have the opportunity to bid.”

Organizers see green
A few years ago, costs seemed to outweigh the benefits of green practices. Today, the calculations look different. There may be a slight cost in training people, Quattrociocchi says, but those are upfront costs that decline with every show. And other factors will soon offset these costs.

“There’s a trend for green practices across the board in all industries, not just the show industry,” says Sample. “The more they’re used, the more costs will go down.”

Linda Purdy, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Direct Energy Center in Toronto, which has extensive energy-savings programs, agrees, “Prices are not increasing. They’re stabilizing as demand grows.”

Circumstances are making green practices competitive with standard practices. For instance, as hauling and tipping costs increase, less waste from the show floor can actually mean a savings in some cities, says Quattrociocchi.

“It’s not a question of if but when,” says Spatrisano. “Meeting planners and show organizers who get on board early will have a huge benefit.”