Plan Green Meetings and Conferences in a Tough Economy

With everyone under more pressure than ever in this challenging economy, can we still afford to go green when planning meetings and conferences at large convention hotels? The answer is yes. In fact you can actually see some significant savings by implementing a few practical green strategies into your next event. Here are my three personal favorites:

No more bottled water - Bottled water creates piles of discarded plastic that clog up landfills. Think about how many empty bottles are generated by just one day of breaks and meals for a large conference. Get rid of them! Instead, offer water stations in your meeting rooms and at refreshment breaks. Hotels often charge very little for this service or even provide complimentary water stations upon request.

If your attendees are picky about their water, ask the hotel to provide spring water in traditional water coolers. If the hotel does not have them in-house, they can probably rent them for you.

Check on pricing and discuss your plans during the contract negotiation phase to make sure there are no restrictions or fees. Hotels are becoming aware of this trend away from bottled water and are taking steps to recover the lost revenue. Even in cases where you are being charged for water stations or water coolers, the savings versus bottled water is usually significant.

When setting up water stations, don't defeat your green efforts by providing plastic or paper cups. Have the facility put out traditional water goblets or small juice glasses instead.

Benefit to the Environment: No more plastic bottles in the landfill.
Benefit to your bottom line: No more bottles of water on your bill at $4 - $5 (plus service and tax) a piece.
Bonus money idea: Get a sponsor to provide reusable sport bottles that attendees can fill up at water stations and carry with them throughout the conference.

No more disposable coffee cups - Many hotels put out paper coffee cups, plastic lids and cup sleeves so attendees can get a cup of coffee to go. While this is often a great convenience for attendees it's a killer to the environment and to your bottom line. Think of how many cups of coffee are consumed at a major event. Now consider that each cup creates paper waste in the form of the cup and sleeve as well as plastic waste in the form of the plastic top. If they use Styrofoam...well lets just hope they're not that irresponsible. Get rid of them!

Insist on the use of traditional ceramic mugs. Since ceramic mugs are typically smaller than the paper to-go cups, attendees will drink less coffee and you save money. Also, attendees are less likely to "top off" their mugs and take them back to their rooms as they would with to-go cups...again, less coffee consumed.

Benefit to the Environment: No more paper cups, sleeves or lids in the landfill.
Benefit to your bottom line: Less coffee consumed.
Bonus money idea: See if the hotel can order organic or shade-grown coffee to serve at your event. Get a sponsor to cover the extra cost and make them your environmentally friendly coffee sponsor.

Get rid of all that paper - The massive amounts of paper in the form of conference binders, handouts, flyers, surveys and other printed material at conferences can add up to a lot of dead trees. Do your attendees really need all that paper? Go paperless! At the very least significantly reduce the amount of paper you give out by printing smarter.

As it is a very hot topic, there are many great articles available about paperless events. I recommend the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and Meeting Professionals International (MPI) as sources for how to go paperless. Study paperless strategies and implement the one that best fits your conference goals.

With the strong push for environmental consciousness, you can expect fewer and fewer old school holdouts demanding their reams of printed materials. Less printed paper means lower printing costs and lower shipping costs. For large events it can also mean lower staff costs as there will be less bulky material to collate, organize and distribute on site.

Benefit to the Environment: Less paper, less printing (inks and dyes) and less freight.
Benefit to your bottom line: Lower material, shipping and staff costs.
Bonus money idea: Encourage sponsors to avoid chair drops, flyers and promotional CDs. Instead provide them with a prominent ad or file download (instead of the CD) on the conference web site where the conference material is being hosted. After all, every attendee will be going there to access the content at some point.

Some additional thoughts on green meetings

So what about green products? Sure you can help the environment by ordering tote bags, pens, lanyards, name tags and other products made with recycled materials. Just be cautious and don't let your enthusiasm for going green bust your budget or cause the conference experience to suffer.

Many green products are more expensive or lower quality than traditional alternatives. Consider incorporating green products into your events only if you can get sponsorship or other extra dollars allowing you to order the highest quality items. After all, you don't want to give green products a bad reputation by using the cheap stuff.

Reinforcing your commitment with green meeting extras

Inevitably your efforts to go green by eliminating bottled water, removing paper cups and going paperless will result in a few cynical attendees accusing you of "Greenwashing" or disingenuously claiming to be going green. They will say your efforts have more to do with saving money and less to do with saving the planet. So how do you avoid this criticism? Get your attendees involved in your green efforts with the following green meeting extras:

1. Have recycle bins available throughout the conference facility. This allows attendees to take an active part in recycling.

2. Collect name badges for reuse or recycling. As your attendees leave, make an effort to collect as many badges as possible. Don't be passive about it. Have staff stand in the hallways with baskets and ask everyone that tries to leave to give up their badge. This "aggressive" approach shows commitment to the cause.

3. Get the hotel or conference facility to outline all the ways they are going green and share this information with attendees. Post it on your web site or pin it to a message board near registration.

4. Set up an online forum for attendees to share how their companies are going green. Most people love to promote their own company's achievements (especially sponsors). Attendees will walk away with a lot of green strategies specific to their industry.

5. Have the conference moderator provide a summary of all the green efforts at the event as part of their opening remarks.

The reality of the current economic crisis demands practical approaches to everything, including going green. So if you can save some money while helping the environment, don't feel guilty or insincere. Be proud that you have found a way to keep your meetings green while making a positive impact on your organization's bottom line.

Sources:
Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
www.mpiweb.org
Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA)
www.pcma.org
Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.com