Tradeshows are notorious for producing large volumes of trash: signage that gets produced and used once; massive quantities of print materials and promotional products; left-over samples that are less expensive to discard than ship home; food and beverage containers; leftover food and more. At the 2009 Sustainable Opportunities Summit (co-hosted by CORE — Connected Organizations for a Responsible Economy, the City of Denver, and CU Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the Leeds Business School), Green Convene Strategies worked with each supplier of the Summit and Expo to secure more sustainable, earth friendly event materials like recycled paper name badges, reusable name badge holders, reusable signage, and compostable plates and flatware for desserts and snack breaks in the exhibit hall. (The more earth-friendly china and silver service is usually not allowed in exhibit halls.) Most importantly, Green Convene Strategies enrolled over 75 exhibitors with a targeted communications campaign to build commitment and ensure collaboration in sustainability efforts at the Summit’s expo.

Getting Commitment from Exhibitors –
Communicating with exhibitors to support sustainability initiatives is key. Communications were distributed electronically to exhibitors, who committed to participating by:
a. Minimizing transportation to and from the show; exhibit staff carpooling whenever possible;
b. Following a no idling policy – turning off vehicles at the dock while loading;
c. Adhering to no smoking policy during load in, expo hours, and tear down;
d. Loading in while lights and heating systems were lowered to conserve energy;
e. Participating in recycling program;
f. Minimizing packaging materials and using environmentally responsible packing materials;
g. Minimizing printed materials;
h. Limiting promo items; or distributing environmentally responsible give-a-ways ;
i. Producing exhibits and signage with recycled or eco-friendly materials;
j. Turning off all electrical equipment and lights after show hours; and requested use of LED’s or CFL’s in showing lighting;
k. Donating leftover signage, give-a-ways and supplies to local non-profit after the expo through a program set up by expo management;
l. Avoiding use of Styrofoam;
m. Packing out any supplies that remained at the end of the expo.

These practices not only helped green the expo part of the Summit, but also helped save exhibitors money in production, shipping and drayage fees.

See www.sosummit.org for full details on the upcoming 2010 Sustainable Opportunities Summit.

Tags: CORE, expo, Green Convene Strategies, green expo, green tradeshow, tradeshow

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 10:06 am and is filed under Green Business, Green Meetings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.