6 Green Practices for Trade Show Organizers

Introduction

Welcome to today's session, Six Green Practices for Trade Show Organizers, featuring our speaker, Lina Allen, Event Marketing Manager at Act On.

Hey there. My name is Lina Allen, and I'm the event marketing manager at Acton Software. I'm here to tell you Six green practices for tradeshow organizers. Let's get started.

1) Choose Your Venue Carefully

Number one is choose your venue carefully. We all know that choosing the right venue or the right hotel can really make a big difference for your trade show, and it can really make or break The success of the event. But more than that, choosing the right venue can also play a huge role in your environmental impact, especially when you've got thousands of attendees who are coming to your event. When you're choosing a venue, there are some things to look out for that are obviously going to make a big difference.

Like can you work with a venue that's solar powered or using energy efficient light bulbs? But there are other things to look out for that maybe aren't as obvious that can They'll make a difference. I've been to trade shows before that don't seem set up for recycling. There were no recycling bins on the premises.

And when you've got thousands of people, all of their trash is just being thrown into a trash can, which is going straight into a landfill. So when you're touring a venue, make sure they're set up to handle recycling. And the same goes for hotels. So try and choose a hotel that's LEED certified or one that's built using recycled materials.

I've seen some hotels now that are recycling their water. So when they're doing laundry, they're using recycled water for that. Those kinds of things can really make a big difference. It's going to be worth your time to find a venue or a hotel that's more sustainable, and the environment is going to thank you.

2) Be Selective About Tableware

Number two is be selective about your tableware. If your event is going to have catering, which most of them do, make sure you're serving attendees with real silverware and real plates.

Items. Stay away from disposable silverware, paper plates, cups, napkins, because these all create quite a lot of waste. Again, especially if you've got thousands of attendees. I think think it's also a much better dining experience to be eating off of real silverware versus a plastic fork and a knife.

Most trade shows I've been to are already using real plates and silverware, which is great. And I think it's a great first step in limiting your environmental impact. See what you can do to take it one step further. Maybe you have attendees bring their own reusable coffee cups instead of having the to go paper cups plastic lids at the coffee stations.

Or maybe you're able to do away with the single use sugar packets and the straws that are also for the to go coffee cups typically. On the first or last day of a conference, I typically see organizers doing to go lunches that are already bagged up and ready to go. I most of the time see these in various plastic containers. You know, maybe you've got a little pasta salad in a container, things like that.

Maybe you give attendees their to go lunch in something like a reusable bento box. Not only is this eliminating waste, you're also providing more value to attendees because you're giving them something to remember the conference by. It's an extra, really nice step. Number three is streamline your event using an app.

3) Streamline Your Event Using an App

Nowadays, I've seen more and more tradeshow organizers turning to event apps to streamline event information and ensure everything goes smoothly. And I think these apps have so many advantages. I mean, from an environmental perspective, they're eliminating the need for anything paper. You can house your event program in the app, a map, any pertinent information for attendees, which are all things that used to have to be distributed on flyers and brochures and thrown away at the end of the conference.

Another huge advantage is apps allow you to update things in real time. If you've had a change to the schedule or like the time for a talk or where it's located, it's going to be a lot easier to change that information directly from the app and update it in real time versus trying to get the word out to your attendees that there's been a schedule or a room change. And even if you do get the word out to everyone, how many people are going to remember the new time or the new room? Most people are still probably going to go to whatever the old room was or show up at the wrong time and just completely forget that information.

And all of this while really cutting down considerably on your paper consumption.

4) Be Thoughtful About Swag Bags

Number four is be thoughtful about your swag bags. When you're ordering merch for your swag bags, it's worth it to really think about what people are going to keep. Most tradeshows are giving out canvas tote bags during registration that maybe has a water bottle, a notebook and a pen, a t shirt inside them. And don't get me wrong, I'm definitely in favor of swag.

It's a great way to get your brand name out there, remind people about the conference after it's over. But most people at the trade show are probably already going to be bringing a water bottle and bringing a notebook and a pen. And who doesn't have enough t shirts at this point? A good litmus test I use when thinking about swag is what are people actually going to value so much that they are willing to take it back in their luggage with them.

Everyone's different. There's no way you're going to be able to cater to everyone. I'm not a huge fan of getting t Shirts, But some people love them. I think there's a higher chance with things like t shirts, water bottles, that they're going to end up in a landfill sooner rather than later.

Attendees are going to get home and remember just how many t shirts they actually have, or they're not even going to have room to fit it in their luggage gage to begin with. Why not try to find something that attendees are inclined to keep for a long time? I think there's some really great swag out there. And it can be a great opportunity to drive brand awareness for your event and engage with people authentically during registration.

I'm a big fan of things like Bluetooth speakers or high quality rain jackets. And if I got swag like that at a conference, I definitely wouldn't throw it away. I love jackets especially because it's a great way to generate free brand exposure when people are wearing them. And if neither of those resonate, you could find something that goes with the theme of your trade show.

So a Bluetooth speaker for a music conference, etc. Number five is explore virtual event options. One positive thing that came out of the pandemic is the increase in virtual events, and they're a great way to curb your impact on the environment. Not to mention, they're a lot more cost effective and convenient.

5) Explore Virtual Event Options

Virtual events, I think, are here to stay, and I think they're going to be one of the biggest contributors in moving the needle toward more sustainable events. If you've been focusing on in person events now that the pandemic is starting to wind down, consider adding a virtual component to them or some of your in person activities with virtual events and webinars. Think about the environmental impact of traveling to an event for just one person. So let's say you're flying from Portland, Oregon, where I'm based To To an event you're putting on in Nashville, you've got driving to the airport, there's no direct flights.

So taking two flights to Nashville, plus driving to the venue, and then you've got to turn around and do the whole thing on the way home. And that's just for one person when you might have 1000s of people doing that. I don't think anything can replace in person events for networking and connecting face to face, but they come at a huge cost to the environment. It's during a time too when many companies are cutting costs.

Big corporations like Google have already cut their business travel budgets, and they're restricting employee travel to just business critical trips. The beauty of a virtual event, it eliminates the need to travel, and that alone is huge. I think there are some other benefits. It It eliminates catering, which creates food waste, but just not having to travel is so advantageous.

It's good for the environment, it makes planning your event a lot easier, and you'll be able to capture some attendees who otherwise couldn't attend because of scheduling conflicts.

6) BYOB: Turnkey Booth Building

Six. BYOB I've been seeing more and more trade shows that offer turnkey booth building for their exhibitors where the exhibitor submits the artwork and then the organizer is responsible for creating the booth on-site. And this has a lot of benefits because it keeps you as the organizer in charge of setup and takedown. It also helps your exhibitors since they don't have to deal with shipping and building their own booths, which can be really costly and time intensive.

Eliminating the shipping aspect really cuts down on carbon emissions and is eliminating unnecessary Building booths for exhibitors is a great way to provide value to them and something that's going to make them want to come back and exhibit next year. I think the most sustainable way to do this is to create a unique backdrop or banner for each exhibitor, and then reuse the frames and the rest of the display, which it ensures your exhibit area is going to look polished since everything is going to be uniform and has a nice flow to it. And it cuts down on a lot of waste since the only thing that needs to be produced is the backdrop, and you can give this to exhibitors at the end of the show.

And ideally, maybe they can even take it back in their carry on with them.

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