6 Ways to Green Venue Events

By: Annika Hipple

If you’re a venue manager seeking to make your location as eco-friendly as possible, there are a lot of things you can do. For a comprehensive effort, you may want to consider going for certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings system, which deals with sustainable features of the physical structure, or programs like Green Globe or Green Seal, both of which focus on operations and business practices.

Even if you’re not ready to seek certification, there are still many steps you can take to make your venue more sustainable. Here are some simple actions to start with.

1. Go local and organic. Use local suppliers to avoid the environmental costs of transporting supplies over long distances. Look for organic and local food and work with sustainable caterers such as Seattle’s Herban Feast. For drinks, seek out certified sustainable wineries and local organic microbreweries, both of which abound in the Pacific Northwest.
2. Choose reusable supplies. Avoid bottled water in favor of water served from pitchers (into reusable cups, of course). Opt for reusable dinnerware and table linens, or at the very least compostable plates, napkins, utensils, and tablecloths. Of course, recycle any glass, aluminum, paper, plastic, and cardboard that you can’t reuse. Look for options to recycle cooking grease into fuel.
3. Use energy- and water-efficient appliances and fixtures. Install water-conserving sinks and toilets. Use light-emitting diode (LED) lighting displays rather than traditional bulbs. They burn brighter and longer than traditional bulbs but use only a fraction of the energy. Turn off lights in rooms when they are not being used.
4. Give away your leftovers. Donate leftover food to local food banks, homeless shelters, or other appropriate organizations. Compost what you can’t pass on.
5. Minimize paper usage. Go paperless wherever possible. Don’t make unnecessary printouts, and use paper with a high recycled content when you do need to print. For set-menu meals, consider displaying the menu on a chalkboard or by projection. In bathrooms, use toilet paper and hand towels with a high recycled-paper content.
6. Use environmentally friendly cleaning and paints. Many traditional cleaners and paints are high in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which release low-level toxic emissions into the air, often for long periods of time. Use natural, non-toxic cleaners for floors, carpets, kitchens, and bathrooms. Opt for low- or zero-VOC paints and finishes.

For more ways to go green, check out next week’s Green Your Theme Seattle event at Herban Feast’s sustainable SODO (indoor) venue. It’s an event filled with great green ideas, eco-friendly vendors, and plenty of good food and fun.

Green Event Case Studies

GREEN CASE STUDIES Below are green case studies shared by industry friends at exhibitoronline.com, a corporate event online magazine. Learn more green tips by attending our panel discussion at the September 16, 2009 event!

Purposeful Pileup Cupcoat Expressions, a Canadian manufacturer of reusable coffee sleeves made of fabric and Thinsulate, had a unique challenge for the 2008 Specialty Coffee Association of America show. It not only needed to create awareness for its product, it also had to demonstrate a need for it in the first place. While coffee shops hand out hundreds of cardboard cup holders every day, most people don’t consider the environmental impact those cup holders have on our landfills. So Cupcoat piled nearly 500 cardboard cup sleeves beneath a simple product display in the corner of its 10-by-10-foot booth. While the mountainous mess demonstrated the waste produced by typical sleeves, it allowed staffers to open conversations expounding on both the problem and Cupcoat’s nifty solution.

Old-School Demo While plenty of exhibitors make claims that their products are durable, Invista proved it at Greenbuild 2007 with a 30-year-old carpet sample that looked as good as new. Prior to the show, Invista, which manufactures the ultra-durable Antron Carpet Fibers used by carpet manufacturers such as Mohawk Industries and Mannington Mills Inc., collected carpet samples made with its fibers that had recently been removed from a school. Showing remarkably little wear, two swatches of the bright-colored carpet were inlaid in Invista’s exhibit carpet, surrounded by the text: “sustainability begins with carpet that lasts” and “30 years on the floor.” The carpet might have been in school for three decades, but it looked like it did on the first day of kindergarten, making Antron’s durability an easy lesson to learn.

Stacks with Style Why display your booth literature in routine racks when you can transform it into a design element? The U.S. Green Building Council rolled out a new environmental reference guide at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago, and planned to hand out copious copies. But instead of placing them in literature stands, USGBC turned stacks of the guides into artistic columns as well as the legs of its reception desk. The stacks offered a whimsical way to focus visitors’ attention on the guides while creating a unique in-booth aesthetic.

Walking the Walk Going Green’s the thing these days, so ArtGuild/Avalon Exhibits used that trend to entice visitors to its booth at a number of 2008 trade shows. Prior to each show, the exhibit house sent pre-registered attendees a mailer featuring vivid green shoes and text that asked them to come to its booth to “Take a Step Towards Going Green.” When attendees arrived at the booth, staffers handed them a branded pedometer and told them if they wore it throughout the show and later brought it back to the booth, the company would donate $1 per mile walked to the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association’s Green initiative that promotes sustainable design, construction, and operation in the trade show industry. Since starting the promotion in March, ArtGuild/Avalon Exhibits has distributed more than 400 pedometers. Roughly 190 attendees returned the pedometers to the booth, racking up a total of 1,000 miles, which has translated into a $1,000 donation to EDPA’s Green initiative. Now that’s a step in the right direction.

Tag, You’re It Promotional items such as pens or T-shirts are fine, but if you want your giveaway to stand out, you’ll need something with a little more pop – and it wouldn’t hurt if that something was related to your product. At Semicon West 2008, Keithley Instruments Inc. created a giveaway that was clever and product-relevant. The manufacturer of high-tech measuring instruments created luggage tags made out of recycled computer motherboards. The green-and-silver tags featured the company’s name and Web site on one side and a plastic holder for a business card on the other. Unlike other exhibitors’ same-old swag, Keithley Instruments’ techie tags resonated with the company’s tech-minded audience and kept the Keithley name on attendees’ minds – and bags – long after the show.

Metaphorically Speaking Sometimes spelling out your company’s messages in plain text just isn’t enough. In its booth at the 2007 GreenBuild Show at McCormick Place in Chicago, Shaw Industries Group Inc. created 3-D visual metaphors to emphasize its key messages even further. In one section of the 50-by-50-foot exhibit space, a sign next to an oversized ball of twine explained that the flooring company recycles enough nylon fiber to wrap the earth 3,000 times. In another area of the booth, a sign near giant containers of faux French fries explained how the company’s trucks run on yellow grease (aka discarded cooking oil). Unlike flat and utterly forgettable text, the 3-D components piqued attendees’ interest and added an extra dimension to the company’s Green-themed messages.

FYI: For additional information about promoting your green product on ExhibitorOnline.com, visit here.

16 Reasons to Attend Green Your Theme Seattle!

Did we hear you wanted 16 reasons to attend this September 16th B2B event? Your wish has been granted!! If you have more, please do comment below.

Who might you see at this unique event? Click here.

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1. Learn how other event producers have “greened” their events as our panelists present their concrete tips and local resources.
2. Help kick off the necessary conversations needed for Seattle to produce the greenest events in the United States.
3. Promote your green event expertise and/or offering with respect to the environment.
4. Taste delicious appetizers, guided by principles of sustainability.
5. Learn NEW ways to manage “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” for your future events.
6. Learn about new eco-friendly resources in and around Seattle.
7. Share your own eco-tips, sources and future ideas on green events while you network.
8. Sample outstanding local and sustainable wines, beer and beverages.
9. Watch eco-fashion models strut down the runway, featuring local designer up-cycled clothing and accessories.
10. Increase your eco-community circle.
11. Learn new ways of reducing waste, water and energy at events, both large and small.
12. Tap into the local farming community for sourcing fresh and local eco-friendly ingredients.
13. Show your dance moves on the funky LED dance floor.
14. Connect with and learn how to source green event planners, vendors and venues on GreenYourTheme.com.
15. Learn how to measure and lower your event’s carbon footprint.
16. Last Reason: It’s on September 16th!

RSVP Today!

RSVP early to ensure listing in our printed directory for this B2B event.

<strong>Attend this B2B event to…</strong>

<ol>

<li>Help kick off the necessary conversations needed for Seattle to produce the <strong>greenest events</strong> in the United   States.</li>

<li>Promote your green event expertise and/or offering with respect to the environment.</li>

<li>Taste delicious appetizers, guided by principles of sustainability.</li>

<li>Learn NEW ways to manage “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” for your future events.</li>

<li>Learn about new eco-friendly resources in and around Seattle.</li>

<li>Share your own eco-tips, sources and future ideas on green events.</li>

<li>Sample outstanding local and sustainable wines, beer and beverages.</li>

<li>Watch eco-fashion strut down the runway, featuring local designer up-cycled clothing.</li>

<li>Increase your eco-community circle.</li>

<li>Learn new ways of reducing waste, water and energy at events, both large and small.</li>

<li>Connect in-person with the exhibitors found on GreenYourTheme.com</li>

<li>Tap into the local farming community for sourcing fresh and local eco-friendly ingredients.</li>

<li>Show your dance moves on the funky LED dance floor.</li>

<li>Learn how to source green event planners, vendors and venues on GreenYourTheme.com.</li>

<li>Learn how to measure and lower your event’s carbon footprint.</li>

<li>Last Reason: It’s on September 16th!</li>

</ol>

<strong><a href=”http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/73979&#8243; target=”_blank”>RSVP Today!</a></strong>

<em>RSVP early to ensure listing in our printed directory for this B2B event.</em>