Concern and care about the environment is the new standard for meetings and events. Investors, stakeholders, and consumers want to see better eco-responsibility of a company. The government also wants companies to reduce carbon footprint and give special incentive to those who display green initiatives. There are simple ways in which you can organize green meetings and events. You just have to take note of every single aspect of the meeting and choose a greener option. Here’s how you can go about it:
7 best green meetings and events ideas
The events and meetings industry is a huge one. In US, it is worth a mind boggling 907 billion dollars. This would be the case in other countries too. So green meeting practicescan make more than a significant contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions due to meetings worldwide. Even a small change such as not using plastic or disposable cutlery can save a huge amount of space in the landfills. Not to mention, better public relations and positive media messages to your clients are an add-on. Here are some ways in which to conduct green meetings and events:
Avoid generating waste by reusing and recycling
This can work on many fronts. If your goal is to conduct a green meeting, you must first check all the things left over from previous meetings and events. Reuse anything that can be used – such as cutlery, plates, and glasses. An event which lasts for just 5 days turns up plastic garbage up to 860 kgs, according to Meeting Strategies’ World report. If your organization always buys disposable stuff, then it’s high time to change that. Buy some plates, glasses, spoons etc which can be used many times. This is one of the best eco-friendly event ideaswhich should be implemented.
Another thing which could be reused are decorations, especially Christmas decoration. Avoid the cheap plastic baubles and the Christmas event this year could sparkle with charming antique decorations, which are of good quality and long lasting.
This simple change – avoiding plastic cutlery and decorations – would help the environment from being loaded with plastic from your company. It would save quite a bit of money too.
To save drinking water, glasses should not be prefilled. Instead, keep empty glasses with drinking water nearby, so that guests/participants can help themselves.
Use green transport
At any event or meeting, there would be many guests attending. For green meetings and events, your company/hotel can use hybrid vehicles to pick and drop guests. If the meeting or vent is being held at your office or company guesthouse, etc, then too you should hire green transport to ferry the guests.
Another method is to book tickets in bulk for people who are coming from the same location, and use a bus to pick and drop them. This would reduce emissions from individual cars. What you can do for green event and meeting ideas 2018 is that you try your best to have flights arriving at the same time. This would also help to pick many guests at the same time. While using the bus as transport, be sure to let your investors know that this is part of your organization’s sustainability drive.
Book a hotel which is close to the city
After meetings/events, or during them, the participants usually like to go for shopping, sightseeing, and enjoying the entertainment avenues of the city. There would be many nice hotels within the city that maintain high green standards. You can choose one of these hotels as the venue for your event. Choosing a hotel or in walking distance of shopping centers would help to reduce the carbon footprint of your participants, as they wouldn’t need any transport to reach the heart of the city. It is an excellent idea for green meetings and events which would be much appreciated by your guests.
Choosing a green venue is one of the basic eco friendly event ideas which should be at the top of your list. Hotels/venues which are eco friendly have many sustainable practices in place such as renewable energy, ambient/ natural ventilation and light, air conditioning, or heating that gets switched off when it’s not used.
One of the green meeting practices is to check if the venue has a CSR policy. As an event planner for your company, you can ask if they have a CO2 emissions offset program in place.
Source local
Planning a green event is not just about using eco friendly products or choosing a green venue. It’s also about giving back to the community. It’s about giving more business to the local suppliers too. One of the green event and meeting ideas 2018 is to source local. Buy from local vendors which will support the local economy. Besides, buying local goods and food will reduce your carbon footprint which could arise out of buying products originating half the globe away.
The motto of your meeting should be to eat local, fresh food, grown organically by local farmers. In this way, you would support organic farming too.
Have a paperless meeting
Plan to reduce or avoid the use of paper completely. You can offer electronic devices or facilitate the use of laptops etc in the meeting. Any paper that has to be used during the meeting should be recycled paper, and after the meeting too, the used paper can be sent for recycling again. This way, your green meetings and eventscan set an example of how material can be used and reused again.
Spread awareness
As part of your event, you can hold a workshop on eco friendly meetings. This could help participants to carry on the green/sustainable efforts at home and in their offices too.
Keep recycling bins handy
At the venue where you are organizing green meetings and events, keep recycling bins at strategic locations, so that people can dispose of the things to be recycled in the proper bins.
As investors and consumers are now quite concerned about the environment, your organization’s initiative to hold green meetings and events will earn will the goodwill of both. It will also build up a loyal customer base.