Go Green. Go Green. Go Green.

By this time we have all heard this phrase millions of times and possibly even many times today. Going green is on everyone’s mind, especially when we are now seeing more positive rewards for doing so.

It is no secret that the green initiative has taken off. Now most businesses, organizations, and associations have some sort of implementations in place to reduce their carbon footprint. Sustainable meetings are also becoming a new fad. Making a few minor adjustments can show off big time financially, environmentally, and will just make you and your attendees feel like you are doing your part for Mother Nature.

In the February 2012 issue of Associations Now magazine there is an article dedicated to planning sustainable meetings including some tips on how to start small to get big results.

You may have noticed that when you arrive in your hotel room there is now more than just your breakfast menu to hang off of your door placed on your bed. Most hotel chains have implemented a linen and towel reuse system. For example: “Place this Card on your bed when you require new sheets”. Giving guests the option to get their sheets changed everyday or not at all. Before there was no option and your sheets were washed every day whether you wanted them washed not. The average person does not need to have new sheets everyday of their stay. Some chains even offer a financial incentive for groups that agree to take on green initiatives by creating less waste, using less energy and adding in local foods to their food and beverage menus.
Saving money happens when you conserve energy and reduce the waste. This is just smart business. When given the option what group would turn down saving money? Convention centers and hotels are vamping up their efforts to encourage these options. The convention center and hotels charge the clients for what they have to dispose of after a meeting. The more you can divert to recycling, the better off you will be.

To get the conversation of sustainable options started with your upcoming meetings, start right with the RFP. Include environmental criteria and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Ask about the facility’s recycling program, energy conservation practices, waste conservation promotions and their environmentally responsible purchasing efforts.
Ask the venue what they have done in the past for green and sustainable efforts to get the ball rolling. Other groups may have done great things in the past that you can build on and use at your own meeting.

How can you get on board?

• Coordinate with a local food back to pick up food left behind. (Check on the in-house regulations on perishable foods.)
• Eliminate bottled water and use reusable containers. (Use a water bottle as the conference give-a-way!)
• Start incorporating locally sourced foods into your menus. By putting a little sign by the food that says you are supporting the local economy by serving fruit that is from ABC orchard down the road, they will feel like they are doing their part as well.
• It will be a long time before all conferences can do away with their paper programs but reducing the numbers of pages to what is totally necessary in conjunction with using a mobile show guide can get you started in the right direction

Things to look for during site selection:

• Public Transportation Options
• Pedestrian Friendly location
• Convention center technology to help facilitate virtual attendance
• Low-flow or double flush toilet systems
• Linen and towel reuse programs
• Use of alternative energy for powering convention center, hotel or city building
• Extensive and inclusive recycling collections cans
• Compostable or biodegradable flatware, plates, or cups.
• Local farmer’s produce and product

It is hard to change the ways of doing every day procedures. Baby steps. This is the key here. We cannot expect to wake up one day and see a 360° turn around. Even if you implement just one green practice at your next meeting you will see a positive impact financially, you are going to benefit the planet and this gives you leverage for PR and attendee engagement to add more practices at your next meeting.

Grossed out by hotel TV remotes? There's an app for that!

Shared and with thanks from MSNBC

Watching TV or a movie in your hotel room just got a little less icky.

LodgeNet Interactive Corporation, which provides on-demand or other TV-based services in more than 1.7 million hotel rooms in North America, now has a free mobile app that allows guests to use their own smartphones or tablets to control the TV.

That means germ-wary travelers no longer have to keep a washcloth or shower cap handy to cover the remote control in order to watch the evening news or an in-room movie.

“We didn’t have germophobes in mind when came up with the app,” Derek White, president of interactive and media networks for LodgeNet, told msnbc.com. “But that does seem to be a very popular aspect of the system.”

The app, which became available on Monday, can be downloaded online before check-in, at check-in in a hotel lobby or in-room via an on-screen QR code. Each guest receives a unique code to enter into the app, which then syncs the TV system with the personal device.

“We can’t remove the remotes entirely from the rooms yet,” said White, “because you still use the remote to turn the TV on to do the initial sync up, but after that, there’s no need to use the remote or, for that matter, the in-room phone.”

The app displays TV programming schedules customized to the channel line-up in that hotel as well as specific information about the hotel itself and restaurants, attractions and other information about the local area. Users can also click to dial the front desk to arrange for a wake-up call, ask a question, order an in-room meal or take care of other business.

That should please travelers such as Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist from the University of Arizona. Known as “Dr. Germ,” Gerba conducted studies of hotel rooms and found the remote control to have the most germs.

The app is available for iPhone and Android smartphones.