Meeting Trends: Mobile Technologies Are Green in More Ways than One

We are excited about the continued efforts across our industry to reduce the environmental impact of meetings and conventions. Our team often works with clients to incorporate common-sense green initiatives that also save money, such as using local suppliers to reduce shipping cost, custom-building menus to take advantage of local and seasonal ingredients, and managing power usage.

Small changes are important, but their impact is gradual. One big step that organizations can take to reduce their carbon footprint as well as boost the budget is to add technologies that reduce or eliminate the need for printed materials. Online registration virtually eliminates faxes, as well as reduces staff time and stress. E-marketing has become easier and more affordable – as well as more effective! – than expensive postcards and printed advance programs. And e-posters allow content to be captures and shared beyond the boundaries of time and space.

Replacing a printed conference program with a mobile app can easily save an annual meeting thousands of dollars in printing costs alone. In fact, one of our team members saved an association nearly $50,000 in printing and shipping costs by transitioning their meeting to a paperless format. By contrast, mobile apps start at just $5,000!

A comprehensive mobile app reduces or eliminates the need for printed materials of many kinds, including:
* Conference program books
* Exhibit hall maps
* Exhibitor guides
* Speaker biographies and session descriptions
* Onsite errata sheets to alert attendees about changes and last-minute additions

The C&LC team is proud that our meetsmart mobile conference navigation app is being used to support green initiatives. For additional ideas on greening your meeting, visit meetsmartmobile.com.

Eco-Friendly U.S. Convention Centers

Centers in the U.S. are designing green rooftops and growing herb and vegetables gardens and harvesting the growth to be used at the dining table. Others are implementing sustainable decisions to include climate control system, reduction or elimination of poisons used at the facility like pest control and toxic cleaning products, recycling, reducing the use of non-recyclable items, composting, and water and energy conservation.

So glad to learn of the many, many convention centers in the United States updating their designs and operating with the environment in mind. In our own backyard, the Baltimore Convention Center is designing a green roof top and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (D.C.) has a 10-page online brochure outlining various methods of implementing environmentally-friendly initiatives to make our world a greener place.

Meetings professionals are including green initiatives in their RFPs, asking valid environmental questions about the sustainability of the convention centers and hotels and analyzing their own events for improvement and more execution of eco-friendly initiatives. Don't forget to pass along to conference attendees every little and every huge step you're taking to help the environment.

8 Inexpensive Eco-Friendly Acts

1. Recycle
2. Bike and carpool
3. Save a tree - switch to e-Statements
4. Conserve water
5. Turn off lights
6. Switch to compact, fluorescent light bulbs
7. Keep your car tuned up to improve fuel efficiency
8. Dispose of chemicals properly

Green Initiatives -- Establishing Guidelines

It’s important to examine greening practices and involve the city, the convention center and hotels in the city. Let’s determine some minimum guidelines for determining your meeting destination while keeping green initiatives foremost in the process.

How is the transportation accessibility? Is this a destination which is easy to get to? And, how do you get around in it (e.g., public transportation, walking, etc.)?

Look online and search government policies on what is protected – the infrastructure of the city: recycling policies, for example.

Involve the Convention & Visitors Bureau to learn how active and helpful they are in greening this destination and investigate the activity level from the convention services manager and the convention center, as well.

Thorough research needs to be done, of course, in selecting the meeting venue and/or hotel accommodations, but ask about these common initiatives:

1) Does the hotel have Eco-Friendly rooms and are the following practices in place:

• Energy saving (key cards; recycling; LEED certified; commitment from front to back of house
• Linen/towel reuse program (genuine commitment from top)
• Organic/local food on menus
• Employee commitment from top management to front of the house to back of the house.

2) Are minimum guidelines in place for sustainable Food and Beverage practices?

• Does the hotel purchase locally grown w/in “x” number of miles from the property?
• Is it common hotel practice to donate leftovers to food banks, community shelters, etc?
• Is Composting leftovers a facility practice and are they involved with suppliers/purveyors with environment strategies in place?

Come back to the blog soon so read about communicating greening objectives to Board/Committee/Clients.

This land is your land,
this land is my land,
from California
to the New York Island
- WOODY GUTHRIE