Starting Small

No planner is thrilled with the idea of adding more to the to-do list. And trying to save the planet while you organize your meeting may seem like a little too much to add to your plate. But it takes less money and effort than you might think to make a conference more environmentally friendly.
First, you don't have to take on the future of the planet all at once.
"I always tell planners to find one or two things they can do the first year," said Rebecca Mebane, director of conferences and meetings for the National Recycling Coalition (NRC). "It'd be nice if they could do everything, but instead address cutting down on paper this year ... maybe just by cutting down on speaker handouts. Or serve food in non-disposable containers. Just pick a couple of things and then pick a few more next year."

Green policies often overlap with good business practice. The thread running through both themes is efficiency - don't waste your products or your efforts. Don't send unnecessary information to people who have no interest in it. Send the right information to the right people. You'll save money, paper, and time. And don't waste material that can be reused. Try the following simple, money-saving steps:

•  Make printed materials self mailers wherever possible.
• Clean-up mailing lists.
• Collect and reuse nametag holders/lanyards in boxes.
• Use reusable or recyclable signs.
• Use back-to-back copying/printing.

Far from inconveniencing attendees, less paper can be a huge hit. How many times have you heard complaints about endless stacks of paper cluttering up conference bags? Less paper can ease an attendee's load and allow for more flexibility for organizers.

• Post speaker handouts on the Web site. Online handouts allow for targeted access by attendees who really want to take the information home. No estimating attendance at a session, no running out of handouts or throwing a stack away.

"You'd usually do eight to 10 concurrent sessions at once, and you never know how many people will attend," Mebane said. "The one you think will be most effective isn't, so it has too many handouts and the others have too few."

Not only do online handouts solve the problem of guessing attendance, but - if posted before the conference - they can help attendees make a more informed decision on which topics most interest them. Of course, that's if you can finagle handouts ahead of time.

"It can be hard to get those from speakers, but we continue to try," Mebane said.

Even if handouts are posted afterwards, a quick explanation from the speaker can leave the audience free to listen without jotting notes. Mebane announces at the beginning of her sessions that she'll e-mail her presentation to anyone who gives her a business card at the end of her presentation.

But speaker handout management is only one way the Web can cut down on paper.

• Use electronic advertising/promotion whenever possible.
• Send confirmation materials electronically.

Both steps have grown in popularity for reasons unrelated to the environment.

 "Our good friend the Internet is helping us save paper with online registration because it's a lot easier to do that," Mebane said. "The same goes with the promotional aspect - it's already being done."

In terms of food and beverage, these steps may be a good place to start.

• Use water coolers instead of individual bottles of water.
• Don't use disposable cups or dinnerware. For coffee service, keep non-disposable spoons for stirring and serve in non-disposable cups. The changes likely won't save money, but they shouldn't cost extra. Using non-disposable silverware normally doesn't cost any extra, particularly if you know the convention center or hotel hosts functions large enough to necessitate keeping enough plates, cups, and silverware on hand.
• Pick the right hotels and convention centers. For issues from recycling to non-disposable dishware, the only effort required may be asking the right questions of hotels and convention centers. With the right partners, a planner's work may come down to checking the right box. Many hotels have programs like towel replacement only on request. Not every convention center, on the other hand, may have a comprehensive recycling program in place, since recycling is mandated on a state and local level.

As far as green convention centers, only Pittsburgh's David Lawrence Convention Center and the Oregon Convention Center in Portland have Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. However, many other convention centers have environmentally sound programs in place. Choosing venues with an environmental focus means an easy path to greening. "If you go to a hotel and convention center that have programs in place, you don't have to worry about a recycling program - it's already done," Mebane said.

Not every environmentally conscious step costs less money than standard operating procedures. But plenty, like using recycled paper, involve only a slight increase in cost. A box of standard paper likely costs only a couple of dollars less than recycled paper. And, increasingly, the benefits of those earth-friendly substitutions are getting attention.

"Before I worked at NRC, I worked at another association," Mebane said. "I recycled at home, but I didn't think about doing that at meetings. If anyone had said it, I would have thought, 'Oh, great, one more detail.' I think planners have so much to do that adding something else can put them off, but now with all the talk about green meetings, everyone's realizing what it really means and what they can do."

° Contributing Editor Ginny Phillips is a freelance writer based in Birmingham, Ala.