Tools

For Robyn Madden, choosing to infuse sustainability into a recent event she organized was a no-brainer. The entire purpose of the City of Little Rock’s Sustainability Summit was to bolster local eco-friendly practices, after all. Increasingly, environmental organizations – including the Arkansas Sustainability Network and the state’s chapter of the United States Green Building Council – are hosting green gatherings in the state with some success.

But the purpose of a conference, meeting or event needn’t be Mother Nature-centric to be sustainable. “There’s a good movement of folks who are no longer saying, ‘OK, hotel, do whatever you do,’” said April Ambrose, sustainability coordinator for Viridian. At the least, they’re asking for basic things: that the air conditioning in the summertime be raised a few degrees and that waste be recycled, for example.

Besides altering the venue’s practices to be more eco-friendly, organizers should consider all the stakeholders involved, including suppliers, exhibitors and attendees. The City of Little Rock’s Sustainability Summit was catered by Forty Two, the nearby restaurant inside the LEED-certified Clinton Presidential Library. “They were right up the street and a very sustainable producer of any kind of food,” Madden said. “We used local providers for most everything we needed and tried to do everything online,” including registration and the dissemination of schedules, she said. Name badges were recycled, all but one speaker was local, and recycling bins were supplied by a local waste company.

Why You Should

Such simple actions can make measurable differences, especially at large conventions. Even smaller meetings can have sizeable impacts depending on the dynamic. Consider the inter-office management meeting where every attendee gets a copy of a 134-page document – one tree makes about 8,300 sheets of paper, according to Conservatree – or the two-hour meeting attended by just a few out-of-town folks.

In addition to the environmental good you’ll be doing, consider the positive message it sends. “I think that it speaks well of the organization,” Madden says. “It says, ‘We’re not just thinking about right now and what you can do for us; we’re more of a long-term thinking group or organization.’” Know upfront, however, that making the commitment to be sustainable won’t be easy or cheap, Madden said. “You have to operate with the mindset that being sustainable is just the right thing to do.”

What You Can Do

1 - Select a Site Thoughtfully.
Study up on who the attendees are and choose a location that’s nearest the majority to reduce the travel required. If the gathering will require some shuffling between sites, choose venues that are near each other or served by public transportation. Finally, consider sites that are LEED certified and available for events, like the Clinton Presidential Center. That way, you know energy will be used conservatively and that your hosts will share a like mind.

2 - Do Things Virtually. Many event planners are going paperless with regard to registration because it’s easier, and doing even more things virtually can take the pain out of them – not to mention the economic cost. E-mailing necessary material ahead of time allows attendees who want a hardcopy to print one and saves wasting material on people who weren’t interested. Use projectors for presentations rather than handouts. If you have to distribute information, consider doing it via flash drives, which not only save paper but are convenient, reusable and offer marketing and branding opportunities. “Reduction in paper like that is huge,” Madden said, “and if you have to use materials, do it in such a way that you can use it for something else or give it to someone who can repurpose it.”

3 - Have a Plan for Eating & Drinking. Rather than having plastic bottles of water available throughout the day, work with vendors to provide reusable stainless steel water bottles. They can be purchased in bulk – from 100 to 500,000 pieces – from Cabot-based CynerGreen. For meals, consider working with restaurants that are part of the Arkansas Green Restaurant Alliance – many use locally-grown, organic food and biodegradable containers. Bottom line: Eliminate as much packing material used with the food as possible. Individually boxed lunches are unnecessary.

4 - Network. Arkansas in general isn’t as advanced in sustainable practices as other locales, but finding the tools you need to host a green event can be done, and more easily so if you network. Talk to nearby environmental organizations that have done it before or can give you direction, Madden said. “Then, once you take a few steps, you’ll see what to look for, what works, and who some more helpful contacts would be.”