Sustainability Issues and Organizing Eco-Friendly Events

There is a need to be more concerned about the environment when organizing events. Recent publications show that Greenland's glaciers are melting at a rapid rate and the increased volume of fresh water is flooding nearby rivers resulting in giant wave formations. Moreover, glaciologists have revealed that in July, New Zealand's legendary Franz Josef Glacier has been reduced in size. Other New Zealand glaciers are also vanishing one by one with each passing day.

The reason behind my making you aware of these environmental changes is to impose on you the severity of the times that we currently live in. Hence, event managers can definitely do their bit by hosting eco-friendly, green events. To save planet Earth from having these extreme climatic conditions, we need to organize events that best utilizes renewable energy resources. There are 2 main advantages of hosting green events -

· Cost saving

· Usage of recyclable products

How efficiently can you arrange eco-friendly meetings and conferences? Let's find out.

Choose a Natural Location

Instead of booking a hotel room or a banquet to host your sales seminar this time, pick a site such as your local park or the neighborhood garden. If there aren't any such venues available in your locality to suit your requirements, then opt for a location which at least supports your go green mission. A location which requires a lot of travelling to reach, for example, multiple changing of transports or flights (if your attendees are flying in) poses a direct threat to the environment and only results in increased carbon emissions.

Lighting and Decoration

Instead of using light bulbs that consumes high wattage of energy; try having solar energy bulbs that receive their source of energy from the sun. With regard to decoration, use potted plants, orchids, and blooming flowers to adorn the event area. You can event attach the name of individual guests in each potted plant to be gifted to them after the event gets over. It will be a beautiful way to make your participants aware of the sustainability issue without spending much per plant.

Paperless Invitation

Instead of sending paper-based invitation letters, why not do something different and be creative by writing on maple leaves. You can also use cardboards to write on as well. Emailing is a very good option to send multiple invites at a reduced cost.

Local Food and Beverages

You can order locally grown farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to prepare the menu for guests. Ask the vendors of the local market to provide poultry and dairy products plus tell them to supply locally prepared beer. Get wines from the nearby winery. Try to avoid using disposable glasses, plates, and such other materials during your meeting or seminar.

Go Online

Start using the online registration solution to let potential attendees sign up their names over the internet. It saves on the cost of buying paper and printing registration forms and is quickly accessible.

Online generation of reports enables you to do the necessary calculations on excel sheets which can be saved and downloaded to be emailed at any later date.

You can use Facebook, Twitter, and such other powerful social media sites to promote your green events online. These sites help you to reach out to a wider audience resulting in increased attendance at your events.