Focus on the environment and global pollution is a widely talked about subject and events are a huge contributor to carbon emissions, and you should be thinking about how to make your event more sustainable.
An event manager can work with you to achieve your sustainability goals, helping to advise and implement the best strategies and procedures to make your event more sustainable. There are several steps you can take before your event to improve sustainability.
Sustainability before your event
Discussing how to make your event more sustainable should be done at the initial planning stage of your event. This is a moment for you to think about and communicate with potential delegates on sustainable practices they can adopt to support your goals.
Travel is one of the main sources of carbon emissions your event will create. Consider advising delegates of alternative transportation options such as trains or car sharing to limit the emissions. Ahead of your event encourage delegates to bring their own lanyards and water bottles, which is a great way to lower emissions which would be created by supplying your own.
Sustainability during your event
During your event, there are many things you can put in place to make it more sustainable. Where you might have used physical delegate bags in the past, think about creating a virtual delegate bag where sponsors and exhibitors’ promotional material is sent directly to the delegates. Think about having an app for your event and reduce the paper printing required for copies of programmes and questionnaires. Hosting event material on an app makes it easily and quickly accessible to all. An event manager can also work with your venue of choice to provide environmentally friendly menus and working with a marketing lead can make all promotional materials for the event electronic.
Sustainability after your event
At the end of your event, you can still make choices to be more sustainable. Having reusable badge wallets on the day is a great way to recycle and reduce single use materials at your event. Collecting these at the end of the day means they can be reused for future events. Your survey can also be sent electronically following the event, saving on paper copies being given to delegates and allowing them to complete it easily online.
These are just a few starting points to making your event more sustainable, you can delve even deeper if you wish to do so. Follow our event series in our blog for more useful tips on event planning and find more tips on sustainability on the event section of our website.