Welcome to this issue of the Daily Plan-It, a publication designed to inform and inspire your meetings and conferences to higher levels of success! Read on for ideas and tips to expand the strategic importance of your meetings, enhance your delegates’ satisfaction, reduce costs and help the planet. Further ideas and information can be found at www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com. If you prefer not to receive future issues of the Daily Plan-It, please contact editor@meetingstrategiesworldwide.com.

In the News & Announcements

Meeting Strategies Worldwide is taking green to the next level at the upcoming Live Earth concert series! Hired for our green expertise, we helped to write the environmental guidelines that will be used both to set a new green standard for live events and as a basis for the environmental efforts at all the concerts. In addition, we will be greening the Live Earth concert to be held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. We're very excited to be a part of this momentous opportunity and help raise awareness about environmental responsibility.

Please help us give a warm welcome to our two newest team members! Mary Cameron brings her extensive experience and skills as a project manager. Britta Ehnebuske is our talented new registration and speaker assistant.

Three Steps to Green Exhibits
By Mary Peters

One area that can have the greatest impact on an event is exhibits. Think of the waste that is generated at an average event - all of the cardboard, packing materials, brochures, pallets, carpet, etc. How can you make sure it doesn't end up in the local landfill?

A good place to start is with your RFP. This is your chance to communicate to your vendors that having an environmentally sustainable event is important to you and your client. Ask questions. Is the general service contractor willing to participate in the facility's recycle program? (I am going to assume that you chose a facility with a recycling program). Here are some other practices that you can ask the decorator to implement:

Minimize energy use by reducing lights and HVAC during move in and move out.
Use natural gas fork lifts and hand carts to move freight.
Minimize transportation to and from the show site and use bio-diesel fueled trucks.
Use reusable magazine bins.

The good news is that there are many sustainable products and services available now to general service contractors. Bill Sandherr, president of Stetson Convention Services recently discussed some of these in his session on sustainable exhibits at the February Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference in Portland, Oregon. Some of these include corn-based products which can be used as an alternative to vinyl for table tops, compostable wastebasket liners, and several options for recycled carpet. Ask your contractor for available options.

A very important step is to communicate with your exhibitors about your commitment to having a sustainable event. Include in your exhibitor contract items such as:

Participate in the facility's recycling program.
Use recyclable, biodegradable shipping and packing materials.
Avoid large quantities of collateral and print materials. If printed materials are necessary, use soy/vegetable-based inks on post-consumer, recycled paper.
Use environmentally responsible give-aways.
Use displays made with environmentally responsible materials.

Lastly, to have a truly successful event, educate your attendees about your recycling efforts. Put information on the registration website, have signs at the conference so they know where and what to can be recycled, and then post your results. You will be surprised at how they will appreciate being part of process.

The key is to communicate, communicate, communicate - and then don't forget to follow up. Ask for a report of how much waste was diverted from the landfill and then share it with your exhibitors and attendees so they can see the impact that they have. Remember, even if you implemented only a few things listed above you will have made a difference.

Case Study - Stetson & Greenbuild Bringing Green to Exhibits
By Vanessa Kapinus

We frequently like to cite the Greenbuild conferences we have worked with for the impressive greening efforts they have undertaken. This time we turn our to focus on the decorator/exhibit company they hired, Stetson Convention Services, and all the innovative practices they have put into place at the Greenbuild Conference and Expo from 2003 - 2006. In that time period, the number of exhibitors increased from 400 to 582, thus any practices put into place would have a significant impact.

Starting in 2003, Stetson took on environmental responsibility as part of their business practices. Some of the permanent changes they made included using Energy Star Saver products and equipment for the registration counters, online exhibitor kits and computer kiosks built with WoodStalk, an engineered fiberboard made from annually renewable wheat straw fiber.

With each ensuring year, Stetson continued to make ground-breaking strides. Some of the highlights of the measures they took on include:

Exhibitor binders made from 35% post-consumer recovered fiber and recycled paper.
Cloraplast boards, which is 100% recyclable, for 50% of the information signage.
Aisle carpet that is fully recyclable.
Making carpet that meets LEED requirements of 40% post-consumer recycled content by weight available to exhibitors.
Carpet padding made of 100% recycled synthetic fibers.
Reusing carpet padding from show to show and using it as packing material when no longer suitable for show use.
Biodegradable and recycled content shipping and packing materials were made available to exhibitors. These items include reusable wood pallets, recyclable shrink wrap, and reusable cardboard boxes.
BioBag trash can liners, made of 100% biodegradable and compostable materials.
Using local labor for final assembly of the show's required equipment, to both support the local economy and minimize the travel impacts of bringing labor in.
Designated recycling areas for exhibitors to donate leftover materials.

Stetson's considerable environmental initiatives have helped to transform exhibiting at Greenbuild. Rather than being an enormous source of waste, exhibitors have options which support sustainability and maximize the amount of materials that can either be reused or donated to other causes.

Upcoming Events!

Local/Community Events:

Oregon Food Bank, SAVE THE DATE: May 18, 2007, 1-4pm
Dishing it out...again. Those of you in Portland are invited to join us again (and bring a friend) on Friday, May 18, from 1-4pm for our quarterly volunteer time at the Oregon Food Bank. You'll have another chance to see the entire Meeting Strategies Worldwide team in hairnets, gloves and plastic aprons and hard at work. All you have to do is RSVP to nancy@meetingstrategiesworldwide.com and show up. Nothing else is required! We hope you can join us and spend a few hours with other folks in our industry volunteering for this very worthy cause.

Client Conferences & Events:

UUA — June 20-24, 2007, Portland, Oregon
The 5-day General Assembly will take place in the Oregon Convention Center. Unitarian Universalists will have the opportunity to attend hundreds of valuable programs and workshops, congregate, and meet other Universalists from across the United States. Because UUA embraces social and environmental responsibility, they have worked to determine goals, objectives, and achievable environmental practices, and to monitor the implementation of those practices for their General Assembly.

Live Earth - USA — July 7, 2007, Giants Stadium, New Jersey
Live Earth - The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis, is an unprecedented concert series taking place in 7 cities around the globe to raise awareness about climate change. Live Earth plans to implement a new green standard for live events which they hope will become the model for future events.

Agile 2007 — August 13-17, 2007, Washington DC
Agile 2007 will be an exciting conference about techniques and technologies, attitudes and policies, research and experience, and the management and development sides of agile software development. The agile approach focuses on delivering business value early in the project lifetime and being able to incorporate emergent requirements. It accentuates the use of rich, informal communication channels and frequent delivery of running, tested systems, while attending to the human component of software development.

Recommended Resources

California Integrated Waste Management Board
Directory of recycled-content products including information manufacturers, distributors and re-processors.
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/RCP/

EPA - "Greening Your Meetings and Conferences"
EPA publication serves as a guideline for Federal Purchases and includes lists and resources for exhibition halls.
http://www.epa.gov/epp/pubs/meet/greenmeetings.htm

Expos Going Green
Includes articles and newsletter covering green trends and topics for expositions and tradeshows.
http://www.exposgoinggreen.com/

IIDEX - Canada
Case study of greening IIDEX in Canada.
http://www.iidexneocon.com/2006/index.php/about/sustainability/

IMEX
Two articles with tips on greening exhibits.
http://www.imex-frankfurt.com/exhibtips.html
http://www.imex-frankfurt.com/documents/greeningexhibiitionstand.pdf

Tradeshow Week - "Going Green"
Article with examples of green expos.
http://www.tradeshowweek.com/index.asp?layout=micrositearticle&articleid=CA6432901&industryid=47319

A4binder.com
A4 binders made with post-consumer recycled materials.
http://www.a4binder.com/

Brown & Bigelow
Environmentally friendly promotional items.
Contact: Adrienne Hartmeier

DWA Tradeshow and Exposition Services
Environmentally responsible decorator.
http://www.dwatradeshow.com/

Shepard Exposition Services
Green Meeting Industry Council members.
http://www.shepardes.com/

Stetson Convention Services
Environmentally responsible decorator.
http://www.stetsonexpo.com/greeningyourevent.html

Contact Us

Meeting Strategies Worldwide
6220 NE Glisan
Portland, Oregon 97213
U.S.A.
Phone: (503) 252-5458
FAX: (503) 261-0964
operations@meetingstrategiesworldwide.com
www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com