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

After many requests from people seeking training in green meetings, Meeting Strategies Worldwide is excited to announce their first seminar. This full-day course takes place on December 6, 2007 in Portland, Oregon. Please visit http://www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com/Seminars.php to learn more about the benefits of the course and to register.

The definitive guide to green meetings is here...well, almost here. Principals Nancy J. Wilson, CMP and Amy Spatrisano, CMP have just finished writing their informative book, Simple Steps to Green Meetings and Events. Whether you are just getting started or a veteran in the industry, this book will increase your know-how and give you the tools to make green meetings work. The book will be hot off the presses at the end of November. To read what others are saying and pre-order your copy, visit https://www.meetgreen.com/book.php.

Green Meeting Onsite Office Practices
By Britta Ehnebuske

As green meeting planners, it's our job to ensure that our clients have the very best and most cutting-edge options in green accommodations, food and beverage, exhibits, marketing, and registration processes, etc. But with all the details to plan for and keep track of, it's easy to lose sight of the one of the basic, yet most important aspects of our work-our own green practices.

As the modern office seems to revolve around the computer and internet, it's no surprise that most major technology companies offer user friendly ways to green the office while saving some serious pennies on energy costs. Consider these options when preparing for your onsite office:

Purchase Energy Star™ certified equipment, which after over 15 years on the market, is now offered on a wider variety of products with ever-increasing standards.
Choose a laptop computer over a desktop. On average laptops use only 10% or less of the energy consumed by a desktop. In addition, they are among the easiest ways to transport all your documents without having to print them and many companies now offer super energy-efficient models.
Choose copy machines that can duplex all documents.
Consider investing a machine that can multi-task as a scanner, copier, printer, and fax-this can be especially useful onsite.
Buy recharged toner cartridges for printers and copy machines.
Look into specialized recycling programs for ink cartridges or donation programs for old machines.

Communications with your team, your client, and the event attendees are an essential aspect of event management-why not make them green?

Use email communications whenever possible.
Consider the benefits of investing in an online registration database-this not only cuts down on the amount of printed materials you'll have to bring along, but you'll find it will save you a remarkable amount of time.
When a digital document simply can't replace the hands' on experience, push the merits of having double-sided copies using at least 30% post-consumer recycled content paper
Have attendees opt in for hand outs and proceedings.
Chose generic directional signage that can be used with different clients and organizations. Signage from the same organization can be used again and again if the year or destinations are not included-and this can cut down on signage costs for you client, too!
Make up-to-date announcements on the hotel's in-room television station or make use of the electric signage in the facility.

Being resourceful can affect your onsite office practices on a surprising variety of levels-but most of these ideas are easy to implement and will ultimately end up saving you time and money.

Case Study - CB Richard Ellis Sets a High Bar for Green Events in a Hurry
By Shawna McKinley

Three months out from your conference your CEO announces a broad corporate mandate to become a carbon neutral organization by 2010. You pause and think: 'what a good idea'. Then the panic sets in. You have thousands of people flying to your event and have already signed contracts with all your meeting suppliers. How on earth are you going to meet this goal?

The organizers of the CB Richard Ellis World Conference 2007 were faced with this very dilemma a mere 4 months ago. Their Global Environmental Task Force endorsed a goal of carbon neutrality within 3 years and mandated that their annual conference reflect this objective. A lofty goal for an international company with property management networks strewn throughout the globe, particularly when you consider that buildings account for 12% of the world's water use, 40% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, 65% of the world's waste output and 70% of global electricity consumption.

CB Richard Ellis rose to the occasion of kicking off this new corporate mandate by engaging a team of professionals to institute a comprehensive greening initiative for the event, held in Toronto from September 5-7, 2007. Partners included CB Richard Ellis staff, event managers Ambassadors, green meeting experts Meeting Strategies Worldwide, and carbon offset specialists Leonardo Academy.

Not content to merely talk about green at a conference themed around "Toward a Greener Tomorrow" and featuring Al Gore as the keynote speaker, CB Richard Ellis sought plan a green meeting with the dual goals of achieving carbon neutrality and demonstrating best environmental practices for event management. In pursing these goals CB Richard Ellis was greatly assisted by the green meeting infrastructure already in place in Toronto. This involved taking advantage of the Zero-Waste Event management program offered by Turtle Island Recycling through the Metro Toronto Convention Center and the high baseline of environmental practice in place at the four host hotels.

Key achievements and best practices for the event included:

Eliminating approximately 250,000 printed items, such as envelopes, mailers and written correspondence, saving the equivalent of 30 trees.
Using only 500 sheets of letterhead, compared with 10,000 sheets at the World Conference 2006.
Significantly reducing the size of the onsite program to a pocket-sized Z-card, printed on recycled paper (http://www.zcard.com/products.php).
Running the World Conference as a Zero Waste event, meaning 96% of waste was diverted from landfills. This saved 94 trees, 11,000 liters of oil, 29,000 kWh of energy, 147,000 liters of water, and 28 cubic meters of landfill space.
Purchasing enough green energy to power the conference using electricity from a 100% local "green" energy provider, Bullfrog Power, which produces energy from a combination of wind and low-impact hydropower.
Donating 1000 lbs of un-served food to Second Harvest and composting food waste.
Donating 500 trees to the City of Toronto, ensuring a long-lasting "green" impact locally.
Offsetting at least 200% of carbon dioxide emissions and at least 60% of other emissions.

Ask the Experts

In each issue, your questions will be answered by experts in the industry including responses from both planners and suppliers.

Q: The conference no longer provides paper presentation handouts to attendees but instead uploads the presentations to USB drives which are given out at registration. What do I do if all of the presenters don't send their information in time to get included on the USB Key and the attendees want their presentation onsite?

Ken Bauer, CEO, Bauer Alonso Consulting
A: Answer: Technology can provide the solution. By providing "refresh" stations throughout the conference, attendees can download all the presentations currently on the system. Minutes after the speaker submits the information, it is available for download. They just step up insert the USB key and push a button. The system automatically updates. We put the refresh stations by the coffee breaks, so people can grab a cup of coffee, get the most current information, and be ready for the next session.

Have a question for the experts? Send your questions to expert@meetingstrategiesworldwide.com.

Upcoming Events!

Community Events:

Oregon Food Bank, SAVE THE DATE: November 6, 2007, 1-4pm
Dishing it out...again. Those of you in Portland are invited to join us and PCMA on Tuesday, November 6, from 1-4pm for their annual volunteer time at the Oregon Food Bank. All you have to do is RSVP to Cathy Mason and show up. We hope you can join us and spend a few hours with other folks in our industry volunteering for this very worthy cause.

Oregon Food Bank
7900 N.E. 33rd Drive
Portland, OR 97238
*Volunteer Reception to follow

Client Conferences & Events:

Fall 2007 VON — October 29 - November 1, 2007, Boston, Massachusetts
In the world of Internet Protocol (IP) communications, VON is the conference for must- know industry insight and education on the what is now, the what is new, and the who's making it happen. VON brings the critical food chain of services together to compete, partner, and procure. VON is about building communities to network and share strategies that result in invention, implementation and distribution of technology.

ATSA's 26th Annual Conference — October 31 - November 3, 2007, San Diego, California
The 26th Annual Research and Treatment Conference sponsored by the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers will offer symposia, workshop presentations, poster sessions, discussion groups, and advanced clinics relating to issues in both victim and perpetrator research and treatment.

2007 GreenBuild International Conference & Expo — November 7-9, 2007, Chicago, Illinois
The Greenbuild International Conference & Expo brings the industry together under one roof. Three days of extensive educational programming, workshops, a vast exhibition floor and ample networking events give attendees unrivaled opportunities to learn about the latest innovations, exchange ideas and develop new business relationships.

2007 "Greening the Hospitality Industry" Conference — February 19-21, 2008, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Hospitality industry professionals will gather for the 3rd annual Greening the Hospitality Conference to learn more about green meetings and share their organization's environmentally responsible practices. Leaders in the field will be on hand, sharing their insights on industry issues and environmentally responsible approaches to processes such as registration, site location, marketing and exhibiting, and much more.

Recommended Resources

City of Portland - Office of Sustainable Development - "Green Office Guide"
Report with suggestions on how to green an office, with examples and statistics to support suggestions
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/SUS/docs/Green_Office_Guide.pdf

Dolphin Blue
Offers recycled content, chrlorine-free paper products.
http://www.dolphinblue.com/

Environmental Defense Paper Calculator
Use the calculator to determine environmental savings of using post-consumer recycled paper for printed marketing materials.
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/papercalculator/

EnergyStar Products
Directory of EnergyStar qualified products available on the market.
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.

Green Earth Office Supply
Eco-friendly office supplies.
http://greenearthofficesupply.stores.yahoo.net/index.html

GreenSeal - "Choose Green Report"
In depth report about making green office purchasing decisions.
http://www.greenseal.org/resources/reports/CGR_officesupplies.pdf

Sustainable Group
Recycled content office supplies.
http://www.sustainablegroup.net/

The Green Office
Green office supplies. Website also has a newsletter and several articles including buying guides and best practices.
http://www.thegreenoffice.com/

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