Sustainability and going green are buzzwords around corporate events meetings, but putting these into practice can be daunting if you don’t know where to start.
The key thing is to start small and build up – any change makes a difference, and before you know it you’ll be putting on eco-friendly events without even thinking about it.
The easiest changes to make are those that require no material changes but merely an attitude shift. Asking participants to use public transport to get to an event, for example, immediately gives it a greener footprint with minimal hassle and expense to the organisers.
Obviously this is easier in or close to city centre locations where transport links are plentiful and frequent, the sort of places you could find by searching for Meeting Rooms Bristol, for example, so bear this in mind when choosing your venue initially.
If you’re asking participants to walk or cycle, you’ll need secure bike storage areas. Remember that, for various reasons, some attendees will still come by car, so some – if limited – car parking will still be needed.
Catering for any event can be made greener simply by hiring producers who have a sustainability policy, and hiring staff to recycle any rubbish generated during the event is also beneficial to the overall event footprint. Putting out recycling bins around the event should also encourage those there to recycle as they would at home.
As part of reducing, reusing and recycling, consider whether you can reduce the number of paper hand-outs given to participants during sessions or talks, or at least the amount of pages each one takes up. Consider instead making hand-outs available as email attachments, on USB sticks or putting them on the company intranet. A purpose-designed venue such as Meeting Four You’s Tortworth Court Hotel, which a search for Meeting Rooms Bristol brings up, will have all the technology you need to get your point across and hold effective events, avoiding any need for attendees to need paper printouts to be able to participate in sessions and talks.
Likewise, preparatory material before the event and flyers can either be emailed or printed on recycled paper to further improve the event’s green footprint.
Being greener can also simply relate to simply thinking more about the impact of your event on the community in which it is being held. Can you offer work or internships to local people, or offer them cut-price tickets to attend in return for putting up with an increase in noise or traffic while the event takes place? If you’re hosting a rural or outdoors event greener changes can be made by hiring materials and services locally, to save on equipment and/or staff being driven for miles to attend.
More and more meetings venues are striving to become ‘green.’ If you’d like to know more, or are looking for meeting rooms in Bristol or Oxford then take a glimpse at Meetings Four You.