4 Tips for Organizing Events With Sustainability in Mind

Whether you’re trying to execute an industrywide conference, an intimate seminar, or an exciting product launch, seasoned event organizers can help everything — from setup to teardown — go off without a hitch.

However, the event process brings with it potential environmental, economic, and social impacts that could deem an event space “unsustainable” in the blink of an eye. At GES, we work to provide eco-friendly event services to clients, and over time, we have realized that unsustainable events are not usually ill-intentioned — rather, they’re the result of a lack of awareness about sustainability.

Recognizing Unsustainable Events

The products provided by suppliers are key elements of event production.

At a typical event, you might find guests chatting while seated in chairs around a standard 10×10 pipe and drape table, all atop a 10×10 carpet. Taken at face value, there’s nothing unsustainable about this, but these details have the potential to impact the environment in more ways than one. Products shipped from a nonlocal supplier not only require more money to be spent on transportation, but they also pollute the air with additional carbon emissions.

Unsustainable efforts create a cycle, but it’s one that can (and should) be easily broken for the good of the earth.

How to Organize a Sustainable Event

Breaking the cycle of unsustainable efforts doesn’t have to be an event in and of itself. Here are four tips for organizing a sustainable event:

1. Pack in, pack out. Try using the “pack in, pack out” policy when organizing an event. Exercise natural sustainability by bringing all of your sustainable supplies to a show site — and then bringing every bit back to your warehouses.

2. Build purposeful relationships. It’s important to build a relationship with the facility contractor. He or she can relay all of the sustainable options your team has (such as composting and single-stream recycling) as you build your eco-friendly event.

3. Understand measurement methods.  Measuring is a hot topic in sustainability circles — everyone wants to know how many trees you can save by wasting less paper — but break it down even further. By breaking down the commodities available, you can measure the impact of a day’s work and see how your event made a difference.

4. Stand out from the crowd. If you’re putting on a sustainable event, stand out from the crowd with a physical differentiator. Try using carbon offsets to give back to both your community and the environment. They create a sustainable option that will help you stand out from the rest.

Broken down into steps, an event can easily bring sustainability to the surrounding community and be a force for good. Keep these four tips in mind to help you create sustainable events that will not only wow your clients, but also help the earth.

Want to know more about how we can help create your next live event? Visit our event services page.