Green Meeting: Nice thought, but...

There has been a strong movement of meetings and events "going green," or what's also known as becoming more 'sustainable' or environmentally conscious. There are a number of tactics that planners use to help offset potential waste, and it's often promoted in conference materials and perhaps even announced at the podium. While recently at a conference, I had to chuckle at something that was brought to my attention. At one of the lunches, the various footprint offsets were shared with all attendees. So for anyone attending, it was clear that this meeting took care to put into practice various greening activities. In fact, the steps taken were even applauded after the presentation.

This was until one of the tactics discovered was using china instead of paper cups for coffee breaks, etc. We later learned that many of the attendees began to visit another group's break just to use their paper cups to carry their coffee or tea!

So while there are those who will remain unabashedly committed to watching their 'footprint', there will still be those who simply like what they like, regardless. Does it mean that planners shouldn't take steps to manage their waste? Absolutely not. But it does mean that we still have some ways to go in embracing the concept.

Pushing Forward...

When people attend meetings and events, you'll often find that many seem to migrate toward sitting in the back of the room. That often presents many challenges, the most important of which is that you don't want your speakers to feel as though they are presenting to an empty audience. You also don't want people to be disruptive as they enter the room and move toward the front during the presentations.

One of the best ways to avoid this from happening, is to place "Reserved" signs on the tables or rows in the back of the room. This will help to facilitate pushing people forward so that the front of the room is filled in. Once you begin to achieve critical mass in the front, begin removing the reserved signs so that individuals -- especially latecomers -- can fill in the back seats and rows.