Emily Holweck recently helped produce a three-day developers conference for one thousand attendees with a strong social and environmental conscience. In her heart, she does believe in the “Green Movement” therefore producing an event that produces less impact on the environment aligns her personal beliefs with work objectives. And there are a lot of other advantages to Going Green, including financial. Below is a short recap of the simple measures here team took to make a big impact. Thanks for sharing these great tips Emily.
This conference team came up with a very unique speaker gift. "When you organize a conference, you have to give a present to the speakers. The two last years, we gave a vase and also a candle holder. It was a nice present BUT still it's very difficult to meet the taste of everybody."
"So we decided in 2008 to give money to the project SchoolsForAfrica.com on the behalf of each speaker. For each presentation, we gave $35 to the UNICEF Fund and we had...140 presentations ($4,900) and $15,000 from our sponsors. The speakers received a nice certificate, printed on a quality paper about the donation and they were very happy. They felt it was not a "crappy" present. We gave funding to build three schools in Malawi and changed the fate of thousand of kids. For Øredev, during Øredev, many speakers are coming by plane and I am thinking to give them a certificate that says we bought half a ton of CO2 for their trip. It's about the same amount of money."
The conference planners made simple choices to lessen the impact on the earth. For instance, "plates made of fallen banana leaves were a huge hit! Women loved it because they are beautiful. It was much nicer than ugly plastic or paper plates. We had cutlery and glasses made of cornstarch, after lunch and dinner, we could send everything to the compost! Of course, the best is to use real plates and not to throw anything but the reality of our work makes it impossible."
The conference also served organic food and coffee. “It's what goes through my body! So it's good for me.” Good for attendees. Good for the environment.
Collateral and Attendee Gifts were reused when possible. "We have a basic profile blue and white and each year, we have a different graphic theme. We use the graphic theme for what is printed on paper and Internet and cannott be re-used the year after. We use the basic profile (logo) for what we want to re-use the year after (branded products). We don't print any date on profile (collateral) products, so we can re-use them the year after. In 2006, we printed too many T-shirts and then in 2007, we had them and could not give them away... I think I still have them."
"We don't have give bad quality give aways. First because it's not good for our brand to be seen on poor quality products. Secondly it goes to the trash the day after the conference. We try to have useful give away. It's just a way of thinking quality!"
If you would like to contact Emily about other ways they made their conference more environmentally friendly or want to learn more about their experience with UNICEF she would be happy to talk with you at: emily.holweck@oredev.org. Thanks for sharing your tips Emily and good luck at next year's event.
www.oredev.org
bridal party gift, ;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
