Make Your Next Meeting Green

Is your group meeting or convention using green techniques? It's estimated that a 5 day meeting for 2,500 people will use 87,500 napkins and 75,000 cups. Marriott estimates a 3 day meeting for a 1,000 will use 200,000 kilowatts of electricity, 100,000 gallons of water and generate 12 tons of trash. Cost cutting and energy savings go hand-in-hand. Green meetings are a fast growing trend.

 

Here's quick, easy ways to promote the benefits of green whenever you meet:Develop and distribute a paperless agenda, program book, or reports via the web.This saves paper and eliminates the costs of disposing any waste.

 

Plan meetings for outside. Turn the lights off and get outside. Use available sunlight, take advantage of the natural temperature range to get participants invigorated by the natural environment. Outdoor meetings, in parks, courtyards, shelter areas, or an area into which portable tables can be moved add energy and beauty to a meeting, and increase the quality of the meeting's results.

 

Enhance the meeting meal with locally grown food. Supporting local farmers who can provide greens for salad, nuts and fruits for snacks, vegetables for side dishes is a great way to connect to the community. Obviously, it has benefits of supporting local producers and featuring the tastes of local bounty.

 

Decorate with live plants. The beauty and charm of living plants surpass cut flower arrangements and can be table gifts or highlight local flora.

 

Organize car pools. Better 2 cars than 20 on the road. This reduces the meeting's carbon footprint.

 

Bring your own mug. Give a door prize for the person with the most artistic or creative mug.Incorporating even one of these tips lets your meeting achieve a laudable goal!

 

Thanks for reading! Southern Perlo is posted from Kudu Coffee (African coffees and good conversation!), in Charleston, SC. In a Southern voice, it gathers stories and views for local communities, and was recently featured on the Lou Dobbs radio show. (Perlo is rice enriched by local bounty to enhance its pleasure and value, carefully crafted: handed down, stirred by experience, and enjoyed by all.) 

 "From the Front Porches of Charleston: The Election of Barack Obama," is free! Charleston writer & tour guide, Walter Rhett, writes about the election through parallels of Charleston's history. Rhett edited over 100 photo pages. Download free at: www.lulu.com/content/5282127 .