top ten tips for a sustainable event

there are a myriad of things to consider when trying to keep your event sustainable and eco-friendly but we decided to try and narrow it down to a list of top ten green tips… here we go!

1. think green from the beginning

plan your event with sustainable practices in mind instead of getting everything into place and then trying to make it greener. if you pick areas to focus on (e.g. sustainable food and beverage options) from the get-go, it’s easier to incorporate them into your event.

2. location, location, location

we’ve all heard this one before, right? is your event somewhere walkable, accessible by bike, public transportation or car-pooling efforts? if guests are flying in, is your venue near an airport with shuttle services?

3. venue, venue, venue

find out about your potential venues and their sustainability practices. is it a green certified or LEED (leadership in energy & environmental design) certified building? do they use energy star appliances? what are their waste management practices?

4. think locally
support local relationships and business by using products, foods, and services within 100 miles of your event location. look for food that is locally grown, seasonal, and organic!

5. responsible food sourcing

select foods from sustainable sources from businesses with sustainable sourcing practices. going directly to local markets & farmers is also a great idea. don’t forget to find out about their waste management practices, too!

6. community

get your guests/community involved! let them know what kind of sustainable practices are taking place at your event. and let them know about the opportunities you are providing to recycle, compost, or offset their carbon footprint!

7. web instead of print

instead of sending guests event information (directions, lodging, etc.) on paper, create a website for your event or utilize online invitations – save some coin... and some paper!

8. recycled paper

if you need to use paper for invitations, cards, notes, etc., choose printed materials that are 100% recycled. or try seed paper, which can be planted by guests to grow flowers or herbs!

9. donate
donate unused food, beverages, flowers, decorations, and other materials leftover from the event. any items that can’t be donated, consider them for compost!

10. register for a benefit

instead of requesting/registering for gifts, ask guests to make a charitable contribution towards an organization, endowment, or community project of your choice. if you do go the registry route, be sure to choose sustainable and eco-friendly gifts!

any other green tips you got out there? if so, please share!

a local business joins the green pursuit!

coast hotels and resorts has just announced the launch of their eCoast green meetings program that will “[introduce] eco-friendly practices into every aspect of event planning by measuring the carbon footprint of each meeting and providing environmentally sustainable products and services”.

the launch of this new program was highlighted by waste-management-world.com, along with a press release by coast hotels and resorts.

eleven coast properties across british columbia and alberta will be participants in this new green initiative. they will each be equipped with a carbon offset calculator to measure the cost to offset carbon emissions produced by each event, taking into account meeting room size, number of guests, waste practices, and transportation use.

according to this article, the 2011 h.a.c. canadian travel intention survey indicates that 27% of canadian travelers think it’s important to be able to buy offsetting carbon credits. this number is up from 6% in 2010!

what are your thoughts? when planning an event or traveling, is this kind of an initiative a draw for you? what kinds of things are important to you and what do you look for before making a purchase or commitment?

• carbon emission/footprint calculator?
• the ability to purchase carbon offset credits?
• availability of sustainable products & services?
• waste management?
  
• energy efficiency?

let us know... we'd love to hear from you!

"i change myself, i change the world."

-gloria anzuldua

testing, testing... 1, 2, 3!

depending on your brand and the services/products you are promoting, there might be certain social media platforms that will be more popular for your target audience.

but how do you figure out where your peeps are at? and how do you figure out where you need to reach people more?

we thought we could try a little test with two of the more popular social media tools out there.
you may have heard of them?? facebook? twitter?

no.
big.
deal.

one of the best ways to peek people’s interest is to offer up some freebies! who doesn’t love free stuff?!? but then we thought, it’s kind of hard to offer up free full-on event planning services. instead, we could offer up an amazing (and sustainable) in-home dining experience for you and five of your closest friends! A mini-ecoEvents vancouver soirée, if you will! in the comfort of your own home. we got you covered on eco-friendly invitations, natural décor, and a sustainable menu!

let’s hear it for delicious food + drink! om nom nom!

we would promote our contest over a six week period on both facebook and twitter and measure the following items on a weekly basis and see just where the word of “mouse” is going:

1. facebook – number of new people “like”-ing our facebook page (required to enter the contest).
2. facebook – number of times that our contest has been shared.
3. facebook – total number of contest entries.
   

1. twitter – number of new twitter followers (required to enter the contest).
2. twitter – number of contest re-tweets (also required to enter the contest).
3. twitter – number of contest mentions.

we watch the numbers. then we crunch them.

at the end of it all, we can see how many likes/followers we have gained and where the contest really took off. that could also tell us a little about which of the two social media platforms we really need work on to get our brand out there. our target audience would be women, ages 25-45.

thoughts? do you think that this would be a good test? more importantly, do you want to win a free party??

won't you be my neighbour?

ecoEvents vancouver was recently asked to "explain [our] social media personality". our what??!

well, this took some thinking because i wasn't sure how to define that succinctly. like most people (in real life and in social media), ecoEvents vancouver is dynamic and multi-faceted.

gravity7 blogger adrian chan defined 11 social media personality types:

1. status seeker
2. critic
3. socializer
4. em-cee
5. lurker
6. buddy
7. creator
8. pundit
9. rebel
10. officiator
11. harmonizer

i'm not sure if we fit into one of these types but i think we if we look back at our initial "blog-isode" for ecoEvents vancouver, our aim was to share knowledge on sustainable event planning, and to collaborate with you while lessening negative impacts on our planet. the concept of sustainability is based on the idea of community and making a difference together. so, while ecoEvents vancouver is part creator, part buddy, and part harmonizer... at the end of the day ecoEvents vancouver might just be your neighbour.

your neighbour who wants to work with you to do good things for the local community.

through his blog urban organic gardner, mike lieberman hopes to "to continually raise awareness about our food and encourage people to start growing some of their own and reconnect with their food source." he offers anything from gardening tips to recipes to information on GMO practices, all in the name of inspiring/empowering the community (local and online) around him to grow their own food. he, like ecoEvents vancouver, is a creator, a buddy, a harmonizer... a neighbour.

are you the neighbourly type? or do you know of other neighbourly places online that we can collaborate with on sustainable practices? we would love to hear from you on what you do for our planet!

sustainability + transparency

transparency is paramount to an organization, especially in the ever-emerging era of social media. an organization openly discussing its mission and goals with the online community is fundamental in building a level of trust and an honest and strong relationship with them.

however, an organization may make claims about their goals and values but how do we, as a consumer or an organizational stakeholder, know if the organization is truly accountable for these claims?

elaine cohen, a sustainability consultant, recently touched upon the importance of transparency in sustainable business practices in her article "transparency is the key to sustainability". she has been part of team that has developed a methodology and index to measure and quantify corporate transparency by assessing what sustainability information is available on a corporation's website.


cohen stresses the importance of transparency in sustainability reporting and that "once a company makes a commitment to transparency, the rest must follow". it's interesting to think of a single organization's transparency practices blowing the doors wide open for others in their industry, especially in industries that traditionally may have been perceived as secretive or tight-lipped (like oil companies, for example).

while it's important for an organization to be open and honest with the public, limits should be considered. it's likely not really important to know if an organization's office walls are painted grey or beige.

if the organization is able to own up to the claims or goals that they publicly endorse, is that enough? what do you think? are there certain items that all organizations should be transparent about?

bon iver's "holocene"

just because...

sustainability... at events + in the office.

check out this article in the guardian... a few tips on executing a sustainable event and how to be a 'green' worker bee at the office!

what kind of things do you do around the workplace or for your personal events that help make things a little greener?

"you can tell how high a society is by how much of its garbage is recycled."
- tahanie