Eric Ricaute, founder & CEO, Greenview, Singapore, and his director of sustainable events, Cara Unterkofler, tell Raini Hamdi how exhibitors can be green yet remain engaging and attractive
If there is one thing you want to get off your chest about how ‘un-green’ meetings are, what would you say?
Eric Most of the impact of meetings, specifically trade shows, conventions and exhibitions, is the amount of material used and the resulting waste generated from the exhibit hall floor.
You can put in a great recycling programme to have attendees recycle and help minimise waste in F&B, but that is usually only a fraction of the total waste generated from the show. The largest contributor to waste is generally the set-up and breakdown of exhibits and exhibitor materials. This is especially ‘un-green’ when exhibitors are accustomed to building an exhibit for a show, then just leaving it there to be disposed, and doing this for every show.
But why are exhibitors not thinking about this?
Cara The “waste” from meetings and events is a result of extremely tight timelines and turnaround times, a lack of planning and a lack of awareness of what is actually happening.
It only takes watching what is being dumped into the landfill compactor at the end of a large expo show to realise there is a massive inefficiency occurring in the name of being “efficient” (i.e. quick) – tons of wasted materials from carpet to furniture to food.
Like every other industry and sustainability challenge, it takes creative problem-solving, leadership, analysis and creating new partnerships to change the way things are done, but we’re all already spread so thin by our daily responsibilities that it seems impossible to do so. So we just push on down the road of inefficiency. The biggest waste in meetings and events is that people aren’t more curious and dedicated to breaking this unrewarding cycle.
Have you ever measured the amount of waste from a trade show or exhibition?
Eric Yes, we do measure this for most of our clients’ shows. The amount varies depending on the type of show – lots of waste from samples given out to attendees at food shows, for example, while scientific shows only have high-priced chemical lab equipment to display and reuse their booths/showcases each year so the show floor has very little waste.
So if I’m an exhibitor and I really need to attract people to my stand, how can I balance the need to be attractive and the need to be sustainable?
Eric This will depend on what specifically you are promoting. I would say the most important first step is to make sure your giveaway swag is consistent with the message or impression you’d like to give. We’ve seen companies promoting their green or sustainable services, yet give away those little foam squeeze balls which just end up in the trash and are likely to use chemicals and materials of concern. Also, how many people really take all those brochures and keep them forever? Most of them don’t even get taken home; they get left in the hotel room. I’m guilty of this myself. So why not have a QR code or link where people can just go online and get information, than printing?
Other than that, just make sure you can turn off your lights and equipment at your booth at night.
But aren’t giveaways what attract people?
Cara More and more, people are looking for experiences, not stuff. Instead of giveaways, offer experiences – analyse their handwriting, let them play ping pong, let them experience being halogrammed into a meeting. They will learn from the experience and associate it with your brand more than the swag they leave behind.
There is no rule that says a sustainable booth can’t be an engaging one – we’re just back to the status quo and efficiency challenge we were at before. It takes thoughtfulness and mindfulness, but is completely possible and likely rewarding in the end, as the ideal is to have a booth that generates business and supports your tradeshow objectives, but one that hopefully you can reuse, get your money’s worth and be proud of as a brand.
When it comes to sustainability, companies are competing to be clever. May the best companies win. And they will.
©Pierre Kattar
Have you seen any best practices from a really smart exhibitor somewhere?
Eric The smart ones are the simple ones – they avoid the overuse of promotional collateral and cheap giveaways, turn off their lights and figure out how to divert the waste generated from the exhibit set-up and breakdown.
Cara I’ve seen really large booths being constructed more like modular homes that come together again and again, instead of being constructed like a house and then left behind or trashed. These booths don’t need to be painted, instead employ magnetic panels or fabrics that can be used over and over.
I recall last year Marina Bay Sands at ITB Asia built a stand that could be dismantled and re-used. But I don’t see this as a trend. Do you think it will come?
Eric It depends on where the incentive lies. Right now if it’s cheaper to build a booth and just leave it at the show for someone else to dispose of, then the exhibitors have no incentive.
The venue can incentivise by making exhibitors – or indirectly through their decorators – take financial responsibility for the disposing of materials appropriately. The organiser can also incentivise or influence the case by highlighting those exhibitors that have taken some type of green commitment that the organiser has established.
There are trade-offs obviously. Shipping large exhibits across the world all the time can have a larger environmental impact potentially, and making exhibitors take back all materials just so they can throw them away in another country isn’t really going to solve the problem. But it’s more important right now that we get everyone in the industry just thinking about these things, as more solutions and even business opportunities to address them will emerge.
Cara Yes, also, corporate responsibility is a trend that is here to stay – it just hasn’t fully trickled down to events yet. Increasingly companies are going to be casting their sustainability net wider and eventually, events will become a point of distinction like the other facets, i.e., supply chain, community-giving, where their coffee comes from, etc.
Do we need tradeshows and exhibitions at all in today’s Internet world?
Eric Yes definitely. The value of face-to-face meetings has been studied and proven. People want to see the products themselves, because you can’t touch, smell or really see with your own eyes products through the Internet.
More importantly, trade shows are actually the most efficient way of doing business. Imagine all the flights, hotels, travel, etc, that would have to occur for you to meet up with dozens or hundreds of people individually otherwise. By getting everyone together, you also get a scale of streamlining the impacts, with the potential to address them all at once. Plus, tradeshows and exhibitions are more fun than video chats.
Ten years from now, tradeshows will look like...
Eric They will look the same at the core, but have different bells and whistles. Much more will be done with mobile devices, gamification, virtual attendance, 3D holograms and hopefully a lot less wasteful registration booths and tradeshow floors, and they will be much more global in attendance and location. But at the heart, it’s still a bunch of people getting together.
Most interesting will be an increase in types of shows. Already we’re seeing exhibitions and conferences for so many types of products and services that either didn’t exist a decade ago or were really small. This is true of the technology sector, but also all the products and services pertaining to sustainability.
Cara Technology is going to play a huge part in meetings and events in (a) allowing people to participate that otherwise would not be able to and (b) connecting people before, during and after the event. Before you get there you will know through an app exactly who will be there and your Linked In profile will suggest and match meetings with others in your business. During the event, instead of needing to see name badges and the colours that indicate suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, etc, perhaps a google glass will show exactly who you are already connected with via social media and something about that person – he loves the Red Sox and just won a big game last night – so you can start a conversation with him. Presentations will all be available digitally so you can create notes, share and keep them for later. It’s all about conversations and the technology will keep you connected after the event. But the technology only fosters the human connections that are the magic and power of face-to-face meetings.
