Traditional Trade show with a twist of Green

I'm just returning from a fabulous networking luncheon in which a group of women, primarily in the energy field, get together once a month to network and share business ideas. As it turns out, environmental business and the ideas of integrating eco awareness into business practices came up. Specifically, how to bring eco awareness to trade shows. OTC, the Offshore Technology Conference will be held here, in Houston, Texas, in a couple of months and businesses are planning for the event.

Due to the economy, small business resources may be strained and trade shows require an expenditure of money. The question is "How do you maximize ROI and also get the biggest bang for the buck?" In addition, according to the EPA, trade shows are the #2 producer of waste. So, one way to stand out among the crowd of exhibitors and help the environment is to bring eco awareness to your trade show events.

For you exhibit:

Use Eco friendly materials. GoGreenDisplays offers exhibit displays, banners, and lighting systems, all with eco awareness built into their products.
Another option is to use a local exhibitor company.
Employ the sustainable concept of the three R's: reduce, reuse, recycle and reduce the space of your exhibit, reuse the exhibit, and recycle when it has reached its end of life.
Utilize WiFi and educate attendees of your company products/ services via a laptop thereby eliminating the use of paper.
Bring the minimum printed material. If paper is required, consider using The Platform Group Gallery. They have over 300 ready-made, and ecologically friendly Press Kits, Binders, Gift Boxes, Media Kits, and Folders. Every item in the line is made from 100% recycled content fiberboard and environmentally friendly paper-stock.
Trade show days get long. Have organic, local snacks, fruits and veggies available.
Be mindful of energy use in the exhibit and turn off equipment immediately after the show.
Green your travel using Eco friendly hotels. Remember to turn off AC/ heater, lights, and computers when leaving home as well as in your hotel room.
Provide eco friendly promotional items for prizes and event give aways. You will want to focus on items that are useful to your attendees and have minimal environmental impact.

Ultimately, to maximize ROI you will need to close the loop: prioritize attendees by groups of varying degrees of levels of interest and levels of potential and then you need to touch them after the event in some fashion. As a sustainability consultant, I suggest utilize social media as sustainable marketing to convert those leads into customers.

Utilizing eco awareness in your trade show events is an important element in making your exhibit more memorable.