(image credit Office Now)
The Internet has transformed our world into a global village. Your business and organization can expand virtually and literally anywhere, even to the moon. Generating new partnerships, or maintaining old ones, require smart enterprises to send their people to conferences. While the Internet helps you do research and make initial contact, there is nothing like the personal experience of meeting your partners and peers face-to-face in a conference hall.
Shoemakers, chipmakers, policymakers or simply moneymakers –– there are dozens to thousands of conferences one could attend each year. Business-subsidized flights means the cost of travel isn’t an issue, but all those air miles circling the earth do add up.
To counteract carbon emissions generated by conference-goers and to improve their public image, there is a new trend American conference organizers, hotels and halls are following: they are carbon offsetting on your behalf. See the latest story on the National Business Travel Association conference which used CarbonFund to help offset. (And see our interview with CarbonFund). Some of the ideas were really great –- like using print on demand with recycled paper, and giving uneaten food to food banks.
There is also another story we dug up, where conference-goers chose The Founders Inn and Spa because they offset guests’ stays by planting trees (in their own garden!) and use motion sensors in the rooms, to darken conference rooms when no one is there.
We say caveat emptor –– let the buyer, or conference attendee, beware. And we’re not the only one:
“It’s still a Wild West out there,” said Ferris Kawar, VP of sustainability for Greenopia, a publishing company and website which compiles green business guides, in the same article. “That’s what we’re dealing with at this point, because there are so few measurable standards.”
With no standards in place for monitoring or measuring claims (and with so many other things you can do yourself to reduce your impact), Carbon Catalog has aggregated a few tips you can follow to make your business trips a little lighter on the planet.
6 Tips to Lessening Your Conference Carbon Load
1. Research conferences thoroughly. Have you been to this conference before? Why are you going? Have you talked to someone who’s attended previously and was it worth it? What business objectives do you have? Are the new contacts you’d make there something you could do by Internet or phone? Select your conferences wisely and choose the ones you must attend. Or perhaps a similar conference is being organized closer to your town or city?
2. Do you really need to be there in person? This is related to the tip above. People love mingling and meeting each other at conferences. Hey, who are we kidding – it’s a social opportunity too. But ask yourself if the social opportunities you’re looking for outweigh the business ones? If so, consider that some conferences (like TED) upload their conference seminars to the Internet. Check in beforehand if this is a possibility. Who knows? Maybe you can spend the whole conference in your PJs from the comfort of your living room, and then spend the extra time saved in travel, hanging out with your buddies.
3. Walk by brochures and giveaways. Do you really need that glow-in-the-dark pen that sticks to the fridge, plastic business card holder, and the flimsy canvas bag every booth is giving away for free? We recommend that you don’t collect giveaways and pamphlets unless they add real value to your research. Take a notebook, make notes and exchange business cards. Use a portable drive to download what you need. Most companies you’ll want to be doing business with will have an Internet site with all the same information. And encourage companies, when appropriate, to reduce their giveaways and printed material.
4. Pledge more offsets, sponsor carbon-reducing promotions. Some conferences, as we’ve already learned (above) are making a commitment to offset. This is an earth-friendly step in the right direction. But maybe you can ask yourself and your company, is there something more we could do? Maybe your firm could match what the conference is willing to offset. Or maybe you could sponsor a webcast series for those who prefer to stay home, to view seminars online. Not only would this soften your carbon emissions impact, it would give your company the best PR.
5. Don’t forget about the hotel, and public transport when there. It might seem obvious, but turn your hotel lights off when you leave the room, turn off the air con/heater, and if possible take the train or public transport to the conference hall if it’s a distance from where you are staying. Carpooling with other attendees is a good way to lessen your impact, and who knows, the woman you share the taxi with might become your next business partner!
6. Buy your own offsets. Carbon Catalog’s directory lists dozens of carbon offset providers. Our handy ratings system can help you, and your company, find the right offset value.
Think you have a great idea for making the conference circuit more green? Send us your idea in the comments section. We’ll feature the business with the best idea.