Its not easy being green

No its not, but being green is less a choice, than a way of life today and its something the event industry is increasingly being called upon to practice. An event of any size (from a wedding to corporate conference) leaves a significant carbon footprint and you will find that guests and delegates are starting to review events based on how green they are.

At the NURHC 2009 Conference I managed in Cairns earlier this year I was quizzed over everything from plastic wrap on salad rolls to the use of buses for transport….not by the organisers, but by the delegates. The difficulty of course is that being GREEN is not always cheap and my client (a not-for-profit organisation) was already suffering from Federal budget cuts this year.  However, restricted budget or not, as I discovered, there is no escaping an increasing demand from the public and clients for events to be GREEN.

Being green is more than a tool used by business to gain a competitive edge, but aside from an obligation to the planet and future generations being green, being green can be good for business. To remain competitive within the industry Event Planners, venues and other suppliers need to pay attention to the trend towards greening events.  Ultimately your client will guide you how far they wish to go but if you are keeping your client’s best interests in mind, you will be asking them to consider how green they can go!