Tips To Green Your Trade Show Program

Trade shows are a great opportunity for businesses to generate leads and build awareness around their products and services. Unfortunately, they are also notorious for the amount of waste they produce. (Are you cringing at the memory of the box of collateral and tchotchkes you left on the show floor after your last event?)

Luckily, there is a renewed focus within the industry on green exhibiting, and trade show service suppliers have jumped on the bandwagon. As exhibitors, we have the greatest opportunity to move the needle even with small changes. This post is Part I of a two-part series featuring tips to help you green your current trade show program. Try implementing the beginner tips if you are just starting to consider green alternatives. Consider the intermediate tips if you are looking to take your green program to the next level, and implement the advanced tips if you already have a significant green exhibit program. 

Trade show exhibits

• Beginner – Rent booth properties or purchase used booth properties instead of buying new to adopt the reuse philosophy.
• Intermediate – Switch to LED lights to extend the life of your lighting and reduce the amount of energy you consume.
• Advanced – When replacing booth properties look for displays made from recycled aluminum and graphics printed with low VOC inks on recycled fabric. Look for flooring made from 100% post-consumer waste that is also recyclable. For large, custom booths, consider overall weight during the design process to minimize the amount of fuel used during shipping. 

 Collateral

• Beginner – Print collateral on recycled paper or paper made from responsibly harvested forests (check out FSI and FSC certifications). Or, limit the number of collateral pieces you send to the show and instead, send them as a post-show follow-up to qualified leads.
• Intermediate – Hand out thumb drives with your collateral pieces pre-loaded instead of distributing hard copies.
• Advanced – Use QR codes so attendees can access your collateral pieces digitally over their phone. Not only does it make you look cutting-edge, attendees love the interactivity.

For even more information and ideas on green exhibiting, visit ExhibitorOnline’s Green Exhibiting webpage, and be sure to check out next week’s post for Part II, which will include more green exhibiting tips.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you are doing to green your trade show program.