Exhibitor Attitudes: Different Shades of Green

Everybody knows the old adage, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." It turns out that tradeshow organizers and service contractors can encourage exhibitors to be environmentally sensitive, but they can't make them go green.

There are numerous products available to make a tradeshow booth more environmentally friendly, but if exhibitors don't come to the proverbial trough, it's hard to make a difference.

For some show organizers and contractors, it's not for lack of trying.

Joe Pestka, national sales manager for Freeman, New Hope Natural Media's contractor for its Natural Products Expo East and Natural Products Expo West/Supply Expo shows, said, "It's always been Natural Products' goal to be green, so we took their vision and put it in place."

It figures that these particular shows would be no-brainers when it comes to imagining just how green a show could be. At the recent West Coast edition, held March 8-11 at the Anaheim (Calif.) Convention Center, booths were packed with every natural and organic product imaginable, from dog biscuits to lip balm to baby diapers.

Natural Products Show Manager Sandy Voss, Senior Operations Coordinator Celeste Warf and Pestka led the charge to green the show. They began their efforts last year at the West show, and this year offered a variety of options for exhibitors at both shows, including biodegradable wastebasket liners and table top covers, cardboard-style wastebaskets, muslin drape (made from cotton) for exhibit walls and recycled carpet.

All of the choices are listed on a special green page in the exhibitor's kit. So far though, the response on the part of exhibitors has been somewhat disappointing.

"The challenge is education, but I think every year creates awareness," Warf said.

On the showfloor, most exhibitors had either the standard carpeting offered by Freeman or brought their own. In booths exhibiting food, which created copious amounts of trash because of all the free samples handed out, plastic (as opposed to biodegradable) trash bags were the status quo. Some did take advantage of the biodegradable bags, but it was nearly impossible to keep up with the pace of a very busy show.

And naturally, despite the obvious green page in the exhibitor's kit, some people just didn't realize the options available to them.

"Nothing was offered," said Jeff Beals, vice president of sales at Save Your World, unaware of what had been available in the exhibitor's kit.

Beals said his company was more than aware when it came to the environment.

"For every product we sell, it saves one acre of rainforest for one year," he added. Still, he didn't have a single green product from Freeman in his booth.

New Hope Natural Media and Freeman aren't the only ones attempting to make the big green leap with their exhibitors. GES Exposition Services has been hard at work for the last two years with Nielsen Business Media's Sports Group (which organizes Interbike and Outdoor Retailer Summer/Winter Markets) to put together a Green Steps program for exhibitors.

The program offers exhibitors 25-percent recycled post-industrial content carpet for booths and aisles, biodegradable trash bags and recycled wastebaskets. Forty percent of GES exhibitor's kits are also provided on CD, rather than paper, and the CD mailers are made from recycled material.

"Cindy Sample, director of operations at Nielsen Business Media's Sports Group, came up with the Green Steps, and we wanted to work together in a collaborative fashion to implement them on events," said Carol Cauthen, GES vice president of national accounts. "They worked with us and the facilities to do what we could to come up with ideas that would reduce waste and eliminate things that are harmful."

Even with all the offerings, Cauthen said exhibitors were still slow to take GES and the shows up on going green.

"It takes baby steps," she added. "You can't do it overnight. It's a process to become more environmentally friendly." She said cost was definitely an issue but, "as products come in higher demand, the cost will lower."

Getting exhibitors to buy into green is not the only challenge. There's also the question of identifying resources for green products.

Both Pestka and Cauthen said they often had to look around for a while before they found appropriate products. Even then, there wasn't a one-stop shop for information on them. It took a lot of old-fashioned sleuthing — and patience.

"The supply chain is the hardest part," Pestka said.

For example, he said he ordered biodegradable table tops in December from Norway for the Natural Products West show. They arrived Feb. 28, less than two weeks before the start of the show.

Both the contractors and the shows they service could take a page from the U.S. Green Building Council and Stetson Convention Services on what it takes to pull off a really green show, such as Greenbuild Intl. Conference & Expo.

"It all begins with your show decorator," said Kimberley Lewis, director of conference and events for the USGBC. "It has to be something they push with each and every client. If not, it's almost impossible to do."

Exhibitors at Greenbuild (held Oct. 16–19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center) do not get an exhibitor's kit with options on how to make their booths a little greener, because they have no options — except green products.

"As the show organizer we say, 'This is what we offer, period,'" Lewis said. "If you are coming to our show, you need to be able to honor this commitment."

Lewis wouldn't have it any other way, and Stetson Convention Services makes it happen.

"Everyone says they're (Stetson) a small player, but their vision is large," she added. "For example, when we needed carpeting, they went to all the product manufacturers to find out what kind of (green) carpeting can be used for the tradeshow floor. Each year it's getting better. They took it on as a project, which took a lot of time."

In some cases, Stetson has recycled carpet for three consecutive Greenbuild shows.

"Every year we challenge ourselves a little more," Lewis added.