The Way to the Color Green

A few years have passed since green became a watchword around the country. The movement gathered steam in the tradeshow industry, leading to new options to mitigate the harm the industry does.

The following pages are filled with stories about individuals who were nominated by their peers for their continued commitment to the cause of sustainability, as well as their recent achievements. During the past few years, Tradeshow Week’s Eco-leaders tirelessly have worked to make the industry a little more sustainable.

Darren Berg

Show attendees often don’t think about the carbon footprint they leave when traveling from their hotel to a convention center. But if you’re in Seattle, Los Angeles or Portland, Ore., Darren Berg, CEO of Seattle-based MTR Western, a tradeshow transportation provider, is thinking about it for you.

Berg has said many times his desire to make his buses environmentally friendly stems from the unpleasant changes that have taken place in the Redwood forests along the Oregon-Washington border he traveled through in his youth during river trips with his mother and father, an avid fly fisherman.

Some of the steps Berg has taken to make the company as green as possible include reducing its emissions by more than 50 percent in the past few years with actions such as having the motor coaches outfitted with exhaust gas recirculation engines, burning an aggressive blend of biodiesel, training drivers to conserve fuel and avoid excessive idling and using a special type of tire; heating the company’s shops with recycled engine oil; and purchasing carbon offsets from the Pacific Forest Trust for what MTR Western can’t reduce.

“Some (tradeshow) clients are so excited they have found a carbon-neutral carrier, they can’t control themselves,” Berg has said.

In fact, MTR Western works hard to be better than carbon neutral, shooting for carbon negative. According to the company, it purchased 6,000 metric tons of carbon offsets last year in anticipation of creating 5,736 metric tons.

Tom Bowman

Tom Bowman, president of Bowman Global Change and Bowman Design Group, came up with a comprehensive approach for greening businesses that, during a two-year period, allowed his firm to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent, landfill waste by 45 percent and water consumption by 18 percent – and saved him money in the process.

He did so while on a mission to see if the business community could take some giant steps toward sustainability without losing out financially, and was glad to find the answer was “yes.”

He developed the Bowman Global Change to help companies develop green business plans; he is spearheading the Exhibit Industry Climate Project, a complete carbon emissions inventory for the tradeshow industry; he is the founder of the Climate Solutions Project, an initiative to engage the public in climate challenge related issues; and, since 1990, he has worked with Southern California Edison on energy efficiency education projects, to name a few of his endeavors.

According to Margit Weisgal, president and CEO of the Trade Show Exhibitors Assn., which has featured Bowman in its master’s program workshops, he is passionate about sustainability in a way that “goes beyond lip service,” providing practical solutions to the exhibit industry. “As a primary instructor in the TSEA’s master’s program, he enthuses the audience and leads by example,” she said. “Tom makes being green easy, affordable and worth the investment.”

Bowman said, “For me, the tradeshow industry and its cousins – museums and marketing events – are natural and familiar places to contribute. (With) everything we touch, we can make enormous improvements without making sacrifices.”

Brian Casey

The High Point Market Authority was the site of the first Sustainable Furnishings Council event in October 2006. It took place in the showroom of the council’s founder, Gerry Cooklin.

Since then, Brian Casey, the authority’s president and CEO, has taken an active interest in the council, its mission to promote sustainable practices and the role that the High Point Market furnishings tradeshow can play in supporting it.

Casey also actively has supported the “greening” of the High Point Market itself, encouraging eco-friendly practices that range from recycling programs to biodegradable badges, said Kimberley Wray, Market Authority vice president for marketing and communications.

From the very beginning, she said, the authority has sponsored SFC events during the High Point Market and actively promoted all its educational programs and special events.

“Given the sheer size of our market, we have a tremendous responsibility to minimize our impact on the environment,” Casey said.

SFC Executive Director Susan Inglis said the most significant thing Casey and the High Point Market Authority have done in regard to the council is to promote SFC’s events at the market. “Brian has highlighted the SFC’s Green Leaders Program, which offers six continuing education credits to furniture designers and has highlighted all our events at the market,” Inglis said.

The SFC is a nonprofit coalition of furniture suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and designers formed to promote sustainable practices among its members.

It recognizes the threat of global climate change, and its members, some of whom are High Point Market participants, take steps to minimize carbon emissions, waste stream pollutants, nonrecyclable content and primary materials from unsustainable sources from product platforms under their control.

Anah Corley and Bill Sandherr

We all know green is the new black. Everybody’s gotten a pitch from a service contractor or a convention center salesperson trying hard to make their company or venue a little bit darker shade of … green.

Then there are Bill Sandherr and Anah Corley of Stetson Convention Services.

“They were well into the green thing a long time ago,” said Jack Berenato of Nth Degree, “and it wasn’t just business either. It was personal, and it was well before the bell curve.”

Indeed, Sandherr bought what, at the time, was a 40-year-old conventional contracting and decorating business and proceeded to turn it into the highest-profile tradeshow general contracting company emphasizing environmental sustainability.

But, as Berenato pointed out, it wasn’t just business. In 2001, Sandherr served – and was a great influence – on the design commission that laid the groundwork for what became the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in his hometown, and the company’s home base, of Pittsburgh.

Sure, that was eight years ago, but the benefits of that public service still are coming to fruition. In early October, the David L. Lawrence CC was the site of the G-20 Summit, when the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations joined President Barack Obama for global discussions.

Berenato said he is convinced Pittsburgh wouldn’t have been chosen to be America’s showcase if not for the work Sandherr did to make it sustainable.

Stetson’s strategy of public service in conjunction with a business plan continues.

As vice president of business development at Stetson, Corley is the go-to person whenever anyone comes to the company asking for help on how to make their meeting environmentally sustainable.

She also is the executive chair of the Convention Industry Council’s exposition standards committee, serves as co-chair of the Exhibit Designers & Producers Assn.’s sustainable exhibit leadership committee and has spoken at more than two dozen conferences on environmental sustainability just this year.

Mike Ellis

When people think about going green at tradeshows, usually they think about what they can do to make the show itself more sustainable.

Mike Ellis, president of EA Logistics, a freight shipping company, wanted to find a way to be a little more sustainable at the beginning of the process, before an exhibitor’s booth even gets to the show.

“You can’t ignore the facts around global warming, and, in the freight business, we’re unfortunately contributing to it,” Ellis said.

He added a sustainable option to the company’s services, Delivered GrEAn. First, Ellis said, EA Logistics streamlined efficiencies on all its shipments to make them as environmentally sound as possible.

Shipments are made on fully loaded, fuel-efficient trucks that run on biodiesel and don’t idle while being loaded and unloaded. But that wasn’t enough. For the clients who ask for the Delivered GrEAn service, EA Logistics purchases carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org to make the shipments carbon-neutral – at no additional charge to the client.

The company also teams up with other companies with similar vision, including Stetson Convention Services.

“It’s paramount to our credibility to use vendors that share our commitment and vision,” said Anah Corley, vice president of business development at Stetson.

So far, more than 100 clients have taken advantage of the Delivered GrEAn program.

“I’ve always been a green guy,” he added.

Donna Karl

A former meetings professional-turned-vice president of client relations at the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau since 2004, Donna Karl has led the city of New Orleans toward a greener future.

Single-handedly and to the surprise of many who doubted the city could assume a green leadership role post-Hurricane Katrina, Karl launched the New Orleans Hospitality Community Green Task Force in early 2008.

From there, she went on to launch the New Orleans CVB green Web site, with tips for green meeting planners; she was the primary lead on green initiatives for this year’s Professional Convention Management Assn.’s Annual Meeting; and she worked with CVB human resource executives to form an employee green committee.

“When thinking about the future and what we’re doing to the earth, (environmental sustainability) became a major concern for me, and it became a necessity with clients coming in and wanting to create a green meeting,” she said. “I don’t know of any other city that will work as closely with a client and customize a (green) plan for them.”

Bonnie Helmker, general manager of Freeman New Orleans and a member of Karl’s green task force, said in recent years New Orleans trailed other cities in its greening efforts because resources and energies were devoted to Katrina recovery efforts.

“Her drive and dedication to the success of this endeavor has allowed New Orleans to be a major competitor in attracting meetings that promote destinations that are environmentally conscientious,” Helmker said.

Sheila LeMaster

In mid-2008, GES Exposition Services was like many American companies. It had a number of employees who thought they saw a lot of waste that was damaging to the environment, a handful that really wanted to do something to change things and no concrete way to do anything about it.

Very few companies, though, had Sheila LeMaster working for them. A little more than a year ago, LeMaster, a director of account management in GES’ Las Vegas headquarters, volunteered to chair GES’ Las Vegas Green Team, an ad hoc group of employees who assigned themselves the task of scouring the company’s operations looking for ways to do things differently.

They started with the company’s massive 800,000 square foot flagship warehouse facility. As a result of their prodding, under LeMaster’s leadership, 1,000 motion-sensor energy-efficient light bulbs were installed that have led to a savings of 1 million kilowatt-hours on an annual basis. That alone has reduced the company’s carbon footprint by 1.7 million pounds.

Next, it decided to control all the material that flowed from that facility to landfills. Working with Liberty Salvage Material – a Las Vegas-based salvage company – the Green Team found a way to divert 50 percent of all the “garbage” being tossed out everyday away from the landfill into recycling and reuse programs.

Then it went to work on the end user of all of GES’ services, the shows themselves. The Green Team, again with Liberty Salvage Material’s help, took a careful look at some of the major events that GES stages every year in Las Vegas.

LeMaster and her team took an inventory of megashows, such as MAGIC Marketplace, The WSA Show and Intl. CES. Thanks to their work, this year, 63 percent of the waste generated by Intl. CES was recovered and recycled.

“When Sheila and her team first started this, we knew there was an opportunity,” Izzo said, “but we’re all surprised at how quickly this took off and how much of an impact it has had.”

Tim Morris

Twenty-year industry veteran Tim Morris claims he’s always been environmentally conscious, but it took a light-bulb moment to inspire him to start an exhibit company along the same veins.

After he created his first green display while working for Exhibit Design Consultants in 2006, Morris was amazed by the enthusiastic response the exhibit received at an event, especially the interest it generated from other exhibitors. That was when Morris realized the time could be right for a green exhibit company.

A year later, Morris introduced eco*systems Sustainable Exhibits, a national manufacturer of environmentally and socially responsible exhibit systems. With environments made from up to 62-percent post-consumer waste (think recycled soda bottles, glass, plastics and wood), the company not only has helped keep waste out of the landfill, but also has transformed trash into attractive, custom exhibits without damaging the environment.

But even that hasn’t been enough for Morris, who continues to take sustainable exhibiting to the next level by creating a wide variety of proprietary eco-materials.

This gives clients more options for their booths at the same time it helps them meet tighter budgets.

Colleague Eric Albery, eco*systems vice president of marketing and business development, said working with Morris has been an inspiring experience that has changed his perspective on the entire industry.

Cindy Sample

Cindy Sample, director of operations at Nielsen Business Media’s Retail Group, has been adding sustainable features to the group’s shows for several years by encouraging environmental stewardship with the company’s Green Steps Program.

It’s been accomplished by partnering with general service contractor GES Exposition Services, which has helped the shows – Outdoor Retailer Summer and Winter, Health & Fitness Business Expo and Conference, Action Sports Retailer and Interbike Intl. Bicycle Expo – work toward their sustainable goals.

“We started Green Steps because it was the right thing to do, and finding out at an IAEE conference we attended back in 2003 that the tradeshow industry was ranked one of the highest in waste was an eye opener,” Sample said. “We could see many benefits to the program for the environment, which is obvious; for the company, to save money and resources; and we also found we could help fund the programs through sponsorship opportunities, which the exhibitors really found valuable.”

Some of the features that have been added to the shows include 100-percent recyclable aisle carpet, biodegradable can liners, LED lighting for signs and backlighting, biodegradable food service options and recycling programs. The program also includes using wind power to provide electricity to the shows, carbon-neutral travel options for attendees, recycled booth carpet options for exhibitors and badges made with recycled paper and soy ink.

“Cindy has worked tirelessly to improve sustainable business practices at our trade events,” said Andy Tompkins, retail group vice president. “Her efforts have helped ASR, Outdoor Retailer and Interbike to be among the industry’s leading events in reducing show waste and (helped) attendees be aware of their overall carbon footprint.”

For Sample, though, being green is just a fact of life.

“It is the only logical way to be a good steward with what we have, with our resources, which are not limitless,” she added. “It is the responsible way to be in all aspects of your life.”

Lindsay Smith

When thinking about sustainability in Denver, one person immediately comes to mind: Lindsay Smith, sustainable programs manager at the SMG-managed Colorado Convention Center.

Since going to work at the Colorado CC almost two years ago, she’s helped start a program focused on reducing idling around the convention center, called “Engines off;” begun back-of-the-house composting with the center’s caterer, Centerplate; and found ways to reuse the “waste” from events, among others.

“Once you’re in the industry enough, you see the waste that’s produced and the level that it’s produced (at),” Smith said.

One of her main roles has been working with events that want to implement sustainable practices and educating the planners on what green practices Colorado CC can offer them.

Smith’s role is threefold, though. She also acts as a liaison with the local community and works to produce efficiencies behind the scenes at the center. “It seemed like the missing element was someone who could focus energies on (putting all the pieces together),” Smith said.

Smith is president of the newly created Colorado Chapter of the Green Meetings Industry Council, the second local chapter the GMIC has created.

And John Adams, general manager of the Colorado CC and senior regional vice president for SMG, had nothing but praise for Smith’s work.

“She’s been extraordinary,” he said. “I don’t think either she or I realized the importance her work would have in our customers’ eyes.”

Martie Sparks

For most, Las Vegas probably isn’t a city that comes to mind when thinking about places that are making an effort to go green.

But Martie Sparks, Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s vice president of catering and convention services, is changing that perception with her ongoing work to make the venue a sustainable destination.

“Martie Sparks’ leadership and vision in the areas of sustainability have resulted in a positive impact on our property, our guests and our community,” said Brian Robison, vice president and general manager of The Shoppes at Mandalay Place/Special Projects.

Three years ago, Sparks launched the venue’s greening practices, including championing the recycling program at Mandalay’s convention center, which now boasts more than an 80-percent average for recycled materials on the tradeshow floor.

In the first 10 months of 2008, more than 2,464 tons of material were recycled in the convention center. RC Farms in Las Vegas operates a successful sustainable operation from the waste.

“Martie’s efforts to instill an industry-leading sustainability culture at Mandalay Bay are nothing short of spectacular,” said Richard Harper, Mandalay’s vice president of sales and marketing. “The effort has gone well beyond the 1.7 million square foot convention center and has not only saved the company money, but has saved our customers money as well.”

Sparks also helped create the “Ride the Green Wave” philosophy on the property and has led efforts to research solar power as well. In addition, she has been instrumental in conserving energy by developing avenues to cut waste in lighting, HVAC and water.

“We are always looking for new and innovative ways to elevate our sustainability efforts,” Sparks said. “MGM Mirage has taken a strategic approach to sustainability because we believe it is our responsibility to operate in a way that maximizes our impact on the environment.”

Amy Spatrisano

Amy Spatrisano was using green meetings practices long before she realized there was a name for it.

Whether she wants to take credit for her long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship or not, Spatrisano’s pioneering efforts have been instrumental in the growing environmental movement within the meetings and convention industry.

As principal of MeetGreen, a certified conference management and consulting firm specializing in green meetings, the 21-year industry veteran has been consulting, training and speaking about green meetings for nine years, but has been busier than ever since the green movement went mainstream just a few years ago.

As co-founder and current president of the Green Meetings Industry Council, Spatrisano also serves as chairwoman of the APEX Green Meetings and Events Practice Panel, which has been working for almost two years to produce green standards for the industry by the end of this year.

How she still finds time for her day job – helping organizations and companies employ sustainable practices, business and meetings plans – is anyone’s guess, but making a business case for sustainable meetings and events is a mission that never sleeps.

Shawna McKinley, MeetGreen project manager, said when it comes to sustainability, Spatrisano has taught her how important it is to encourage and support clients as they move through the sometimes daunting process of greening their events.

“Amy has always been good at listening to the challenges that might impede sustainable progress and presenting steps forward that bring everyone along, together,” McKinley said. “This can lead to very inspiring, company-changing results.”

Mollie Spilman

There’s more than one way to turn a showfloor a deeper shade of green. Other winners may have come up with innovative ways to cut down on the waste that accumulates after a show closes. But Mollie Spilman has come up with a plan to not create the material that leads to the waste in the first place.

The Virtual Totebag was the brainchild of Spilman, president and CEO of BDMetrics. The goal was to eliminate – as much as possible – the attendee strolling the aisles of a show with a plastic or cloth totebag stuffed full of brochures, samples and pamphlets, much of which ends up in a hotel room wastebasket before the attendee even leaves for the airport.

Instead, the attendee receives a mobile code that exhibitors can then scan, allowing them to deliver material to the attendee’s e-mail address instead.

“The average attendee produces 61 pounds of solid waste at a three-day conference, compared to 13.5 pounds during a three-day period at home,” Spilman said. “This is an alternative to printing, shipping and distributing paper collateral.”

Freeman Senior Vice President Michael Bruley said, “Mollie is really on to something here. It saves many, many trees.”

Through an agreement with Freeman, the general service contractor is marketing the Virtual Totebag for BDMetrics. It’s already in use at the ISA Intl. Sign Expo and several Reed Exhibitions shows.

Bruley pointed out that the technology does more than save the wasted material that attendees throw away before they even get home, it also saves on the printed material exhibitors must ship to the tradeshow site.

“That’s a lot of material that is not being moved on skids and pallets,” he added.

Freeman is marketing the technology to show organizers who then can offer it to their exhibitors. Besides the benefits to attendees and exhibitors, Spilman pointed out, it can position the show organizer as an industry leader in sustainability.

Jim Tripp and Dawn Wheeler

Not one, but two of Aramark’s general managers have taken big, green steps toward making the catering operations at the venues where they are based as sustainable as possible.

Dawn Wheeler, Aramark’s general manager at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, has been a pioneer in green initiatives, spearheading development and execution of several environmentally responsible food and beverage concepts.

In 2008, Wheeler led the center’s transition to 100-percent compostable corn-based plastic bottles, sustainable bamboo plates, wax-free coffee cups and corn-based resin cutlery.

As a result, the center composts close to 30 tons of food scraps and packaging monthly at a consistent free-of-contamination rate close to 100 percent.

“Dawn Wheeler has been a real dynamo in moving our Green Initiatives forward,” said John Christinson, president and general manager of the WSCTC.

Wheeler also walks the walk by shopping locally when it comes to buying food.

She uses in-season fruits and vegetables, flour, wine, grain-fed beef and free-range chickens and eggs from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and British Columbia growers.

Jim Tripp, Aramark’s general manager at the Anaheim Convention Center, also thinks out of the box when it comes to making the center more sustainable.

His most recent effort – coordinating the purchase by the ACC of a 75-head herd of free-range, all-natural, grass-fed and grass-finished cattle from the Hearst Ranch in California – is the first of its kind among convention centers.

“We are very lucky to have Jim Tripp leading the catering services department at the ACC,” said Tom Morton, ACC’s executive director. “Jim’s drive for sustainability is only matched by our ability to catch up with him.”

The ACC launched its Green Program in 2004, and, with Tripp leading the charge, the center has been at the forefront of greening in the industry.

Tripp has several ongoing sustainability responsibilities at the Anaheim center:

• maintaining the country’s first convention center partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s seafood watch program
• sourcing all of the center’s coffee from sustainable providers certified by the Rainforest Alliance
• overseeing the venue’s Farm to Fork program that uses local, sustainable and organic farms within 120 miles of the center.

Jeffrey Vasser

If any convention venue should be commended for its most recent green efforts, it’s the SMG-operated Atlantic City Convention Center, owned by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, which completed the largest single-roof mounted solar array in the United States in January.

The array, which covers two-thirds (290,000 square feet) of the convention center’s roof, is able to generate 2.36 megawatts of solar power and provides 26 percent of the center’s electrical usage, will save the convention center $4.4 million in electricity costs during the next 20 years.

Led by Jeffrey Vasser, president of the ACCVA, the convention center entered into a 20-year contract with Pepco Energy Services for development and ownership of the array, as a result of taking on a challenge last year to forward New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s alternative energy agenda.

Vasser said despite a lack of funding for such a grand idea, he wasn’t satisfied taking on just the bare minimum of greening efforts, so he sought out the necessary steps to get the project funded – and that meant finding an outside developer who could assume the risk and maintenance for the project. The benefit of the deal to the convention center, he added, is that “we will buy energy from (Pepco Energy Services).”

As for why he took such a big step, Vasser said, “Our industry has to take the position that we should be leaders. I think (taking on green initiatives) is just the right thing to do, and all of us should look for ways to invest in green energy sources.”

Dan ZumTobel

According to Registration Control Systems President Edgar Bolton, RCS’ main emphasis has been on using technology to make tradeshow registration and lead collection and management more efficient and cost-effective.

But about five years ago, Dan ZumTobel, vice president of client relations, began working to also make the RCS registration service greener by using materials less harmful to the environment and eliminating all possible waste in advance and onsite, Bolton said.

ZumTobel focused on the common practice of ordering extra materials so as not to run out onsite. Unfortunately, the excess badges, badge holders, lanyards and reams of paper often went into the trash. Another concern was that materials and procedures leave a large carbon footprint.

“Dan was determined to solve these problems and have RCS take the lead in greening the industry in registration,” Bolton said.

After several years of development under ZumTobel’s leadership, the RCS Eco-Badge is in place and used more extensively all the time. No oil-based products are used, there are no badge holders and the badge clip is bio-corn based.

The badge stock contains 100-percent post-consumer recycled fibers, is acid-free, Forest Stewardship Council-certified, certified-process chlorine-free and made with 100-percent clean energy. The four-color printers use green-friendly ink and no cartridges. The system’s speed means less equipment is needed and less shipping required.

Jim Tripp and Dawn Wheeler

Not one, but two of Aramark’s general managers have taken big, green steps toward making the catering operations at the venues where they are based as sustainable as possible.

Dawn Wheeler, Aramark’s general manager at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, has been a pioneer in green initiatives, spearheading development and execution of several environmentally responsible food and beverage concepts.

In 2008, Wheeler led the center’s transition to 100-percent compostable corn-based plastic bottles, sustainable bamboo plates, wax-free coffee cups and corn-based resin cutlery.

As a result, the center composts close to 30 tons of food scraps and packaging monthly at a consistent free-of-contamination rate close to 100 percent.

“Dawn Wheeler has been a real dynamo in moving our Green Initiatives forward,” said John Christinson, president and general manager of the WSCTC.

Wheeler also walks the walk by shopping locally when it comes to buying food.

She uses in-season fruits and vegetables, flour, wine, grain-fed beef and free-range chickens and eggs from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and British Columbia growers.

Jim Tripp, Aramark’s general manager at the Anaheim Convention Center, also thinks out of the box when it comes to making the center more sustainable.

His most recent effort – coordinating the purchase by the ACC of a 75-head herd of free-range, all-natural, grass-fed and grass-finished cattle from the Hearst Ranch in California – is the first of its kind among convention centers.

“We are very lucky to have Jim Tripp leading the catering services department at the ACC,” said Tom Morton, ACC’s executive director. “Jim’s drive for sustainability is only matched by our ability to catch up with him.”

The ACC launched its Green Program in 2004, and, with Tripp leading the charge, the center has been at the forefront of greening in the industry.

Tripp has several ongoing sustainability responsibilities at the Anaheim center:

• maintaining the country’s first convention center partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s seafood watch program
• sourcing all of the center’s coffee from sustainable providers certified by the Rainforest Alliance
• overseeing the venue’s Farm to Fork program that uses local, sustainable and organic farms within 120 miles of the center.