Michael Hart

In the privacy of your hotel room
June 12, 2007

I just returned last night from the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Assn. Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. There are a handful of stories to tell about that – some of which will wind up eventually in the pages of Tradeshow Week.

Among the collection of sessions, workshops and panel discussions that are the meat and potatoes of these kinds of meetings was something called the First Annual Green Forum to discuss the adoption of sound environmental practices in the convention industry. Sessions like this have quickly become another staple of the average industry meeting.

I read about it in the meeting program, which I was scanning in my hotel room shortly after check-in. Upon entering that hotel room for the first time, I went through a routine I often go through: I opened the door, turned on all the lights, pulled back the drapes to let the sunshine in, adjusted the thermostat to my particular comfort level, turned on the TV and used two towels – which I immediately threw on the floor.

All this went quickly because I was running a little late. I had just returned a car to the rental agency. The previous day I had rented the car with the standard pre-paid full tank of gas. Since I hadn’t used that full tank but still felt like I wanted my money’s worth, I spent an extra couple of hours on an impromptu, albeit unnecessary, tour of West-central New Jersey.

I confess I did not make it to the aforementioned Green Forum, but reading about it made me wonder if every tradeshow-meeting-conference attendee is like me in the privacy of their own hotel room: Do we all assume that, for a night or two, this is our own little kingdom to do with as we please, global warming be damned?

Maybe you’re not like me. Maybe you don’t leave the lights on when you go out to dinner because you want to have that nice warm welcoming feeling when you arrive back “home.” Maybe you don’t leave the air conditioner on while you’re out so the temperature is perfect when you return. Maybe you don’t use twice as many towels as you would at home after your shower and then throw them on the floor. Maybe you don’t fall asleep with the TV on.

Maybe you don’t pick up a couple of pounds of literature on the tradeshow floor, go through it quickly back at your hotel room and then leave most of it in a pile next to the wastepaper basket to be – what? – recycled.

After all, the little things we do in the privacy of our hotel room are not what anyone means when they talk about sound environmental practices in the convention industry, right? But if you are like me, and you do any of the things I mentioned that nobody else knows about – maybe we can both change.

Posted by Michael Hart on June 12, 2007 | Comments (0)