Thinking of going green? These five strategies can help you find your eco-friendly balance.

By Ernie Smith

You’ve heard the good-for-the-environment case for getting sustainable. (Or maybe, if you’re in Europe, the regulatory case.) But have you heard the attractive-to-attendees argument?

Sounds surprising, but there’s some data to support it. A 2023 survey from EventBrite found that 81% of conference attendees were willing to pay a higher ticket price for a more sustainable event—a trend even more pronounced with younger attendees. Julia Spangler, a sustainability manager at Honeycomb Strategies, suggests that failing to meet the generational interest in the trend could hurt down the line.

“At business events, sporting events, and entertainment events, millennials and Gen Z are there,” she says. “Failing to implement sustainability means missing a key opportunity to build connection with audiences by demonstrating shared values.”

Matilda Riley, a consultant for From Now, a sustainability initiative by the digital agency The EMC3 Collective, agrees, adding that the goal should be to treat sustainability as more than just a short-term goal.

“I would say sustainability is an investment piece. It’s about future-proofing your business and your events, even if, yeah, that expense is a bit more to begin with,” she says.

Need a few ideas of where to start? Check out this list to learn a few that might be worthy of your time:

Aim for reusable gear. It might seem like a great way to promote your event by highlighting the year on your printed materials, but that comes with a clear downside: You can’t use that sign again. That’s a mistake Riley says that a lot of conferences make, and one that’s a really easy fix. “Don’t put the year on it, don’t put the venue on it, just put your brand event name,” Riley says. “You should use that again the year after, if need be. That saves you money as well; you just have to pay for the storage.” And if you do need to put the year on something, put it on a reusable digital sign. (And for things you don’t or can’t reuse? Donate them.)

Consider your food options. Food waste is seen as a key example of low-hanging fruit for building more sustainable events, because effective planning can go a long way towards minimizing the amount of food that hits the trash bin after the fact. There are a few ways to handle this—including donating unused food after the fact and contacting attendees ahead of time to understand their dietary preferences. But it’s also worth considering the upstream effects of what’s on the menu, Spangler says. “Increasing the percentage of plant-based menu items can also save on F&B costs while reducing the event’s carbon footprint,” she says. (And even if you don’t want to go full vegetarian, dropping red meat such as beef or lamb goes a long way to support carbon-neutral goals, adds Riley.)

Consider your supply chain. When organizing your event, are you bringing in suppliers that actually meet your goals? A lot of steps can help ensure that—including strong policies and data-driven reporting. But a key starting point is having a network to pull from. Riley’s team has developed a free-to-use supplier network called the From Now Network, which aims to make it easier to source vendors that have passed a sustainability audit. The goal? To eliminate the guesswork around supplier sourcing. “We wanted people to be able to go to a supplier network and go, ‘Okay, I know that if I use this supplier, that sustainability piece is taken out, I can trust them,’” Riley says.

Don’t be afraid to promote your work. There can be real concern about “greenwashing,” or offering the facade of sustainability while doing little to actually change your practices. And that might discourage you from promoting your work. But if you’re actually doing the work, Spangler says, it’s nonetheless “a compelling storytelling opportunity” that audiences might latch onto.  “A lot of sustainability messaging is about making people feel good, making them feel like they’ve had an impact,” Riley adds, “and that’s exactly the same to your attendees that come to your event.” (And depending on the venue, you might get some help. Honeycomb Strategies, Spangler’s company, is collaborating with the International Association of Venue Managers and the Trade Show News Network on Venue Sustainalytics, a benchmarking survey for event venues.)

Get sustainable by getting personalized. Swag is the quiet currency of events—everyone goes home with at least a pen, maybe more—but there’s often so much of it, much of it unwanted. It can get wasteful. But what if you could personalize the experience? Riley suggested offering a try-before-you-acquire “swag store,” in which attendees could choose items they want ahead of time and have it shipped after the fact. “It means that people will try it on, they know they like it, they know it’s gonna fit, and then you only pay for the stock, for the people that actually want to,” she says. “Because obviously, some people will say, ‘No thank you, I don’t want anything.’” (Another benefit? It puts attendees in touch with marketers after the event.) It’s a mindset that can even expand to other personalized realms, such as custom name badges that cut down on excess printing.

Going sustainable may be a bit of extra work, but it could pay dividends—for more than just your marketing.