Photo by Rickydavid via Flickr

Let's bust some myths about green events first. Good zen starts with decluttering. Two examples of frequently experienced myths that will give you some food for thought. 
 

1. Recycling bins will make my event look eco-friendly.

Wrong. Sure you want recycling facilities in place, but that won't mean your event is green. In fact, if at the end of the day your paper recycling bins are full of event brochures, info packs, sponsor flyers...well you should focus on fixing the problem somewhere else first. That is, your audience simply don't want to be spammed with loads of brochures. 
 

Fix: offer attendees an 'event material return guarantee'. You'll save on printing additional material that's just doomed to go straight to recycling bins or desk drawers.

Better fix: Go badge scanning. Then distribute marketing materials automatically and based on specific attendees' profiles.

2. I really think green. I provide sustainable bottled water at my events.

This is not simply wrong. This is detrimental to your reputation. I was at a conference about sustainable procurement last year and guess what, after a 3-hour session on green purchasing and buying sustainably, we were all being served bottled mineral water at the lunch break. I didn't bother staying for the afternoon session. I left the conference that day and still have a very poor perception of those event organisers today.

Fix: do your homework. As in our example above, if you are hosting an event on green purchasing, do you think your attendees will be impressed with 'sustainable' bottled water? That'll be perceived as either greenwashing (best-case scenario) or complete ignorance (worst-case).

Better fix: forget catching up with the latest eco product. Keep it simple and grounded. Go for tap water in jugs.