First, CSI is promoting its “Make your Trade Show GREEN” program. For every booth that is contracted with CSI etc. to set up a company’s trade show, CSI etc. will plant one tree in the company’s name through the National Forest Foundation’s tree- planting. For example, if a company signs a contract for 500 booths, CSI, etc will plant 500 trees in that company’s name.

The second way CSI etc. has gone green is by being paperless! CSI etc. has eliminated paper. “Service Kits”, proposals, contracts, and confirmation orders are now online.

The third way CSI practices going “green” is at their offices, warehouses and most importantly educating and encouraging their employees to carry on these practices at home. Some of these practices include: paperless record keeping, recycling, powering down and unplugging computers and other electronics when not in use, reducing air conditioning use during off hours, practicing proper partitioning of air flow whenever practical and reusing materials to reduce waste.

Lastly, CSI offers a greener trade show by offering rentals that are reusable and greener, suggesting trade show promotions that emphasize items that are lighter to ship or that can be purchased locally, trade show signage that is practical, reusable and has greater impact and a box recycle and reuse program for exhibitors.

For more information on these efforts, visit www.meetcsi.com.

Joey Pather, CTICC’s general manager for commercial and business development, said that the environmentally friendly packages were designed to assist clients to host more responsible green events and responded to a growing demand in international and domestic markets.

“There is an increasing trend in the international events industry to host green events,” said Pather. A green event is an exhibition or conference that takes into consideration the environmental impacts of the occasion as well as the social effects including everything from transportation and marketing material to catering and travel. “The goal is to save energy, practice recycling, and adopt environmentally thoughtful measures wherever practical and possible,” he said.

“We need to reduce the carbon footprint made by meetings and events. At the CTICC we are aware that in order to effect change it is essential to continually re-think the way we do business.”

CTICC is committed to transforming the events industry to one that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. “To this end we are continually thinking of new and innovative ways to encourage event greening – such as our green packages.”

The new range of green packages allows clients to purchase green power rather than conventional power, use water jugs instead of bottled water, use recycled notepads and pencils and choose organic meal options. In addition a percentage of each delegate’s fee is donated to the CTICC Green Fund, which serves to support eco- projects in Cape Town.

The packages cater for various budgets and start from R305 per delegate. Pather said that there was a strong business case for “going green”. Over the long term, green initiatives can lead to substantial savings.

Prior to introducing the new packages, CTICC had already started implementing green IT initiatives that will see it become a leading environmentally sustainable convention centre. The centre is also in the process of obtaining an ISO 14001 accreditation, the international standard for a sound environmental management system.

More info at www.cticc.co.za.

“Earth Day is a great reminder for us to take a quick check on what we’re doing, and more importantly what else we can be doing to help the environment,” said Global Spectrum Chief Operating Officer John Page. “While we do have the Step Up campaign activated in all of our venues, we continue to look for new and meaningful opportunities to further reduce, reuse and recycle.”

Global Spectrum manages more than 80 arenas, stadiums, and convention centers throughout the world and remains committed to reducing costs and conserving energy.

More info at global-spectrum.com.

At the same time… let’s be realistic… like us here at Tradeshow Blues. Our mission is to take a realistic, profitable, genuinely mutually beneficial approach to this topic… my friends, we are Going Greenish. And we’ll be covering people and companies who are greenish and pursuing this worthy direction.

Be sure to send us your greenish news to big@tradeshowblues.com.