How to Organize a Sustainable Public Speaking Event

Organizing a successful public event is a marathon. There is a wealth of work to bring the many elements that constitute memorable events. It ensures that they suit the needs of your marketing strategy and that the attendees will remember their time for the right reasons. Considering sustainability for every decision can also make event management seem even more daunting.

The carbon footprint of business activities has become a topic at the front of our minds throughout the 2020s. Public events have faced criticism for their contribution to organizations’ carbon footprint.

Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce the footprint of activities. We’ll explore creative solutions to the common problems that event planners face and help make your next event a sustainable success.

What Challenges Could A Sustainably Organized Public Event Face? 

According to Plan A, the average visitor to a traditional three-day conference will emit between 0.5 and 1.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalents. But what are the main contributors to that figure, and can we reduce them?

The good news is that we can drastically reduce the footprint of an event, providing we know the culprits. Catering demands and travel by participants are the two main sources of emissions at a typical event. Other common factors include logistics, accommodation, electricity, heating, and waste products.

All of these impacts can be mitigated with the right planning and protocols, helping to ensure your next public event has sustainability at the center. So, what steps can we take to reduce our footprint most effectively?

Image created by the writer | Data sourced from Plan A

Organize Your Sustainable Event In 4 Steps

With the challenges outlined, it’s time to tackle them head-on. There are many ways to ensure your next event is sustainably focused, but take the opportunity to stretch your creative muscles and shake up how your next event operates.

You can modify many of the tips here to suit your specific event. These should serve as inspiration for how you can champion sustainability at your next public event.

1. Create a Hybrid Event

Designing your event to work in a hybrid manner is one of the most impactful ways to reduce the total footprint of your event. Not only will the reduced in-person footfall mean that travel, accommodation, waste, and catering requirements will be lower, but it will also enable you to opt for a more intimate venue for the event. 

There have been many successful hybrid or digital-only events in the past decade. Hybrid events work most effectively when integrated with panel speakers delivering presentations throughout the event. They can also be successful as part of an open-plan-style structure. This event type is becoming more accessible as improving technology meets the demand.

However, organizing a hybrid event comes with its challenges, too. Without the proper steps, it’s easy for the in-person and digital events to differ wildly, leading to reduced success on both sides.

Given that sufficient infrastructure is required to ensure a smooth experience for digital attendees, it’s important to use enterprise communications solutions that can handle the required number of online participants. Ensure that all digital provisions are as transparent as possible for anyone attending the event on the day.

2. Find a More Eco-Friendly Location 

Picking where to host your event can be incredibly tricky. No matter how much you search, no single venue will ever tick all the boxes.

With this in mind, focus on finding a location that will suit the needs of your plans and then work to ensure it meets as many sustainability targets as possible. 

One of the most effective ways to keep the carbon footprint of your event down is by picking a venue that is well-positioned and easily accessible by public transport to as many visitors as possible. Other aspects of choosing a sustainable venue include the owners’ energy policies, such as whether renewable energy sources are used, electric vehicle (EV) charging points are available in the car parks, and the energy efficiency rating is good.

​3. Use Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Typical Event Items

Attendees are no strangers to the grab bags of corporate swag being thrust into their hands while they shuffle around the event space. This is a good way to keep your brand in the minds of attendees, but all these freebies are often ignored or discarded after some time. Realistically, not many people will brazenly wear a branded T-shirt if they don’t genuinely adore that company, so why waste resources and emissions making them?

A vast number of items can lead to unnecessary waste, of which plastics are the most damaging. It’s essential to find alternatives to keep that waste to a minimum.

You can use green manufacturing processes for your chosen form of event merch. Think about reusable gifts like a coffee mug or cutlery. Sustainability also extends to non-gift items, such as lanyards, passes, and promotional materials made from recycled materials.

4. Opt for a Paperless Event

Reduce your waste and manufacturing emissions by harnessing tech tools to turn all event-related information and documentation into a paperless format. It’s a positive step that many businesses can take across several areas. It also benefits event organizers given the volume and short-term nature of information shared with visitors.

To help facilitate this, consider hosting a central digital location to give all attendees a single source of truth. We recommend setting up a domain specifically for this purpose. You can do so from a trusted provider such as Only Domains and design the site to suit the event’s needs.

Use e-tickets as the method of admission; online QR-code pamphlets to provide detailed information on specific booths, product demonstrations, or panel discussions; and monitors to provide necessary contact or itinerary information at key locations throughout the event center.

While 100% paperless events can generate many benefits, there are also some challenges to consider. The main one, for example, lies in the visitor missing vital information or feeling as though they don’t have the necessary tools and resources to get the intended experience. 

To help mitigate this, ensure that you create additional contact points. A contact center solution with staff on hand can assist anyone needing help navigating the conference.

Work For Good With Sustainable Marketing Practices

To help tackle climate change, everyone needs to actively change. Businesses carry a particular burden given their collective contributions.

While it won’t happen overnight, everything your organization can do to help cut its energy footprint will be a positive step toward a brighter future. It can help you get creative with how to solve the most challenging emission problems during the event planning stages.

Public events don’t have to be the emission-generating monster they’ve been made out to be, providing you follow some of the above advice. Use your power as a force for good and lead the change in creating a sustainable future in your marketing efforts.