Greening the Conference

We are committed to making sure our event is environmentally responsible and we are taking measures to "Green" our conference. We have incorporated various Greening procedures in the planning and implementation, which are reflective of our environmental ideals. We request that our exhibitors, vendors, attendees and the hotel utilize the suggested greening practices to minimize the environmental impacts of the conference. What we are asking attendees to do: Just as a building designed with the planet in mind turns out to be a better place to live or work, an environmentally conscious conference is a better venue to network and strengthen community.

Biking in Madison © GMCVB, courtesy Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau

Let us turn Greening the Heartland into a model for other events, spreading green ideas to festivals and conferences everywhere. When you travel to other gatherings, encourage them to offer carpooling & other green connections. Additional ways attendees may help green the conference: use public transportation or walk, pass along your newspaper to someone else, recycle your waste in appropriate bins, carry a reusable drink container, turn off your hotel room lights, heat/air and appliances when you leave the room. We requests that attendees refrain from wearing perfume, cologne and other fragrances, and use unscented personal care products in order to promote a fragrance-free environment due to the many people who experience unpleasant physical effects from scented products.

What we are asking Exhibitors to do:

We are encouraging the exhibitors to use recycled/recyclable materials in their booths, limit their handouts on-site, and donate any unused building materials to local charities. We also suggest that the exhibitors handle the majority of their pre- and post- event marketing via email.

What we are asking the Hotel and Vendors to do:

The hotel currently employs the numerous greening practices, such as: the reusable towels and sheets program, reduction of lights, power and HVAC when rooms are not in use, and recycling of waste material. To conserve energy we have requested that the hotel reduce the lights, power and HVAC during move in and move out times of the exhibit hall. In our efforts to conserve water we asked that they serve drinking water from large containers rather than individual bottles, and to not pre-fill drinking glasses or provide saucers for coffee cups. We have also suggested the enhancement of the recycling policy to further reduce waste materials. Please see our "greening checklists". pdf (507KB), prepared by Resource Dynamics, used at previous Greening the Heartland Conferences.

Additional Steps we are taking:

We are working to provide a high-quality conference and learning experience by utilizing state-of-the-art electronic communications, as much as possible.  In an effort to reduce paper and conserve resources we will use the Greening the Heartland website as a repository for session descriptions, presenter’s bios, PowerPoint presentations, handouts, exhibitor information, etc. Any collateral materials, such as the conference tote and printed programs will utilize recycled and/or reused materials.  We have set rather high goals for greening this conference and are working towards setting a standard for future conferences. 

Emissions Off-sets

Soon to be announced.