1. Digital Workflow instead of Paper Flood
Let’s be honest: How high are the stacks of paperwork on your desk when you’re planning an event? Too high?
You have to print registration forms, issue invoices and send out tickets in the post. To sum it up: A relatively short period of time produces masses of paper.
However it should be the aim of every green meeting to reduce paper consumption to an absolute minimum.
The easiest way to reach that goal is by using an event management software.
The software helps you to organize the attendee registration online and without having to deal with bits of papers lying around everywhere. You only have to define the booking options while the software does the rest of the job by guiding the attendees through the registration process.
The best option would be an event management software with the ability to automatically send out booking confirmations, invoices etc. to your attendees via e-mail.
If you’re organizing a scientific conference, you may consider carrying out not only the attendee registration but the paper submission as well as the reviewing electronically.
Assessing and selecting the submitted abstracts is a process that can drag on for some time. Particularly in the run-up to larger conferences, abstracts are constantly being exchanged between authors, reviewers and the program committee. If your attendees are able to submit their papers online where they’re also being reviewed, the whole process becomes less difficult.
The software helps to organize a paperless and sustainable reviewing procedure.
You can centrally assign papers to reviewers so they can subsequently assess the abstracts following previously established criteria – completely online.
In addition, you’re able to keep tabs on the reviewing progress, anytime and anywhere.
2. Event App instead of Printed Conference Program
The bigger your event, the more items can be found on the agenda. And the more pages your conference program typically has.
However, your motto should be: Paper is something that belongs in the past.
Of course that doesn’t mean your attendees are supposed to navigate their way through your event on their own. It just means they don’t have to carry the program around with them when there’s an event app they can download for free.
If the app is connected to the software like it’s the case with Converia, all data is always up-to-date so you can fill in your attendees on last-minute changes or additions to the schedule. With a printed conference program, there’s no going back once it’s printed.
And there’s something else an event app can do while the printed program can’t: Attendees choose their favorites from all items on the agenda and build their very own and very individual conference schedule.
3. Green Energy instead of Nuclear Power
You recognize a green-minded software provider by the way their servers are supplied with power.
Ask them about how seriously they take environmental responsibility. If their servers are powered by renewable energies, it’s worth focusing on their software. If, however, green energy is available only as an additional option at an additional charge, it’s better to back away and resume your search.
4. Scanning instead of Searching
You’d like to act even more eco-friendly? No problem.
There’s even a way to save paper on-site, and all you have to do is ask the provider of your event management software for a paperless check-in solution.
Your attendees just need a smartphone on which the ticket is displayed and the barcode is read by a scanner. In a mere matter of seconds, the booking options show up and put an end to the mile-long attendance list in which you once had to look up the names yourself.
5. Knowledge Store instead of Memory Lapses
Just because the event is over doesn’t mean there’s no more environmental work to be done.
You should therefore cling on to the green meetings concept after the last session has ended.
Why not preserve the most important results of your event in a digital conference “memory“?
Check with the provider of your event management software if there’s a possibility to realize such a project. This could involve implementing a database that contains sustainable knowledge from the event. All registered users could then access the information on the event website.
If you also want to publish all papers from your conference, go for it – but keep in mind that you want to reduce the amount of paper. Try digital conference proceedings instead.
The event management software proves helpful again here: Since the abstracts already exist in the system, editing the proceedings doesn’t require much work.
Contrary to a printed edition, it’s easier to find what you’re looking for in the digital version. For instance, you can search for keywords without having to flip through the proceedings.
As you can see, taking resource-efficient actions and less effort organizing an event don’t have to be exclusive. With the right software by your side, you follow the green meetings concept while keeping the paperwork at bay.