Tips on How To Plan a Sustainable Corporate Event

Corporate events aren’t known as sustainable. More and more organizations and companies are hosting different kinds of meetings, conferences, and events – larger, grander, and less eco-friendly. But now is the time for things to change.

With the growing number of events, organizations and companies holding them, should start paying more attention to their impact on our planet.

Organizing sustainable corporate events is an excellent way to make a positive change in the community, economy, and environment.

So, here are some tips on how you can plan a sustainable corporate event.

Consider distance and transport

Before jumping in and booking venues, you may want to consider distance and transport. Transport is one of the major contributors to carbon dioxide emissions. Since you’re organizing a sustainable event, you must consider all aspects of it – even transport. 

Ideally, you’d want to find a venue that is in the same city and relatively close to all your attendees. This way, you can encourage attendees to use sustainable transportation methods to get to the event. 

Book an eco-friendly venue and work with sustainable vendors

When choosing a venue, regardless of whether you’re choosing a wedding venue or a venue for your corporate party, always choose a sustainable one. 

An eco-friendly venue should have sustainability certifications and credentials. This means that they will have a recycling system in place, intelligent energy, and water-saving policies. They will also use sustainable materials during the event.

The vendors you decide to work with should also be sustainable. Before you settle for a certain supplier, make sure you do some research. Before contacting them, make a list of requirements such as locally sourced food, reusable décor, and so on.

Consider food waste and offer a sustainable menu

Food waste is a serious global problem. Corporate events are notorious for the amount of wasted food. But now that you’re organizing a sustainable event, you can avoid this problem.

One great way to minimize food waste is by planning the menu carefully and being smart with food service. In addition to offering your attendees a sustainable, locally sourced menu, you can go a step further and partner up with food donation programs.

Sustainable entertainment ideas

Corporate events come in many different shapes and forms, but what they all have in common is entertainment. If your corporate event doesn’t have good entertainment, it will be deemed boring, and that’s what you want to avoid.

A sustainable event will need sustainable entertainment. And technology is a perfect example of sustainable entertainment. 

Go digital and offer your guests tech gadgets such as AR or VR glasses, karaoke machines, photo booths, live music, and so on. 

Take photo booths as an example – they can be a great source of entertainment. There are many different types of photo booths and if you’re organizing the event in the Sydney area, you’ll be able to find a great photo booth hire in Sydney.

Go completely plastic and paper-free

A carefully organized sustainable corporate event will also strive to minimize or completely forgo the use of plastic and paper. Both these materials are used for single-use products that harm our environment. 

So, your event can be a great opportunity to go completely plastic and paper-free.

Instead of these materials, you can use products made of sustainable materials such as bamboo, wood, glass, and even metal.

This means no more paper plates and towels, and no more plastic cutlery, glasses, and beverage dispensers.

Sustainable décor

It has never been easier to source sustainable, reusable, and upcycled décor. There are so many furniture rental companies, so furnishing your venue shouldn’t be a problem. Similarly, instead of using cut flowers as centerpieces, you now use live, potted plants.

You can source eco-friendly candles, candle holders and lanterns, and other similar sustainable or DIYed decorations.

Sustainable giveaway gifts

If you plan to gift your attendees, you should also consider sustainable giveaway gifts. Today, that’s not a problem either. With so many small eco-friendly businesses, you’re bound to find something appropriate.

For example, a good sustainable event gift can be a recycled notebook, a reusable grocery bag with your company’s logo on it, a t-shirt made of recycled material, or something similar.

Virtual bags are also trendy gifts these days. Virtual bags usually contain discount codes, tickets, and other freebies sent to attendees’ emails.

Planning and organizing a sustainable corporate event has never been easier. With so many businesses going green, more events will also become more sustainable.