Sustainable & accessible events: Quick wins on a budget

We have talked a lot recently about sustainable events and one question that keeps cropping up is “what are the quick wins I can achieve with a limited budget”? It’s much easier for larger organisations to utilise dedicated ESG teams and big budgets, but how can all businesses achieve an impactful, sustainable, accessible event with more limited resources?

Don’t worry! There are still plenty of quick wins you can put in place to make your next event as sustainable as possible without breaking the bank.

1. Consider the type of event

Any large gathering of people will create carbon emissions through travel, catering, venue, energy used and waste. So, think carefully about the type of event you want to hold. A virtual event is by far the most sustainable. It also offers better accessibility and a wider reach – and the reduction in carbon emissions is obviously huge. However, it is a balancing act, and you may have good reasons for wanting to bring everyone together. Hybrid could offer the best of both worlds. Check out our guide to the types of events and how to decide which approach is right for you.

2. Planning

Planning is key to the sustainability of an event – and to keeping within budget. From the very first ideas, every decision needs to be based on sustainability. How can you reduce, reuse and recycle? Think about everything you use, how much of everything you will need, how people will use the space, materials used and consumed, how to dispose of waste. Make it a full 360° process right from the start.

3. Find a like-minded venue

Find venues that are already making their own sustainability efforts in terms of catering, water usage, heating, lighting, waste, etc. This makes a big difference to your event’s total carbon footprint but at no extra cost to you.

4.?Work with your venue

Find out what innovations the venue already has – such as digital signage – to reduce print or other costs.

5. Go digital

From name badges on mobile phones to creating assets and resources, try to eliminate things such as lanyards, plastic badges and unnecessary printing. If you are planning a virtual or a hybrid event, you will already be creating digital content and presentations. There is no reason why you cannot do the same for an in-person event. These materials can also be made accessible post-event to increase their reach and impact.

6.?Longevity of assets

Design multi-purpose materials that can be re-used for future events, exhibitions or internal office displays. Remove dates and even titles if possible to give things a much longer lifespan. Sometimes, print is the only answer but don’t produce brochures or banners that can only be used at one particular event. If you can’t re-use things, at least make sure they can be recycled.

7. Make your assets accessible

This may take a little bit of research but is very much worth it. Before the design stage, find information and guidelines that can help ensure all your presentations, signage, printed materials, etc. are appropriate for anyone who may be neuro-divergent or visually impaired. This means thinking about typefaces, colours, type sizes and spacing. It is a simple way of making everything accessible to as many people as possible.

8. Make your event accessible to all, automatically

Once upon a time, we used to ask whether anyone had any specific requirements and then allocate budget to ensure their needs were met. Now, we realise that to be truly inclusive, we can’t single anyone out. So install things like a hearing loop as a matter of course. If you are able to include live captioning, do it. Maybe have a multi-purpose quiet room. Sit down at the planning stage and think about the various needs you may encounter and address (and budget for!) them without having to be asked.

9.?Ditch all single-use plastics

Encourage delegates to bring their own environmentally friendly water bottles or hot cups. Do not have any drinks available in non-recyclable bottles or cups. Have water fountains – ask the venue whether they have fountains that you can use rather than having to hire them. Instead of the usual bag of freebies, give each delegate a branded insulated cup or bottle. Try to avoid packaged foods wherever possible, use vegware (or similar) and think carefully about ways to eliminate all unnecessary plastic.

10. Change the voice

Consider the tone of voice and the words you use. Are you excluding sections of your audience? Instead of welcoming ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’, be gender inclusive by saying something like, ‘Friends and Colleagues’. Think about what you want to say and find non-biased ways to say it.

11. Communication

A more sustainable event is likely to be quite different from past ones. Start communicating early and manage people’s expectations. There will not be masses of brochures or leaflets because much of it will be digital. There will be no disposable cups or bottled water. But there will be fun and interactive online content, workshops, chances for live and remote delegates to collaborate and brainstorm. Positioning is key. Shout about all the positives, about why sustainability is important and what a great experience this is going to be.

12. Piggyback

The team at simplybetter are constantly learning about new initiatives and innovations around sustainability, accessibility and inclusivity at events and we would be happy to share our ideas with you. If this is something that appeals to you, we would be delighted to help you piggyback off the work that we have already done.

Designing events that drive better engagement and deliver better results

Join us for our live webinar Wednesday 8th March 10.00-11.30am UK

If you need to create events and experiences that demonstrate real value to your business and stakeholders and engage your audience, join us for our upcoming webinar where we will give you insights and tips on how to maximise the impact of your events and ensure that you get as much return on investment as possible.

Topics will include:

• How to set clear objectives and put tangible success measures in place
• Understand the power of environments and the psychology behind this
• Recognise the importance of expanding the lifespan of your events in order to truly embed behaviour change

I will be joined by Floss Clifford , David Gallagher and Tom Baines . We look forward to seeing you there! Sign up free here.

simplybetter experts in creative, memorable and modern events

Events have changed dramatically in a short space of time. Find out what makes a really great, memorable, modern event. DM me or call us for a chat about your next event and see how we can help you create something that they will be talking about long after the day itself.