It’s great to know that the world’s largest technology tradeshow, (and one of my favorites) has been named North America’s Greenest Show by Trade Show Executive Magazine.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, owner and producer of the International CES, significantly expanded its recycling and repurposing efforts at the 2012 International CES in Las Vegas, January 10-13, by recycling 75 percent of show materials.
This year, CEA collected a record amount of materials to recycle and repurpose:

• More than 35,700 square feet, equivalent to 20,000 pounds, of magnetic banners;
• 28,600 square feet of vinyl banners;
• 16,000 square feet of other show signs and materials; and
• For the first time, almost 50,000 pounds of show publications.

“Every year, we work tirelessly to make the International CES even more environmentally sustainable than the year before,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, events and conferences, CEA. “This year, we exceeded years past, increasing the overall reuse and recycle rate to 75 percent of all CES materials.”

By repurposing used vinyl banners from the 2011 International CES, CEA commissioned the creation of 190,000 badge holders for the 2012 show, an unprecedented effort to reuse show materials. Following the 2012 CES, CEA collected 11,000 of those recycled badge holders and will repurpose them for a third life at the 2013 International CES next January.

In addition to the continued greening of the International CES, CEA also supports green nonprofits near the site of the show in Las Vegas. This year, CEA donated the following:

$50,000 to Green Chips, a local Las Vegas charity supporting sustainable initiatives including solar panel installations. The donated funds will go toward new solar panels at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, which serves those in need in Southern Nevada by providing food, clothing, shelter, and ongoing services and programs. As Las Vegas has more than 300 days of sunshine a year, these new solar panels are incredibly efficient in reducing the Rescue Mission’s energy bills while using and promoting clean energy.

$25,000 to Repurpose America, which will take signs and other materials from the 2012 CES to repurpose as new sun shade structures at two local community centers in Las Vegas.

For more information on the sustainability practices of the 2012 International CES, please go to CESweb.org/green.

Now, Let’s talk. I know you’re saying. “Cheryl, that’s all great for the world’s largest tradeshow, but what about my events? I can’t afford to do all of that.” I agree, but what can you do?

I do think many event and conference organizers get caught up in what they can’t do rather than focus on what we can do.

My advice?  Get inspired by these steps and scale them for your events.

Bring your attendees along in your journey: Share your desire to create less waste with your attendees.  They may even have helpful suggestions and resources.

Go Mobile:  Most of your attendees are walking in with smartphones and tablets.   Try a few pre-conference training sessions to get your audience up to speed.

Try something new each year/event:   During the 2012 #SMTulsa conference, I ordered recycled name badge holders and inserts from Rebinder and we had QRcodes made by Kalvin Kleen mobile marketing to direct people to the agenda.

I’d love to hear what you’re doing to create less waste with your events and conferences.

Most event and conference attendees are showing up loaded with gadgets.

Laptops, tablets, smartphones, and digital cameras just to name a few.

The challenge to event professionals is how to keep our attendees powered up.

During Social Media Tulsa Conference last month, I was fortunate to have connected with Concord Keystone makers of the Keystone ECO Booster Battery Pack for Micro USB Smart Phones who provided us with a few products to use and give away.

I want to win at #smtulsatwitpic.com/8wqgdh

— Randall Carter (@nowyoucan247) March 15, 2012

While we had these boosters, along with several chargers and power strips in our Vocus Blogger’s Lounge, we still had the issue of having to move people to a central location to charge their gadgets.

What is the opportunity here?

These affordable portable charging devices create an additional sponsorship opportunity for companies in the accessory business.

Imagine providing attendees equipped with cameras, computers, and tablets with fully charged back up power packs when they check in to a conference.

This is not just a hint hint to our friends at Concord Keystone, but an interesting event marketing opportunity for mobile accessory businesses and event organizers everywhere.

I can’t wait to hear how you provide power to your people.

Those of us who attended  the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month knew the announcement of the all new Samsung Galaxy Note was going to be huge.  Then the Super Bowl ad aired.

At CES, the Galaxy Note was displayed as a powerful phone with an 8 megapixel camera that could double as a tablet.  The pen was touted as a creative’s dream, showing cool drawings made using the only the Galaxy note.  Cool Right?!  Then the  Super Bowl ad aired.

There were tons of video reviews and drooling geeks over the new, what’s next is already here phone from Samsung.

At CES, Samsung paid caricature artists to sit and sketch images of people.  People who waited  in lines longer than anything I’d ever seen just to have their funny image scanned on a free T-shirt.   You know what happened next.  That really awkward Super Bowl ad aired.

Then came the Twitter backlash.  This is just one example of how Samsung completely killed the buzz from CES.

At no time during the International Consumer Electronics show did I hear or think  Palm Pilot.   (and I owned several Palm Pilots in my day).

My question is,  Why would Samsung spend all of that money at CES to create a fantastic buzz about this new product… and then all of that money to ruin it with an over the top Super Bowl ad?