SS: “To be honest the key to being sustainable is doing it. You don’t have to do everything at once. You just have to start somewhere. Ask your vendors and partners what they’re doing to be sustainable. Make sustainability a part of your RFP and contracting process. There are also a lot of great sources online. We’ve partnered with companies like Honeycomb Strategies. Just start. That’s the biggest thing. Small actions make a big difference.”

SS: “Building a sustainable tradeshow has similar challenges as building a sustainable building. Except we’re building a temporary event versus a permanent one. It’s all about strategic planning. We select the most sustainable cities and venues years in advance. Then we collaborate with our vendors to help execute the plan. We also face many of the same issues that our attendees grapple with: selecting sustainable materials throughout our supply chain, reducing waste we generate, reducing energy consumption, and so on.”

SS: “Taking action is the epitome of Greenbuild. We have some amazing programs, like comprehensive waste volunteer program, sourcing fresh food locally or regionally, and keeping the average waste generation per attendee under 6 lbs. And there are so many more. We plan for the best, check on how things are going along the way and adjust the process to improve what’s not working.”