The Conference People recently undertook a very topical piece of research to measure the importance of the “green” issue amongst Event and Conference Buyers.

We asked over 800 key buyers four short questions and received very interesting and honest answers. Here are a few key points from our research:

• 71% of buyers felt that the “Green Issue” is very important within the conference marketplace

• And 95% believe it will be just as important in 5 years time.

• Yet only 10% offset the carbon debt of their last event

• And only 5% were likely to offset the carbon debt of their next event.

Of course there are many alternatives to offsetting and the guidelines to keeping the environmental impact of your event minimal are confusing and varied.

What we can be sure of is minimising waste, encouraging use of public transport, reducing the need for air travel and sourcing local, sustainable conference food will reduce the event’s carbon footprint and won’t have a significant impact on your budget.

The Conference People encourage all of our clients to consider the impact of their event at every opportunity, from searching for the right venue, to providing sustainable gifts on site. Conference buyers obviously feel that the environmental impact of events is enormous and important, and we hope they’ll be able to work with us to continue to make a difference.