 |
Here's a sampling of some of the industry's hottest new eco-friendly ideas. From recycled booths to recycling containers, going Greener has never been easier.
For additional information about available eco-friendly products and services, visit the Green section of our Resource Directory by clicking here.
|
 Purposeful Pileup
Cupcoat Expressions, a Canadian manufacturer of reusable coffee sleeves made of fabric and Thinsulate, had a unique challenge for the 2008 Specialty Coffee Association of America show. It not only needed to create awareness for its product, it also had to demonstrate a need for it in the first place. While coffee shops hand out hundreds of cardboard cup holders every day, most people don’t consider the environmental impact those cup holders have on our landfills. So Cupcoat piled nearly 500 cardboard cup sleeves beneath a simple product display in the corner of its 10-by-10-foot booth. While the mountainous mess demonstrated the waste produced by typical sleeves, it allowed staffers to open conversations expounding on both the problem and Cupcoat’s nifty solution. |
Old-School Demo
 While plenty of exhibitors make claims that their products are durable, Invista proved it at Greenbuild 2007 with a 30-year-old carpet sample that looked as good as new. Prior to the show, Invista, which manufactures the ultra-durable Antron Carpet Fibers used by carpet manufacturers such as Mohawk Industries and Mannington Mills Inc., collected carpet samples made with its fibers that had recently been removed from a school. Showing remarkably little wear, two swatches of the bright-colored carpet were inlaid in Invista's exhibit carpet, surrounded by the text: "sustainability begins with carpet that lasts" and "30 years on the floor." The carpet might have been in school for three decades, but it looked like it did on the first day of kindergarten, making Antron's durability an easy lesson to learn.
|
Stacks with Style
Why display your booth literature in routine racks when you can transform it into a design element? The U.S. Green Building Council rolled out a new environmental reference guide at the NeoCon World's Trade Fair in Chicago, and planned to hand out copious copies. But instead of placing them in literature stands, USGBC turned stacks of the guides into artistic columns as well as the legs of its reception desk. The stacks offered a whimsical way to focus visitors' attention on the guides while creating a unique in-booth aesthetic.
|
Walking the Walk
 Going Green's the thing these days, so ArtGuild/Avalon Exhibits used that trend to entice visitors to its booth at a number of 2008 trade shows. Prior to each show, the exhibit house sent pre-registered attendees a mailer featuring vivid green shoes and text that asked them to come to its booth to "Take a Step Towards Going Green." When attendees arrived at the booth, staffers handed them a branded pedometer and told them if they wore it throughout the show and later brought it back to the booth, the company would donate $1 per mile walked to the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association's Green initiative that promotes sustainable design, construction, and operation in the trade show industry. Since starting the promotion in March, ArtGuild/Avalon Exhibits has distributed more than 400 pedometers. Roughly 190 attendees returned the pedometers to the booth, racking up a total of 1,000 miles, which has translated into a $1,000 donation to EDPA's Green initiative. Now that's a step in the right direction.
|
Tag, You're It
 Promotional items such as pens or T-shirts are fine, but if you want your giveaway to stand out, you'll need something with a little more pop - and it wouldn't hurt if that something was related to your product. At Semicon West 2008, Keithley Instruments Inc. created a giveaway that was clever and product-relevant. The manufacturer of high-tech measuring instruments created luggage tags made out of recycled computer motherboards. The green-and-silver tags featured the company's name and Web site on one side and a plastic holder for a business card on the other. Unlike other exhibitors' same-old swag, Keithley Instruments' techie tags resonated with the company's tech-minded audience and kept the Keithley name on attendees' minds - and bags - long after the show.
|
 Metaphorically Speaking
Sometimes spelling out your company's messages in plain text just isn't enough. In its booth at the 2007 GreenBuild Show at McCormick Place in Chicago, Shaw Industries Group Inc. created 3-D visual metaphors to emphasize its key messages even further. In one section of the 50-by-50-foot exhibit space, a sign next to an oversized ball of twine explained that the flooring company recycles enough nylon fiber to wrap the earth 3,000 times. In another area of the booth, a sign near giant containers of faux French fries explained how the company's trucks run on yellow grease (aka discarded cooking oil). Unlike flat and utterly forgettable text, the 3-D components piqued attendees' interest and added an extra dimension to the company's Green-themed messages.
|
For more on Green Exhibiting, visit www.GreenExhibiting.com.
Got an eco-friendly idea for your exhibit you want to share? Tell us about it by e-mailing Janet Van Vleet at jvanvleet@exhibitormagazine.com.
|
|
|
