In the vast majority of the posts on this blog, you pose a question and I do my best to give a coherent answer. This week, I’ve decided to switch it up by asking the questions of friend and colleague Tim Patterson — better known by many as the Trade Show Guy. Tim is Interpretive Exhibits’ VP of Sales and Marketing, which means he knows how to build a better booth.

Newman: How do you bring sustainability into your trade show presence while still being successful?

Patterson: When people come to us and want sustainability, we can offer them anything and everything that’s out there. The main question that really gets answered before anyone moves ahead is: “What does it cost?” We did a booth for a company in Eugene that was very green-conscious, and they wanted to use wheat board and a whole host of other sustainable materials. But for them, the cost was more than their budget could handle. So, we went back to other good, largely sustainable materials. It was just not quite what they originally envisioned. A lot of the times, the choice comes down to cost vs. budget — as well as new booth vs. refurbished.

Newman: I have also heard you talk in the past about utilizing found objects and materials. Could you go into that more?

Patterson: A year and a half ago I was at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. It’s an amazing show packed with outdoor retailers of all kinds. Because of the relatively low cost of booths at this particular show, you see very large and highly creative booth design. These booths incorporated the outdoors and outdoor lifestyle in a very effective way. Some booths used tree limbs, bike frames, and all sorts of fascinating stuff to create a visually interesting backdrop.  And, of course, it was all recycled.

Keen Shoes had an amazing booth that was almost entirely made out of recycled materials. I got a tour of their corporate headquarters a couple of months ago and virtually everything in there is repurposed and reused. Even their gathering place for lunches and client meetings utilizes a row of bleachers that was saved from an old high school that was being torn down. They had old car seats on pallets with wheels on them, and they’d take these contraptions to trade shows and use them. So, they didn’t have to spend money on a brand-new booth and they successfully repurposed things that would otherwise be thrown away. They’re very environmentally conscious, and their headquarters speaks to that attitude of reduce, reuse, and recycle.

One of the biggest things a company can do is have that attitude: What can we do, starting from scratch? How can we utilize what’s out there to not have to spend money on a new booth? But it’s not only attitude; it takes a company that’s willing to shift from ideas to action—and spend some money. You have to look around and find things. You have to pay people to design and cut and build. But if your materials are reused or rescued, not only does it save money; it presents a great image to your audience. And the people at Keen obviously know their audience really, really well.

Newman: If you have a company — perhaps in the tech field — that is going to be totally new to this attitude and this green trade show approach, what would you say to them about going down this road?

Patterson: What it really boils down to is the image of the company. If you have a really high-tech company, does it fit for you to have a booth that’s made of a lot of repurposed wood from an old barn, for instance? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on what your company is promoting. If you have software that fits in that market — if there’s a relationship between the technology and sustainability — then that might be appropriate.

It can be done, but it really has to be driven by what management wants, and then that has to filter down the management chain and compose a viable approach. Once those decisions have been made on how to approach the objectives, then you start talking to trade show companies that can execute that vision in a realistic manner: Do those designs, help source the materials. Obviously, it’s a collaborative effort. The client may bring materials or even have a designer on hand, but they might not have the skill to actually build something in their trade show space.

Newman: My natural next question is: If you have a company that’s tech-based that has determined that what might work for Keen isn’t going to work for them, what else can be done on the sustainability front? But let’s hold off and pick this back up in Part II.

In Parts II and III, we’ll discuss green trade show booth materials, sustainable packaging and graphic production and green face-to-face meetings (a fascinating topic that deserves more attention). You can learn much more from Tim Patterson in his two new e-books: “Twittering Your Way to Tradeshow Success” and “101 Rules of Tradeshow Marketing,” which are both available at http://tradeshowguyblog.com.

Jeffrey, I want you to imagine this:  It’s Monday night, and you’ve just blocked out two hours for the season finale of  “24.” During the next 120 minutes, as Jack Bauer saves everyone from everything, how often do you think you’ll see him with armfuls of papers, rustling through them for reference while he’s disarming a bomb or finding the bad guys? Never. Why? Because it’s on his phone. It’s on his thumb drive. It’s on his laptop or if and when there’s “24: The Movie,” on his iPad. It’s all about quick, simple, efficient, on-demand information access — especially when TV lives are on the line.

At the core, the trade show world isn’t very different. The smart companies are getting away from traditional media entirely. The trend started with moving from glossy paper handouts to CDs … then to 1 gig thumb drives. The next logical step is to point all those iPhone and iPad-toting attendees to a dedicated website landing page. Why burn through paper and budget when you can just direct people to YourNameHere.com/Interop?  Virtually every trade show attendee has a handheld digital device, or two. Now it’s up to all of us to utilize them. In the meantime, exhibitors featuring innovative ways to share information will continue to best the booths with stacks and stacks of paper. At a recent show, one company was handing out 2-gig storage drives that were the no larger than a credit card. All that literature that would get trashed, was now treasured right there next to your Amex card. Brilliant.

Oh yeah, and those high capacity storage devices also lend themselves beautifully to video testimonials, product demos and other things that paper just can’t deliver.

I believe that attendees need to take some responsibility for this problem as well.  Just last month I watched someone at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, going through their trade show bag and dumping just about EVERYTHING into the trash.  Well, they DID rescue the t-shirts and flying monkeys …

Attendees should ask themselves — while still at the show — if they really need all those papers. They should also be asking the exhibitors if they have a green, travel-friendly alternative. If exhibitors find themselves going home with almost all of the literature they showed up with,  how fast do you think they’ll adjust? Immediately!

Jeffrey, it’s not just about being green; it’s about being smart … and taking advantage of all the opportunities available in the digital trade show world.

Have an industry-related question? Send “Newman” an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

As part of our ongoing dialogue with the green marketing experts at The Good Mix, we’d like to turn our attention this week to the incredible toxicity of trade show carpeting. You can smell it when you walk onto the trade show floor. Some people have allergic reactions. It emanates from the backing materials and carpets themselves. Breathing in the fumes for three days is bad enough for trade show attendees — and for those of us who make a living on trade show floors it’s an even bigger issue. Inhaling VOC (volatile organic compounds) can absolutely give you a headache. But far more seriously, those VOC’s have been linked to asthma and cancer. And when that carpeting ends up in landfills, it becomes an environmental problem that affects us all. Trade shows should be about the fun of dynamic presentations and the excitement of new products; it should be about the “atmosphere” of the event … not the actual atmosphere.

The good news is the trade show floor is an environment that’s controllable. It’s temporal (built and shut down) as opposed to the L.A. freeway. We can change the materials at these events. We can even change the trade show culture, and with it the “default” materials and products used.

There are companies that create carpet squares made from 100% recycled materials, lowering the amount of carpet that ends up in landfills releasing toxins into the air. There are low- and no-VOC paints for booths. There are plenty of alternatives to using vinyl, which is one of the greatest toxic offenders in the industry (and most industries).

Management companies pride themselves on giving out presentation awards such as “Top New Product.” What if they created incentives for their exhibitors buying booth space along with a “Top Green Exhibitor” award? What if the following year that exhibitor got a discount on booth space or better yet, preferred exhibit space in a prime location for having the greenest booth, most sustainable giveaways and smallest carbon footprint?

There are ways to have a friendlier trade show environment and incentivize the process to keep all parties happy. It will just take a few good ideas and a lot of commitment.

And if you’re looking for some information on how to “green” your trade show presence, please contact Janet at The Good Mix. She’s a great resource.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

We all know the “Three R’s” of green responsibility: Reuse, Reduce & Recycle. As it relates to trade shows, there’s a “Fourth R” you can remember to enhance your trade show (and overall marketing) presence: Rebrand. Find opportunities to tell your company’s story in ways that create a positive association between attendees and your company.

I came across a rising star rock musician who instead of giving out CDs at industry events and conferences, hands out biodegradable download cards that actually sprout flowers when you plant them in the ground. How’s that for telling a positive story while self-promoting and greening your public presence?

Start simple. Instead of giving out landfill-destined water bottles at trade shows, give away health- and eco-friendly Klean Kanteens branded with your company identity. Provide a water source and you’ll be a hub of activity with an item that people will use for years instead of days or hours.

As for marketing materials, instead of expensive four-color brochures, provide thumb drives that can contain far more marketing information than an attendee would ever otherwise take home—including video, Web site links and anything else you can think of. And if you must have some printouts, just make sure it’s 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based (nontoxic) inks. Water bottles = landfill. Paper = trees + landfill.

Rebrand Through Re-Skinning

One of the best opportunities for green rebranding is booth re-skinning, a technique for which I’ve already professed my love in this blog. Just think of all the resources that go into constructing a new booth every year and for every show. You can save a boatload of money recycling an already-built booth and giving it a “fresh face” with your company and product identity.

Lastly, ask the show decorators to provide recycling and composting. It’s possible to recover about 95 percent of tradeshow waste simply by having recycling and composting available. In some cities, the facility will actually spend less money by recycling and composting than by hauling waste.

Forty percent of what most people consider waste is food or food-related products. Suggest compostable flatware made from corn-based products and compostable paper plates. Trade shows look great when they take these steps; it’s a marketing message that can really be used in public relations and outreach … while diverting a lot of unnecessary waste from landfills.

Once again, if you’d like more information on eco-business strategies (or anything green), please visit Janet at http://thegoodmix.com.  Or follow her on Twitter at @thegoodmixer .

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.

Ellen, that’s a great question … and I almost went off on a rant about my random thoughts on “greening” your trade show presence. But that’s just what it would have been: random. So, I decided to do a bit of research and reach out to those who really know the answer to your question. Ever since you asked, I’ve been in an ongoing dialogue with Janet Pomeroy from The Good Mix. She’s a Green Marketing expert with one of the first Green MBAs offered. So here’s a real, informed answer to your question:

For starters, take a good, hard look at your trade show giveaways. Products have a lifecycle. You purchase it from a manufacturer, who generates waste in the making of the product. That product is then packaged and travels thousands of miles to get someplace. From there, it’s redistributed, repackaged and sent out again (this time to your company). In the end, that adds up to thousands of pounds of carbon for thousands and thousands of pieces of swag.

And where does that squishy ball or flying guerrilla go after you give it away at the booth? It’s going to go home with that trade show attendee, end up in the hands of his son who plays with it and breaks it … and from there it ends up in a landfill. It really never does go … away.

That’s because most of this stuff is cheaply made. Giveaways have a very short lifespan because they’re not made to last. So, one of the first things Janet asked was: “Do you need so much junky swag? Are there alternative forms of messaging that will last for years instead of just one show? … Especially when all the leftovers are going to be tossed in the trash.”

What Janet’s words made me realize is I’ve always been against wasteful giveaways, but for an entirely different reason: You want the person to hold on to your branded item!

Years ago, I discovered a number of items that could effectively substitute for the typical giveaway—and not end up in a landfill a week later.

In one case, it was a simple card trick.  The mechanism is this: One of three cards, a 5 of Clubs is placed into a spectator’s hand. Everyone is sure it’s the 5 of Clubs. When the card is turned over, it has magically turned into the company’s business card. It’s a simple illusion, but one that trade show attendees love to learn and repeat. I was recently at a trade show and an attendee recognized me from a show six months earlier.  He asked me if I had any more of those magic business cards. I asked him why, and he said it was because he had been using it over and over as an icebreaker in meetings, and it wore out.

I couldn’t have asked for a better endorsement. Instead of a propeller hat, here’s something fun that keeps branding your company again and again. I guess in this industry, you can equate sustainable with interesting. If it holds their interest, they’ll hold onto it longer.

So, Ellen, giveaways is one place to start. And we’ve got plenty of ideas on giveaways that are practical, useful, interesting and won’t be thrown “away.”  Keep an eye on this blog for much more about “greening” your trade show presence. I couldn’t even come close to fitting it all in one post. Thanks to you and Janet Pomeroy from The Good Mix for getting the gears turning on this important topic.

If you’d like more information on eco-business strategies (or anything green), please visit Janet at http://thegoodmix.com.

Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.