The Evolving Green Agenda and Virtual trade shows

The evolving green agenda

 A range of studies worldwide have shown that employees, investors and  customers (whether they are consumers, businesses or public sector organisations) tend to favour companies that are perceived to be socially and environmentally responsible – or in short, those that are more sustainable. Concern about the environmental and social impacts of businesses have become issues that companies now feel responsible to address over the years to come. But the overall trend has been towards increased pressure for better environmental and social performance. 

In the 1970s concern about pollution, resource depletion and population growth impacted key industries such as oil, Chemicals and cars. In the mid to late 1980s, there were renewed concerns about these issues, which affected a wider range of industries including household products, cosmetics, food and tourism. 

Furthermore there was a focus on particular product types such as aerosols, cars and detergents, and the so called ‘green’ consumer emerged as a potential target market for firms. There was a rush to introduce environmentally ‘friendly’ or ‘friendlier’ products all too often on the basis of unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims.

The early 1990s saw a continuing focus on the environment, but also with an increasing emphasis on the broader concept of sustainability, particularly after the WorldSummit on Sustainable Development in Rio 1992. The business agenda during the late 1990s became increasingly focused on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as another dimension of the sustainability agenda. This was partly linked to concerns about the impacts of globalisation. 

The Virtual trade show

The "virtual tradeshow" was first publicly described and presented as "Convention View" by Alan Saperstein and Randy Selman of Visual Data Corporation, now known as Onstream Media.  It is a type of event run in an online environment (as an individual event or alongside a real-life event). 

Compared to traditional trade shows, virtual trade shows are undoubtedly "greener". Lowering environmental impact is becoming an increasingly important goal for many companies in order to remain sustainable in the current business markets.  Through the introduction and emergence of Virtual Trade shows worries surrounding the cost of travel and the carbon footprint left behind are somewhat in the past. 

Thanks to the emergence of these innovative and new technologies, the ability to attend sessions, meet vendors, exchange business cards and mingle with attendees –  in a virtual environment is becoming much more common place in all of our modern day lives. Allowing us to not even have to leave the comfort of your office or even your own home.

To sum up: In EcoGreenHotel’s opinion, the most sustainable trade show is the recent rise of Virtual Trade Show events (VTS). Although these events have been around well before 2007, the struggling economy has forced many companies to reduce their travel budgets and increase focus on being “green.”

Could this become the next big thing? What do you think?

References:  

"Webcasting, Webinar, Web Conferencing & Digital Media Services :: Onstream Media Corporation". Onstreammedia.com. Retrieved 2011-01-23.

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