Red 7 Media Launches Green Event Summit

Conference to bring together representatives from the entire event industry to learn what it means to be green. June 12-13, Sheraton Palace Hotel, San Francisco

NORWALK, CT – (March 17, 2008): Red 7 Media (R7M), the world’s largest publisher of event and trade show information, announced today the launch of The Green Event Summit, the first national conference that will bring together executives representing every facet of the event and trade show industry to discuss, learn and share best practices for creating eco-friendly meetings and events. The Green Event Summit will take place at the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San Francisco, June 12-13.

The Green Event Summit is the most comprehensive conference event yet on the subject of eco-friendly events and will bring together hundreds of executives from Fortune 500 companies, show organizers, independent planners and representatives from leading event venues and suppliers to discuss and learn about the environmental issues that will impact how they create, produce and execute their meetings, corporate events, special events and shows. The conference will also showcase leading providers of “green” meeting and event products, services and solutions.

The Green Event Summit is presented by R7M publications Event Marketer (for corporate event marketing executives); Event Design (for creators of events, exhibits and environments); EXPO (for convention and show organizers); and Agenda (for special event and corporate meeting planners). The company will utilize these publications and their access to the top players in their markets to recruit the faculty as well as the attendee and sponsor audience via the group’s 80,000 name event industry database.

Leading Associations Provide Support
R7M has enlisted the active support of the leading industry associations serving the event industry. The following organizations are demonstrating their commitment to providing their members with insight and access to the latest thinking and resources around green marketing and events by participating as industry partners with the Green Event Summit:

Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA)
Exhibit Designer and Producers Association (EDPA)
Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO)
Event Marketing Institute (EMI)
National Association of Consumer Shows (NACS)
Exhibition Services & Contractors Association

Why this Event, and Why Now?
The “Green” movement is gaining momentum as people around the world are increasingly voicing their concerns over the impact of businesses on the environment. Studies have shown that consumers will favor companies that demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability, and more corporations are seeking ways to prove that commitment by examining – and often changing – their business practices. This movement has already begun to impact the event industry, which given the temporary nature of events, can be seen as wasteful.

Upper-management across Corporate America is putting pressure on event and exhibit departments to adhere to the new sustainability taglines that so many are adopting. Clients in turn are putting pressure on event and exhibit designers, their agencies, and suppliers to help them create totally green solutions or add shades of green to existing platforms.

“A growing number of show organizers and corporate marketers are seeking ways to lessen their impact on the environment by purchasing carbon offsets, replacing printed materials with electronic alternatives, donating extra food, among other initiatives,” commented R7M President & CEO

Kerry Smith. “While these are positive steps, there is a lack of clarity and no real standards to help event organizers really understand how to deliver events that are more eco-friendly without sacrificing the quality of the experience or breaking the budget.”

The goal of The Green Event Summit is threefold: 1. Examine and understand the overall trends that are driving the green movement and how they will impact the way event organizers plan and execute their events; 2. Assess and define the direct and indirect financial impact of “greener” events on the organizations that produce them; 3. Create a framework of specific short and long term steps that event organizers can take to reduce the impact of their events on the environment.

“We believe that a proactive stance by the event industry to this important issue will provide greater clarity to the industry at large; demonstrate leadership in the broader business community; and enable participants to enhance their value within their organizations by providing them with the information to be more authoritative on this important issue,” said Smith. “Bottom line, there is an immediate need to either embrace the green movement, or prepare for it, because it’s coming soon.”

Program Highlights
The Green Event Summit will be anchored by three keynote presentations, and more than 28 sessions programmed in a four-conferences-in-one format across subject tracks designed for marketers, show organizers, meeting and special event planners, and designers. Attendees from the four segments of the industry will come together at general sessions and networking functions.

Keynote presentations include an exclusive “Go Inside Live Earth with Producers, Agencies & Sponsors” -- a power panel discussion with the top players behind last year’s “Live Earth: A Concert for a Climate in Crisis” which will take attendees behind the scenes of one of the most groundbreaking green event-series ever produced; and Green Marketing and Design Opportunities, by Jacquelyn Ottman, author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation and a world-recognized authority on green marketing whose seminars are endorsed by the Industrial Designers Society of America.

Session highlights include such topics as Green Trade Show Exhibiting; Greening Your Event Portfolio; Creating Green Proprietary Events; Using Events to Communicate Corporate Green Initiatives; Green Sponsorship Activation; Reducing the Environmental Load of Exhibits; Eco-Friendly Materials for Event Exhibits; Turning Your Design Department Green; Green Museum Exhibit Design; Eco-Friendly Lighting Design; Sustainable Signage and Graphics; The Green Event Timeline; Creative Green Event Concepts; How Green is Your Venue; Private Green Events; Budgeting for Green Events; Greening Your F&B – From Menu Choices to Waste Control; Production GREEN: Best Practices and Smart Choices; The Green Meeting; Developing a Green Show Strategy; Municipal Mandates that will Impact Your Events; Responding to Member and Exhibitor Pressure to Go Green; Site Selection: Is that Facility Really Green?; Adding Green to Your RFPs; Working with Venues, Contractors and Caterers to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; and more.

“We’re very excited to leverage the reach and breadth of our event-industry assets to create a one-of-a-kind conference on the most pressing issue that is impacting virtually every professional and company involved in planning, creating, supporting and executing events of every kind,” commented Smith. “Green is a growing concern among event executives and this event will bring together representatives from every facet to share their insights and create the blueprints and standards that will drive their programs and relationships in the coming years.”

Sponsors already committed to supporting The Green Event Summit include Sparks Events, a leading event agency based in Philadelphia; NxtBook Media, a Lancaster, PA-based company that produces digital magazines, catalogs and event collateral; the Hughes Group, which has developed a line of eco-friendly tradeshow exhibits; among others.
For more information, and the complete conference agenda, visit www.greeneventsummit.com

Media Contact:
Carrie Brown
Red 7 Media
203-854-6730 x1212
cbrown@red7media.com